Delateralization
| Sound change and alternation |
|---|
| Fortition |
| Dissimilation |
Delateralization is a replacement of a lateral consonant by a central consonant.
Yeísmo (Romance languages)
[edit]Arguably, the best known example of this sound change is yeísmo, which occurs in many Spanish and some Galician dialects.
In accents with yeísmo, the palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/ merges with the palatal approximant /ʝ/ which, phonetically, can be an affricate [ɟ͡ʝ] (word-initially and after /n/), an approximant [ʝ̞] (in other environments) or a fricative [ʝ] (in the same environments as the approximant, but only in careful speech).
In Romanian, the palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/ merged with /j/ centuries ago. The same happened to the historic palatal nasal /ɲ/, although that is an example of lenition.
In French, ⟨il⟩ (except in the word "il" [il]) and ⟨ill⟩ (usually followed by "e"; exceptions include "ville" [vil]) are usually pronounced [ij]. It generally occurs word- or morpheme-finally. For example, travail "work" (noun) [tʁavaj], gentil "kind" masculine singular [ʒɛ̃tij], travaillait "(he/she/it) used to work" [tʁavaje], gentille "kind" feminine singular [ʒɛ̃tij].
Furthermore, when a French word ending in al is pluralized, rather than becoming als, it becomes aux. For example, un animal spécial "a special animal" > des animaux spéciaux "(some) special animals".
Turkish
[edit]Delateralisation can occur in Turkish. Its one lateral is [l], which can become [j] after [i]. For example, değil "not" is pronounced [de.ij].
English
[edit]When [l] appears word-finally, or after a vowel and before a consonant, it can become [w]. For example, little [ˈlɪ.tʰl̩] > [ˈlɪ.tʰw̩], bell [bɛl] > [bɛw], help [hɛlp] > [hɛwpʰ].
Polish
[edit]The Polish letter Ł represents the sound [w]. This is evidence of a delateralised sound.
Arabic Ḍād
[edit]Another known example of delateralization is the sound change that happened to the Arabic ḍād, which, historically, was a lateral consonant, either a pharyngealized voiced alveolar lateral fricative or a similar affricated sound [d͡ɮˤ] or [dˡˤ].[1][2] The affricated form is suggested by loans of ḍ into Akkadian as ld or lṭ and into Malaysian as dl.[3] However, some linguists, such as the French orientalist André Roman supposes that the letter was actually a pharyngealized voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant [ʑˤ], similar to the Polish ź, which is not a lateral sound.[1][2][4]
In modern Arabic, there are three possible realizations of this sound, all of which are central:[3]
- Pharyngealized voiced alveolar stop
- Pharyngealized voiced dental stop [d̪ˤ]
- Velarized voiced dental stop [d̪ˠ].
References
[edit]- ^ a b Versteegh, Kees (1999). "Loanwords from Arabic and the merger of ḍ/ḏ̣". In Arazi, Albert; Sadan, Joseph; Wasserstein, David J. (eds.). Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luġa: Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948–1997). pp. 273–286. ISBN 9781575060453.
- ^ a b Versteegh, Kees (2000). "Treatise on the pronunciation of the ḍād". In Kinberg, Leah; Versteegh, Kees (eds.). Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic. Brill. pp. 197–199. ISBN 9004117652.
- ^ a b Versteegh, Kees (2003) [1997]. The Arabic language (Repr. ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780748614363.
- ^ Roman, André (1983). Étude de la phonologie et de la morphologie de la koiné arabe. Vol. 1. Aix-en-Provence: Université de Provence. pp. 162–206.
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