Multiple evolutionary pressures shape identical consonant avoidance in the world's languages.

ABSTRACT: Languages disfavor word forms containing sequences of similar or identical consonants, due to the biomechanical and cognitive difficulties posed by patterns of this sort. However, the specific evolutionary processes responsible for this phenomenon are not fully understood. Words containing sequences of identical consonants may be more likely to arise than those without; processes of word form mutation may be more likely to remove than create sequences of identical consonants in word forms; finally, words containing identical consonants may die out more frequently than those without. Phylogenetic analyses of the evolution of homologous word forms indicate that words with identical consonants arise less frequently than those without. However, words with identical consonants do not die out mo

SUBMITTER: Cathcart CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11228491 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature