Topic summary
Satem
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Centum and satem languages.
Satem languages
The satem languages belong to the Eastern sub-families, especially Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic (but not Tocharian), with Indo-Iranian being the major Asian branch and Balto-Slavic the major Eurasian branch of the satem group. It lost the labial element of PIE labiovelars and merged them with plain velars, but the palatovelars remained distinct and typically came to be realised as sibilants. That set of developments, particularly the assibilation of palatovelars, is referred to as satemisation.