B did not participate in the change of Latin intervocalic b to β:
_roubôn_ ＞ Pr. raubar. The words containing it were evidently adopted
after this phonetic law had ceased to operate.
ð, þ were pronounced by the Latins as d, t: ✱_waiðanjan_ ＞ ✱_wadanyāre_
＞ Pr. gazanhar (It. guadagnare), _þrëscan_ ＞ ✱trescāre ＞ Pr. trescar.
H, at the beginning of a word, was lost in the greater part of the
Empire, including southern Gaul: _hapja_ ＞ ✱apya ＞ Pr. apcha. H between
vowels was lost in some words and replaced by kk in others: _spëhôn_
＞ Pr. espiar, _fëhu_ ＞ Pr. fęu, _jëhan_ ＞ ✱yekkīre ＞ Pr. gequir. Ht
was regularly replaced by tt: _slahta_ ＞ ✱sclatta ＞ Pr. esclata; but
_wahta_, perhaps borrowed at a different period, became Pr. gaita.
K, in southern Gaul, did not take the palatal pronunciation
before front vowels: _skërnon_ ＞ Pr. esquernir, _skina_ ＞ Pr.
esquina, _skiuhan_ ＞ Pr. esquivar, ✱_rîk-ĭtia_ ＞ Pr. riquẹza;
only the derivatives of _Franko_ (doubtless Latinized early) show
palatalization, as ✱_Francia_ ＞ Pr. Fransa. G, however, seems to have
been palatalized: _gîga_ ＞ Pr. giga, _geisla_ ＞ Pr. giscle. Before a,
in words introduced early, k and g were treated like Latin c and g:
_kausjan_ ＞ Pr. cauzir chauzir, _gâhi_ ＞ Pr. gai iai; see § 11, (1).
W was vigorously pronounced, and, through reinforcement of its velar
element, came to be sounded gw: _warjan_ ＞ ✱warīre gwarīre ＞ Pr. garir,
_wërra_ ＞ ✱węrra gwęrra ＞ Pr. guęrra.
57. Greek ζ, θ, κ, φ, χ did not exactly correspond to any Latin
consonants:--
Z, whatever may have been its original pronunciation, received in
Vulgar Latin the value dy, which then, like any other dy, became
y: ✱_zelōsus_ (from ζῆλος) = dyelọsus yelọsus ＞ Pr. gelọs. The
infinitive ending -ίζειν, introduced in such words as βαπτίζειν, ＞
_baptizāre_ = bapti(d)yāre, became very common in the form -įdyāre
-įyāre, and was used to make new verbs: _wërra_ + ίζειν ＞ ✱werrįdyāre
gwerrįyāre ＞ Pr. guerrẹiar.
θ, in the popular speech of Rome, was replaced by t: similarly χ was
replaced by c: σπαθή ＞ _spatha_ = spata; χορδή ＞ _chŏrda_ = cǫrda.
κ was apparently intermediate in sound between Latin c and g; it was
generally replaced by the former, but sometimes by the latter: κατά ＞
_cata_, κυβερνᾰν ＞ _gubernare_.
φ, in Greek, was in early times (perhaps until the 4th century of
our era) a strongly explosive p; it then developed into f. In words
borrowed by the Romans in the early period it was replaced by p; in
later words it was sounded f: κόλαφος ＞ _cŏlăphus_ = cǫlapus, φασίολος
＞ _phaseŏlus_ _faseŏlus_.
58. The fate of all these consonants in Provençal depended largely on
their position in the word: we must therefore distinguish _initial_,
_medial_, and _final_ consonants. In a general way, the first tended
to remain unchanged, the second to weaken, the third to disappear.
Furthermore we must separate single consonants from consonant groups:
the latter resisted change better than the former; but a group
consisting of dissimilar elements tended to assimilate them.