| Sound change and alternation |
|---|
| Metathesis |
| Lenition |
| Fortition |
| Epenthesis |
| Elision |
| Transphonologization |
| Assimilation |
| Dissimilation |
| Sandhi Synalepha |
| Other types |
Delateralization is a replacement of a lateral consonant by a central consonant.
Yeísmo (Romance languages)
Main article: YeísmoArguably, 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" ) and ⟨ill⟩ (usually followed by "e"; exceptions include "ville" ) are usually pronounced . It generally occurs word- or morpheme-finally. For example, travail "work" (noun) , travaillait "(he/she/it) used to work" , gentille "kind" feminine singular .
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
Delateralisation can occur in Turkish. Its one lateral is , which can become after . For example, değil "not" is pronounced .
English
Main article: L-vocalization § Modern_EnglishIn some accents, when appears word-finally, or after a vowel and before a consonant, it can become . For example, little > , bell > , help > .
Polish
The Polish letter Ł represents the sound . The orthography is evidence of an original lateral.
Arabic Ḍād
Main article: ḌādAnother 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]. The affricated form is suggested by loans of ḍ into Akkadian as ld or lṭ and into Malaysian as dl. However, some linguists, such as the French orientalist André Roman supposes that the letter was actually a pharyngealized voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant , similar to the Polish ź, which is not a lateral sound.
In modern Arabic, there are three possible realizations of this sound, all of which are central:
- Pharyngealized voiced alveolar stop
- Pharyngealized voiced dental stop
- Velarized voiced dental stop .
References
- ^ 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). Eisenbrauns. pp. 273–286. ISBN 9781575060453.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Versteegh, Kees (2003) . 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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