Editing Labialized velar consonant (section)

==Historical development==
Labialized velars frequently derive from a plain velar followed by a [[roundedness|rounded]] (labialized) vowel, such as {{IPA|[u]}} or {{IPA|[o]}}. In turn, they may sometimes develop into simple [[bilabial consonant]]s. An example of this is the [[Indo-European sound laws|development of Proto-Indo-European]] *kʷ, *gʷ before *a or *o into [[Greek language|Greek]]  /p, b/, producing cognates as different as English ''come'' and ''basis''. The full sequence is demonstrated by the [[Satsuma dialect]] of Japanese: in northern Satsuma, Standard Japanese {{IPA|[kue]}} 'eat!' has contracted to {{IPA|[kʷe]}}; in southern Satsuma, it has proceeded further to {{IPA|[pe]}}.

A notable development is the initial *kʷ in [[Proto-Indo-European]] [[interrogative word]]s. In English, it developed into ''[[wh (digraph)|wh]]'' or ''h'' (''how''), pronounced /w/ in most dialects and /h/, respectively, via [[Grimm's law]] followed by [[wh-cluster reductions|''wh''-cluster reductions]]. By contrast, in [[Latin]] and its descendants, the [[Romance languages]], that developed into ''[[qu (digraph)|qu]]'' (later Spanish ''cu'' (''cuando'') and ''c'' (''como'')), pronounced as /kʷ/ in Latin and variously as /kw/ or /k/ in the Romance languages. See [[Interrogative word#Etymology|etymology of English interrogative words]] for details. The English [[phonemic spelling]] ''[[kw (digraph)|kw]]'' for ''qu'' (as in ''[[wikt:kwik|kwik]]'') echoes its origin.

{{see also|P-Celtic and Q-Celtic languages}}