The phenomenon is often credited to horror aequi, the principle that language users avoid repetition of identical linguistic structures.
(e.g., Febyuary → February, which has been explained by phonotactic factors or alternatively by morphological analogy with more common sequences such as January.
When test subjects are asked to say the *phakhu- form in casual speech, the aspiration from both consonants pervades both syllables, making the vowels breathy.
[citation needed] If Ohala is correct, one might expect to find dissimilation in other languages with other sounds that frequently cause long-distance effects, such as nasalization and pharyngealization.
Also, while many kinds of assimilation have the character of a sound law, few dissimilations do; most are in the nature of accidents that befall a particular lexical item.