Assibilation
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Sound change and alternation |
---|
Fortition |
Dissimilation |
In
Arabic
A characteristic of
Diachronically, the phoneme represented by the letter ǧīm has, in some dialects, experienced assibilation as well. The pronunciation in Classical Arabic is reconstructed to have been [ɡʲ] or [ɟ] (or perhaps both dialectically); it is cognate to [ɡ] in most other Semitic languages, and it is understood to be derived from that sound in Proto-Semitic. It has experienced extensive change in pronunciation over the centuries, and is pronounced at least six different ways across the assorted varieties of Arabic. A common one is [ʒ], the result of a process of palatalization starting with Proto-West Semitic [ɡ], then [ɡʲ] or [ɟ], then [d͡ʒ] (a pronunciation still current) and finally [ʒ] (in Levantine and non-Algerian Maghrebi). The last pronunciation is considered acceptable for use in MSA, along with [ɡ] and [d͡ʒ].
Bantu languages
In the history of several Bantu groups, including the
Finnic languages
Finnic languages (Finnish, Estonian and their closest relatives) had *ti changed to /si/. The alternation can be seen in dialectal and inflected word forms: Finnish kieltää "to deny" → kielti ~ kielsi "s/he denied"; vesi "water" vs. vete-nä "as water".
An intermediate stage /ts/ is preserved in South Estonian in certain cases: tsiga "pig", vs. Finnish sika, Standard (North) Estonian siga.
Germanic languages
In the
Wasser) is assibilation.Assibilation occurs without palatalization for some speakers of
bathroom | - /ˈbæs.ruːm/ |
birthday | - /ˈbɝs.deɪ/ |
The slang zaddy in African-American Vernacular English popularized to American English by Ty Dolla Sign's eponymous song may have been formed by analysis of an assibilated /d/ phoneme preceding /æ/ in the first syllable of daddy by the subject girl in question who "wanna come to Cali / brown skin, from Miami".[2]
Greek
In Proto-Greek, the earlier combinations *ty, *thy and *dy assibilated to become alveolar affricates, *ts and *dz, in what is called the first palatalization. Later, a second round of palatalization occurred and initially produced geminate palatal *ťť and *ďď from various consonants, followed by *y. The former was depalatalised to plain geminate tt in some dialects and was assibilated to ss in others. The latter evolved into an affricate dz in all Greek dialects:
- *tot-yos -> PG *totsos > Homeric tóssos > Attic tósos "this much" (Latin tot)
- *medʰ-yos > PG *metsos > Homeric méssos > Attic mésos "middle" (Latin medius)
Some Greek dialects later underwent yet another round of assibilation. *ti shifted to /si/ finally in Attic and Ionic[3] but not in Doric.[4]
- Doric títhēti – Attic-Ionic títhēsi "he/she places"
Romance languages
The word "assibilation" itself contains an example of the phenomenon, as it is pronounced /əˌsɪbɪˈleɪʃən/. The Classical Latin -tio was pronounced /tioː/ (for example, assibilatio was pronounced /asːiːbilaːtioː/ and attentio /atːentioː/). However, in Vulgar Latin, it assibilated to /tsioː/, which can still be seen in Italian: attenzione.
In French, lenition then gave /sj/ (like attention modern /a.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃/)., which was further palatalized in the English derived words to /ʃ/ (like attention /əˈtɛn.ʃən/).
Most dialects of
Assibilation can occur in some varieties of Spanish such as in Ecuador and Mexico. It is closely related to the phonetic term sibilation.[5]
Slavic languages
Palatalization effects were widespread in the history of
Some Slavic languages underwent yet another round of palatalisation. In Polish, in particular, dental consonants became alveolo-palatal fricatives and affricates when followed by a front vowel.
See also
- Assimilation (linguistics)
References
- ^ Phonological Features of African American Vernacular English
- ^ Jones, Taylor (Apr 14, 2022). "The linguistics of Zaddy". LanguageJones via YouTube.
- ^ Smyth. par. 115: -ti > -si.
- ^ Smyth. note 115: Doric -ti.
- S2CID 145062106.