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 more frequently than those without. Further analyses reveal that forms with identical consonants are replaced in basic meaning functions more frequently than words without. Taken together, results suggest that the underrepresentation of sequences of identical consonants is overwhelmingly a by-product of constraints on word form coinage, though processes related to word usage also serve to ensure that such patterns are infrequent in more salient vocabulary items. These findings clarify aspects of processes of lexical evolution and competition that take place during language change, optimizing communicative systems.

中文翻译：

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多重进化压力塑造了世界语言中相同的辅音回避


由于此类模式造成的生物力学和认知困难，语言不喜欢包含相似或相同辅音序列的单词形式。然而，造成这种现象的具体进化过程尚不完全清楚。包含相同辅音序列的单词可能比不包含相同辅音序列的单词更容易出现；词形突变的过程可能更有可能删除而不是创建词形中相同辅音的序列；最后，包含相同辅音的单词可能比不包含相同辅音的单词更频繁地消失。对同源单词形式进化的系统发育分析表明，具有相同辅音的单词出现的频率低于没有相同辅音的单词。然而，具有相同辅音的单词并不比那些没有相同辅音的单词消失得更频繁。进一步的分析表明，具有相同辅音的形式在基本意义功能中比没有相同辅音的单词更频繁地被替换。总而言之，结果表明，相同辅音序列的代表性不足绝大多数是单词形式造词限制的副产品，尽管与单词使用相关的过程也有助于确保此类模式在更显着的词汇项中不常见。这些发现阐明了语言变化期间发生的词汇演变和竞争过程的各个方面，优化了交际系统。