Proto-Uralic
Subpages & such
- Sound changes to Finnish
- Sound changes to Proto-Samic
- Sound changes to Proto-Samoyedic
- Data for reduced vowels
- Data for remaining cases of *e
- Data for back unrounded vowels *a *ë
- Data for *ä
- Data for *ü
- Potential derivativs
- Cluster issues
Reconstructed phoneme inventory
Vowels: */i ü u e ë o ä a/ in the initial syllable. Only a two-way height-based contrast */I A/ is reconstructed in later syllables, which may have been realized as [i æ] after front vowels and [ɯ ɑ] after back vowels (ie. with vowel harmony); or as unalternating [i a]. Mid values [e ~ ə ~ ɤ] for */I/ are also possible.
It is furthermore unclear if (1st-syllable) *ë was [ɯ] or [ɤ], and *a [ɑ] or [ɒ], but substitution of Indo-Iranian *a by *ë in loans suggests the latter values (unless these particular words are newer loans.)
Two "reduced" or "semi-rounded" vowels */ê ô/ have been proposed recently.
Consonants: nasals */m n ń ŋ/, voiceless stops/affricates */p t ć č k/, voiceless sibilants */s ś š/, a "laryngeal" *x (likely a voiceless velar fricativ & a recent pre-Uralic split from *k), two "spirants" */ð ðʲ/, two liquids */l r/ and two semivowels */w j/.
*ć (as distinct from *ś?) and *š (as original Proto-Uralic?) are reconstructed less securely than the other consonants. A palatal liquid *ĺ is also found in old reconstructions, but the etyma involved do not really behave. The "palatal spirant" may be the actual palatal liquid; obstruent reflexes are limited to western branches, and external comparisions generally involve laterals. The dental spirant, while also merging with *l in most branches, is however certainly distinct.
A notable distributional feature was that *ŋ, *x and probably *r could not occur word-initially.
Roots generally had the form (C)V(C)C{A I}, with initial stress; in pronouns and prepositions and the copula also CV; and a single lone-V root, the negativ verb *e-
Medial consonant clusters
Words included chiefly from appendix from this: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20071746 (see comments in table code)
CF: http://books.google.fi/books?id=TM2NQ78dP2wC&pg=PA492&dq=phonotactics+of+PFU
| 2nd → 1st ↓ |
p | t | č | k | s | ś | ð | w | j | l | r | m | n | ŋ | ∑ | Notes | Frequency color code | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | m | mp | mt | ms | mś | N/A | 5 | mostly i-stems except *mś | single root | |||||||||||
| n | nt | nč | nś | 13 | two roots | |||||||||||||||
| ń | ńś | 1 | might not be distinct from *nś | 3-4 roots | ||||||||||||||||
| ŋ | ŋt | ŋk | ŋs | 8 | back-harmonic or *ä | 5-6 roots | ||||||||||||||
| P | p | pp | pt | ps | pś | pð | 7 | ~10 roots | ||||||||||||
| t | tk | 3 | all front-harmonic i-stems | Most suspiciously none | ||||||||||||||||
| č | čk | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| k | kt | kk | ks | kś | 11 | |||||||||||||||
| S | s | sk | 2 | both o_i | ||||||||||||||||
| ś | śk | 4 | mostly i-stems + *wäśka | |||||||||||||||||
| (?) | x | xt | xč | xs | xś | (xð) | xj | xl | (xr) | xm | xn | 23 | i-stems only, some may be loans with long vowels | |||||||
| L | l | lt | lk | lw | lj | lm | lŋ | 21 | *lw *lj only a-stems; *lt may be derived ← *-lk-t- | |||||||||||
| lʲ | lʲk | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| r | rp | rt | rk | rw | rm | 10 | mostly back-harmonic | |||||||||||||
| (?) | ðʲ | ðʲk | ðʲw | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| sV | w | N/A? | wð | wj | wl | wŋ | 5 | after e ä a only | ||||||||||||
| j | jw | jm | jŋ | 6 | after ä a o only | |||||||||||||||
| ∑ | 4 | 17 | 7 | 31 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 11 | (1) | 10 | 1 | 4 | ||||||
