gradation, so that the occurrence of gradation is not even morphologically predictable anymore, it is a property of each individual word. Historical connections There is no consensus view on the ultimate origin of consonant gradation in the Uralic languages. Three broad positions may be distinguished: Gradation in Finnic, Samic and Samoyedic are all connected to one another. Gradation in Finnic and Samic are connected; gradation in Samoyedic is an unrelated phenomenon. There is no connection between gradation in any of the three language groups, and the similarities are accidental. In all three groups, consonant gradation has the same conditioning, the distinction between open and closed syllables. In this light, and in the absence of any evidence of the same system having existed in any unrelated language in the world, Helimski (1995) has argued that the latter two options should be rejected as implausible. If a connection exists, it is also disputed what its nature may be, again allowing for three broad positions: Gradation is common inheritance (from either Proto-Uralic or Proto-Finno-Samic). Gradation is an areal phenomenon that has developed through language contact. Gradation has developed independently in Finnic, Samic, and Samoyedic, based on a set of common preconditions inherited from Proto-Uralic. The great geographical distance between the Finnic and Samic peoples on one hand, and the Nganasans on the other, leads Helimski to reject the second option of these. Finnic languages The original effect of gradation in the Finnic languages can be reconstructed as a lenition of the consonant at the beginning of a closed syllable. Lenition resulted in geminate (long) stops and affricates being shortened, and in short voiceless obstruents /*p *t *k/ becoming voiced, while short voiced obstruents /*b *d *g/ became fricatives: *pp → *p̆p *tt → *t̆t *cc → *c̆c *kk → *k̆k *p → *b *t → *d *k → *g b → *β d → *ð g → *ɣ Only stops and affricates were affected, not other consonants. Moreover, only the last member of a consonant cluster was subject to gradation, and single stops and affricates were only affected if they were not adjacent to another obstruent. Thus, two-obstruent combinations like kt, st and tk did not undergo lenition, nor did obstruent-sonorant combinations like kl and tr. The voiced stops *b *d *g generally lenited to fricatives unless they were preceded by a nasal. This change may have occurred already in Proto-Finnic, but is