Consonant shift

The consonant shift , in Synchrony, is a phonetic Modification which sees the Consonne of a Mot changing according to its morphological environment or syntactic. It concerns the Morphophonologie.

This phenomenon meets in many languages on all the continents. The typical example is the consonant shift of initial in all the Celtic Langues modern. This initial consonant shift is also observed in the Paiute South like in several languages of Africa of the West, like the Peul. The Languages fennic (or balto-Finnish) such as the Finnish and the Estonian , as well as the same, have internal changes with the words, called consonant Alternance. The dholuo, a nilo-Saharan language spoken with the Kenya, makes transfer the final consonants of the radical , as well as the English to a lesser extent. The change of the initial, median and final consonants also meets in the Hebrew modern. The Japanese makes transfer certain initial in composition: the phenomenon is called Rendaku.

The term of consonant shift is also employed in another direction in Phonétique history, to describe systematic evolutions in the articulation of series of consonants, in particular in the Germanic Langues: to see Law of Grimm and Second consonant shift.

Changes observed in various languages

Celtic languages

See the articles Breton, Cornique, Welsh, Gaelic of Scotland, Gaelic of Ireland, Mannois for more information on the Celtic languages. The changes of Breton are particularly described in the Mutations of Breton the. Those of Irish are it in.

The Celtic languages are known for their consonant shifts of the initial ones. According to the languages, the number and the types of changes vary: Scottish Gaelic and the mannois have only one of them, Irish Gaelic has two of them while the brittonic languages (Breton, cornic and Welsh) have three of them each one (but not the same ones). Moreover, Gaelic of Ireland and the brittonic languages have mixed changes which make transfer certain sounds in a way and other sounds of another manner in certain grammatical contexts.

Although the conditions of change differ according to the languages, some are rather general. In all the Celtic languages, the female singular names transfer after the definite article, like their attributive adjectives. In the same way, the possessive pronouns of the third people (“her”, “its” and “its”) are often homonymous and are distinguished with the oral examination by the changes which they involve. Here some examples into Breton, Irish and in Welsh:

The gaelic Langues present the following changes:

the lenition , improperly also called aspiration , corresponds to a general weakening of the articulation: the Occlusive S and m become Fricative S, F amuït, S becomes H , N and L is carried out with less tension
the eclipse , improperly also called nasalisation , transforms occlusive the deaf S into sound S, the occlusive sound ones in Nasale S, and wires for sound F . The eclipse is specific Irish.

The Orthographe of Irish describes his changes precisely, except for N and L ; each written consonant corresponds in Phonologie to two Phonème S, because Irish practices a distinction of Palatalisation for almost all his consonants, indicated in the orthography by the writing of the surrounding vowels. The following table presents the written changes, initially in their orthographical form, then in phonological form (the realization Phonétique varies according to the dialects). The phoneme indicated corresponds to that of the not palatalized consonant.

The Scottish follows the same principles to indicate lenition.

The brittonic Langues present the following changes:

the lenition , also called softening or weakening , is as in the gaelic languages a weakening general of the articulation, but the produced effects are different: it transforms the occlusive deaf persons into occlusive sound a share, the occlusive sound ones and m into fricative sound; in liquid Welsh the transfer too; into cornic late and in many Breton dialects, one also observes a néo-lenition of later constitution, which transforms the fricative deaf persons into sound, but not always in the same contexts
the provection , also called hardening or reinforcement , transforms the occlusive sound ones into deaf persons; it is specific that with Breton and cornic with the initial one, but all the brittonic languages know it like morphological alternation interns
the spirantisation , passage of the occlusive deaf person to fricative (deaf person in the beginning, but being able to become sound by néo-lenition) the
the nasalisation , passage of occlusive to the nasal one; it is especially productive in Welsh, there are traces into Breton and cornic.

Table of the initial Welsh changes:

Paiute of the South

This Amerindian Langue knows three consonant shifts, which are caused by different Préfixe S:

the Spirantisation ;
the Gémination ;
the Prénasalisation:

For example, the suffix (finally absolute) - pi' appears in various forms, according to the name to which it suffix:

“nose”

“belly”

“language”

Peul

The dialect gombe of the Peul, spoken with the Nigeria, has changes caused by the classes of variation. Two types of changes are met: the hardening and the prenasalisation .

For example, the radicals “free man” and “nobody” have the following forms:

(class 2), (class 1), (class 6)
(class 2), (class 1), (class 6)

Finnish

See also in particular the consonant article Alternation.

In Finnois (like in the languages connected like the Estonian and moreover far the same), the final consonants of the radicals transfer (what is generally called gradation in the Anglo-Saxon literature and consonant Alternance French). There is one type of change, the weakening .

| |valign=" top" | |}

For example, the nouns and adjectives with the singular genitive see their median consonants weakening:

la' pp' U " piece of papier" (name.), la' p' a (gén.)
hal' p' has " good market " (name.), hal' v' year (gén.)
ko' you has " try lapone" (name.), ko' of year (gén.)
su' k' has " brosse" (name.), suan (gén.)
pu' k' U " habit" (name.), pu' v' a (gén.)

