 The Proto-Armenian sound changes are varied and eccentric (such as "*dw-" yielding "erk-") and, in many cases, uncertain.That prevented Armenian from being immediately recognized as an Indo-European branch in its own right, and it was assumed to be simply a very divergent Iranian language until Heinrich Hübschmann established its independent character in 1874.In certain contexts, the aspirated stops are further reduced to "w", "h" or zero in Armenian