Andreas Johansson wrote:
> I was looking at a chart of reflexes of PIE and Proto-Semitic consonants
the
> other day, and noted that while, say, the ancestral velar stops are
mangled
> wantonly in many daughter languages, *m and *n are perserved in every
language
> listed (in initial position at least).
>
> Now, is this just a quirk of these particular families, or do different
sound
> have differing "intrinsic" probabilities for changing?
>
FWIW *m and *n are also retained almost universally in the Austronesian
langs., at least in initial and medial position. Some languages have
reduced inventories in final position, and in those cases *m/n usually merge
> **n. Lots of langs. of course lose all finals.