Editing Uralic languages (section)

===Phonological isoglosses===
Another proposed tree, more divergent from the standard, focusing on consonant isoglosses (which does not consider the position of the Samoyedic languages) is presented by Viitso (1997),<ref name=Viitso1997>Viitso, Tiit-Rein. Keelesugulus ja soome-ugri keelepuu. Akadeemia 9/5 (1997)</ref> and refined in Viitso (2000):<ref name=Viitso2000>Viitso, Tiit-Rein. Finnic Affinity. Congressus Nonus Internationalis Fenno-Ugristarum I:
Orationes plenariae & Orationes publicae. (2000)</ref>

{{tree list}}
* Finno-Ugric
** Saamic–Fennic ([[consonant gradation]])
*** Saamic
*** Fennic
** Eastern Finno-Ugric
***Mordva
***(node)
**** Mari
**** Permian–Ugric (*δ > *l)
***** Permian
***** Ugric (*s *š *ś > *ɬ *ɬ *s)
****** Hungarian
****** Khanty
****** Mansi
{{tree list/end}}

The grouping of the four bottom-level branches remains to some degree open to interpretation, with competing models of Finno-Saamic vs. Eastern Finno-Ugric (Mari, Mordvinic, Permic-Ugric; *k > ɣ between vowels, degemination of stops) and Finno-Volgaic (Finno-Saamic, Mari, Mordvinic; *δʲ > *ð between vowels) vs. Permic-Ugric. Viitso finds no evidence for a Finno-Permic grouping.<!-- see also [[Proto-Sámi language#From Proto-Uralic]] for two isoglosses exclusively shared by Sámi, Finnic and Mordvinic: merger of *ë with *a and of *δʲ with *δ -->

Extending this approach to cover the Samoyedic languages suggests affinity with Ugric, resulting in the aforementioned East Uralic grouping, as it also shares the same sibilant developments. A further non-trivial Ugric-Samoyedic isogloss is the reduction *k, *x, *w > ɣ when before *i, and after a vowel (cf. *k > ɣ above), or adjacent to *t, *s, *š, or *ś.<ref name = EastUralic/>

Finno-Ugric consonant developments after Viitso (2000); Samoyedic changes after Sammallahti (1988)<ref>{{cite book|title=The Uralic Languages: Description, History and Foreign Influences|url=https://archive.org/details/uraliclanguagesd00sino|url-access=limited|last=Sammallahti|first=Pekka|publisher=E.J. Brill|year=1988|isbn=978-90-04-07741-6|editor-last=Sinor|editor-first=Denis|location=Leiden|pages=[https://archive.org/details/uraliclanguagesd00sino/page/n493 478]–554|language=en|chapter=Historical phonology of the Uralic Languages|oclc=466103653}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2"| !! Saamic !! Finnic !! Mordvinic !! Mari !! Permic !! Hungarian !! Mansi !! Khanty !! Samoyedic
|-
! colspan="2"| Medial lenition of {{IPA|*k}}
| no || no || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes
|-
! colspan="2"| Medial lenition of {{IPA|*p, *t}}
| no || no || yes || yes || yes || yes || no || no || no
|-
! colspan="2"| Degemination
| no || no || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes
|-
! colspan="2"| Consonant gradation
| yes || yes || no || no || no || no || no || no || yes*
|-
! rowspan="7" | Development of
! *δ
|rowspan="2"| *ð ||rowspan="2"| *t ||rowspan="2"| *t || ∅ || *l || l || *l || *l || *r
|-
! *δʲ
| *t, ∅ || *lʲ || ɟ ❬gy❭, j || *lʲ || *j || *j
|-
! *s
|rowspan="2"| *s || *s || *s, z || *s, z || *s, z || rowspan="2" | ∅ ||rowspan="2"| *t ||rowspan="2"| *ɬ ||rowspan="2"| *t
|-
! *š
| *h || *š, ž 
| rowspan="3" |*š, ž|| *š, ž
|-
! *ś
| rowspan="2" | *č || *s || rowspan="2" | *ś, ź || *ś, ź || s ❬sz❭ || rowspan="2" | *s, š || *s || rowspan="2"| *s
|-
! *ć
|*c
| *ć, ź || č ❬cs❭ || *ć
|-
!*č
|*c
|*t
|*č
|*č
|*č, ž
|š ❬s❭
|*š
|*č̣
|*č
|}

* *Only present in [[Nganasan language|Nganasan]].
* Note: Proto-Uralic *ś becomes Proto-Sámi *č unless before a consonant, where it becomes *š, which, in the western Sámi languages, is vocalized to *j before a stop.
* Note: Proto-Mari *s and *š in only reliably stay distinct in the Malmyž dialect of Eastern Mari. Elsewhere, *s usually becomes *š.
*Note: Proto-Khanty *ɬ in many of the dialects yields *t; Häkkinen assumes this also happened in Mansi and Samoyedic.

The inverse relationship between consonant gradation and medial lenition of stops (the pattern also continuing within the three families where gradation ''is'' found) is noted by [[Eugene Helimski|Helimski]] (1995): an original allophonic gradation system between voiceless and voiced stops would have been easily disrupted by a spreading of voicing to previously unvoiced stops as well.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Helimski |first=Eugene |author-link=Eugene Helimski |url=http://helimski.com/2.140.PDF |title=Proto-Uralic gradation: Continuation and traces |access-date=2012-02-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002150529/http://helimski.com/2.140.PDF |archive-date=2011-10-02 |journal=Congressus Octavus Internationalis Fenno-Ugristarum |place=Jyväskylä |year=1995 }}</ref>