Proto-Balto-Slavic Language - Phonology

Phonology

Proto-Indo-European phonological system has exhibited several significant changes in Balto-Slavic period:

• the three series of PIE stops were reduced to two series (voiced and unvoiced)
• PIE syllabic sonorants were substituted with sequences of a short vowel (*i or *u) and a non-syllabic sonorant
• the three PIE laryngeals merged into one (*H), which may have disappeared even during the Balto-Slavic period
• the complex system of PIE dorsals was simplified due to the delabialization of labiovelars and the change of PIE palatovelars into fricatives