Consonant voicing and devoicing
Sound change and alternation |
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Fortition |
Dissimilation |
In
For example, the English suffix -s is pronounced [s] when it follows a voiceless phoneme (cats), and [z] when it follows a voiced phoneme (dogs).[1] This type of assimilation is called progressive, where the second consonant assimilates to the first; regressive assimilation goes in the opposite direction, as can be seen in have to [hæftə].
English
English no longer has a
- belief ([f]) – believe ([v])
- shelf ([f]) – shelve ([v])
- grief ([f]) – grieve ([v])
- life ([f]) – live ([v])
- proof ([f]) – prove ([v])
- strife ([f]) – strive ([v])
- thief ([f]) – thieve ([v])
- bath ([θ]) - bathe ([ð])
- breath ([θ]) - breathe ([ð])
- mouth ([θ], n.) – mouth ([ð], vb.)
- sheath ([θ]) - sheathe ([ð])
- wreath ([θ]) - wreathe ([ð])
- advice ([s]) – advise ([z])
- house ([s], n.) – house ([z], vb.)
- use ([s], n.) – use ([z], vb.)
- cat + s → cats
- dog + s → dogs ([ɡz])
- miss + ed → missed ([st])
- whizz + ed → whizzed ([zd])
The voicing alternation found in plural formation is losing ground in the modern language,[
- knife – knives
- leaf – leaves
- wife – wives
- wolf – wolves
The following mutations are optional:[citation needed]
- bath ([θ]) - baths ([ð])
- mouth ([θ]) - mouths ([ð])
- oath ([θ]) - oaths ([ð])
- path ([θ]) - paths ([ð])
- youth ([θ]) - youths ([ð])
- house ([s]) – houses ([z])
Sonorants (/l r w j/) following aspirated fortis plosives (that is, /p t k/ in the onsets of stressed syllables unless preceded by /s/) are devoiced such as in please, crack, twin, and pewter.[3]
Several varieties of English have a productive synchronic rule of
In other languages
Voicing assimilation
In many languages, including
In Italian, /s/ before a voiced consonant is pronounced [z] within any phonological word: sbaglio [ˈzbaʎʎo] 'mistake', slitta [ˈzlitta] 'sled', snello [ˈznɛllo] 'slender'. The rule applies across morpheme boundaries (disdire [dizˈdiːre] 'cancel') and word boundaries (lapis nero [ˌlaːpizˈneːro] 'black pencil'). This voicing is productive and so it applies also to borrowings, not only to native lexicon: snob [znɔb].
Final devoicing
Final devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as
Initial voicing
Initial voicing is a process of historical sound change in which voiceless consonants become voiced at the beginning of a word. For example, modern German sagen [ˈzaːɡn̩], Yiddish זאָגן [ˈzɔɡn̩], and Dutch zeggen [ˈzɛɣə] (all "say") all begin with [z], which derives from [s] in an earlier stage of Germanic, as is still attested in English say, Swedish säga [ˈsɛjːa], and Icelandic segja [ˈseiːja]. Some English dialects were affected as well, but it is rare in Modern English. One example is fox (with the original consonant) compared to vixen (with a voiced consonant).
Notes
- ^ Grijzenhout (2000), p. 3.
- ^ Grijzenhout (2000), p. 9.
- ^ Roach (2004), p. 240.
- ISBN 9783110218596.
References
- Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245,
- Grijzenhout, Janet (2000), Voicing and devoicing in English, German, and Dutch; evidence for domain-specific identity constraints (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-19, retrieved 2009-12-18