Dholuo

The dholuo (also called luo or lwo ) is spoken by the Luo S in East Africa. This language knows changes between deaf and sound consonants finally. During the derivation of the state built (form which a name takes when it is supplemented: " hill de" , " stick de" , etc), the Voisement of the final consonant is modified (There are also often deteriorations of the vowels which is independent of the consonant shifts).

“hill” (ABS.), (const.)
“stick” (ABS.), (const.)
“appearance” (ABS.), (const.)
“bone” (ABS.), (const.)
“delivers” (ABS.), (const.)
“delivers” (ABS.), (const.)

English

The Vieil English voiced the finally fricative of radical, which one still observes in the modern language in the couples name-verbs and the formations of the plural names English:

The phonetic modifications in the formation of plural tend to be lost; among the modifications indexed below, many speakers know only the change F - v , which is besides written :

Modern Hebrew

The Hebrew modern has some changes, which cause only the spirantisaton certain consonants. They relate to the initial, median consonants or finales of the radicals.

For example, certain verbs mutent ; comparez :

/ K atav/“he writes”, /yi ' x' tov/“he will write”
/ti ' b' has “he runs” (nontransitive), /ta ' v' has “he runs” (transitive)

Certain names also transfer according to whether they are male or female, singular or plural, or after the prépositions :

/mele ' x' /“a king”, /mal ' k' has “a queen”
/do ' v' /“a bear”, /du ' b' im/“of the bears”
/ B ayit/“a house”, /be- v ayit/“in a house”

But all the words do not transfer pas :

/ X atav/“it chopped”, /ya ' x' tav/“it will chop”
/zi ' k' EFF “it posed”, /za ' k' af/“it drew up”
/to ' v' /“well”, /tu ' v' im/“goods”
/ K ibuc/“a kibbutz”, /be- K ibuc/“in a kibbutz”

Japanese

To consult the detailed article Rendaku .

Malayan/Indonésien

In Malayan and Indonésien, the active form of a verb starting with occlusive or fricative is formed with the prefix meN- , where NR is a nasal consonant of the same Joint as the initial one of the radical .

garuk → me' ng' garuk (= to scrape), hitung → me' ng' hitung (= to count),
beri → me' me beri (= to give), fitnah → me' me fitnah (= to show wrongly),
curry → me' curry (= to seek), dapat → me' dapat (= to obtain), *jangkau → me' jangkau (= to reach)

When the initial consonant is an occlusive deaf person or a S , it disappears by leaving only nasal the comparable.

K andung → me' ng' andung (= to contain/be pregnant),
p utih → me' me utih (= to bleach),
S atu → me' ny' atu (= to link itself),
T ulis → me' ulis (= to write).

When the radical starts with a vowel, the nasal one is carried out ng .

When the radical is monosyllabic, there is épenthèse vocalic and the prefix becomes menge- .

bor (= drill) → me' nge' bor (= to drill).

When the radical starts with nasal, the prefix is reduced to me .

Examples adapted of in: Wikibooks: Indonesian_prefix_me

Sindarin

The Sindarin, imaginary Language created by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, has changes inspired of the Welsh.

The first letter of a name generally transfers when this name is strongly related to the word which precedes it (article, preposition,…). Also we/ C erth/(rune) have, but /i G erth/(the rune). The second element of a Word made up and the Direct object also transfer.

Changes and sandhis

The change of the initial consonant should not be confused with the Sandhi which names the systematic deterioration of initial words according to their phonetic environment, contrary to the changes which are started by their morphological environment or syntactic.

Here some examples of sandhis :

Spanish : , which appears after a nasal Consonne or Occlusive, alternate with, which appears after a Voyelle or a liquid Consonne. Exemple : “a boat”, “my boat”.
Gaelic of Scotland: the occlusive ones in the stressed syllables are voiced after the nasal ones, e.g. “a cat”, “the cat”.
Nivkh : the occlusive ones become the fricative ones after the vowels or of occlusive before another fricative. Exemples :

“neck”, “neck of a reindeer”
“to draw”, “to shoot at a bear”

These sandhis (as of other similar phonetic transformations) is at the historical origin of the consonant shifts.

For example, the change of the fricative English described above rises from a deterioration by sandhi in Vieil English: fricative a voiced appearing between two Voyelle S (or other voiced consonants) was voiced, fricative a deaf appearing with initial, finally or beside a deaf consonant was deaf. The Infinitif S of old English finished in and the plural names in /-as/. Thus, “a house” has one, whereas “houses” and “at the house” have one. Since the majority of the finales had fallen in English, and that contrast between fricative voiced and not voiced had become phonological (in pertie under the influence of the French), mutationétait it appeared.

In the same way, the changes of the Celtic languages seem to come from old sandhis which gradually passed from a purely phonetic role to a grammatical role after the Amuïssement of old the endings.

See too

consonant Alternation
Lenition
Changes of Breton the
Rendaku
List of the phonetic modifications

Random links: