Systematic changes in pronunciation associated with languages and dialects. Includes segmental and prosodic changes. Sound-change is usually used in a diachronic sense and does not refer to the transient or adaptive changes of an individual.
3
votes
1answer
59 views
How does PGmc.fl- change to Goth. thl-, such as PGmc *fleuhaną to Goth. þliuhan?
The example is a cognate of flee:
fleuhaną
Descendants[edit]
Old English: flēon
English: flee
Old Frisian: fliā
Old Saxon: fliohan
Old Dutch: *flion
Middle Dutch: vlien
Dutch: ...
3
votes
1answer
73 views
What is the relative chronology of Grimm's and Verner's Law?
I'm trying to understand the relative chronology of Grimm's Law and Verner's Law. I understand that there are different views, and that it is not easy to work out. I believe Ringe argues that the ...
10
votes
2answers
90 views
Dental fricatives for Brazilian Portuguese speakers
Whenever I observe my fellow Brazilian countrymen learning to speak English, a clear sound change pattern stands out:
[θ] → [f]
[ð] → [d], syllable-initial
[f], syllable-final
So, for ...
3
votes
0answers
67 views
How does PIE *d- in *dlegh- change to PGmc. p- in plegō (E pledge)?
As shown in the Wiktionary:
pledge
From Middle English plege, from Anglo-Norman plege, from Old French plege (Modern French pleige) from Medieval Latin plevium, plebium, from Medieval Latin ...
2
votes
2answers
91 views
How does PIE *s- in *sriges- change to L. f- in frigus?
As shown in the Wiktionary:
frigus
From Proto-Indo-European *sriges-, *sriHges-.
But I can't find the clue to this sound change on Wikipedia, which concludes that PIE*bʰ, *dʰ, *gʷʰ will become ...
4
votes
1answer
75 views
Why does “-b-” differ between L “offero” and L “aufero”?
offero
From ob ("towards") + ferō ("bear, carry")
aufero
From ab ("from") + ferō ("bear, carry")
Both prefixes of them end with "-b-", but why do their compounds differ from each other, ...
1
vote
2answers
71 views
How does Gk. “hieros” differ from its cognate Gk. “oistros” with an “h”?
oestrus
From the Latin oestrus ("gadfly”, “sting”, “frenzy"), from the Ancient Greek οἶστρος (oistros).
hiero-
From Ancient Greek prefix ἱερo- (hiero-), from ἱερός (hieros, "sacred, holy")
...
5
votes
0answers
127 views
Is there a diagram showing the history of sound changes from Latin to the Romance languages?
We have had a number of questions about sound changes, asking for the history of specific changes. See this one, for example: asking about the change from Latin benedictionem to French beneiçon. ...
2
votes
1answer
52 views
How did It “sedano” come from Gk “σέλινον”, with a “l”>“d” shift?
sedano
From Ancient Greek σέλινον.
The only Italian etymology I can find is on Wiktionary. And why does the Italian noun "sedano" look the same with the Italian verb "sedano"?
0
votes
1answer
64 views
How did L “reddere” change to E “render”?
render
From Old French rendre ("to render, to make"), from Vulgar Latin *rendere, from Latin reddere, present active infinitive of reddō ("return in profit").
I just wonder whether it is a kind ...
6
votes
3answers
264 views
Grimm's law: what motivates stop -> fricative sound change?
I am trying to understand the sound change that brought PIE *dent- to P.Gmc. *tanth-. Grimm's law seems to be the culprit for the consonant changes:
Initial voiced stop /d/ devoiced to /t/
Terminal ...
2
votes
1answer
66 views
How does “-age” come from L “-aticum”, with a change from “t” to “g”?
-age (wiktionary)
From Old French -age, from Latin -aticum.
Cognates include Spanish -aje and Italian -aggio.
-age (etymonline)
word-forming element in nouns of act, process, function, ...
2
votes
1answer
112 views
How does the word “thunder” get the letter “d”?
thunder
O.E. þunor, from P.Gmc. thunraz (cf. O.N. þorr, O.Fris. thuner, M.Du. donre, Du. donder, O.H.G. donar, Ger. Donner "thunder"), from PIE (s)tene- "to resound, thunder" (cf. Skt. tanayitnuh ...
4
votes
1answer
159 views
Why does the Old Norse word “maðr” include “ð”, while its cognate E “man” doesn't?
maðr
From Proto-Germanic *mann-, whence also Old English mann, Old High German man.
mann-
Descendants
Old English: mann, man; manna
English: man
Old Frisian: man, mon
West Frisian: ...
3
votes
1answer
126 views
How does the Icelandic word “finna” come from Proto-Germanic “finþanan”?
finna
From Old Norse finna, from Proto-Germanic *finþanan.
finþanan
From Proto-Indo-European *pent-, *penth- (“to go, pass; path, bridge”). Cognate with Latin pons (“bridge”), Old Indian ...
5
votes
1answer
301 views
Why don't the French pronounce consonants at the ends of words?
I am curious what could have caused the shift in pronunciation. I presume it must have occurred after the spelling of words was standardized. According to the History of French wikipedia article, this ...
2
votes
1answer
76 views
How does the sound change from L. “benedictionem” to O.Fr. “beneiçon” happen?
benison
c.1300, "blessing, beatitude," from O.Fr. beneiçon "blessing, benediction," from L. benedictionem (see benediction).
Similarly, the word malison comes in the exact way described above.
...
1
vote
0answers
67 views
Is PIE “*wank-” the ultimate root of E “wankle”?
wankle
From Middle English wankel, from Old English wancol (“unstable, unsteady, tottering, vacillating, weak”), from Proto-Germanic *wankulaz (“unsteady, wavering”), from Proto-Indo-European ...
5
votes
2answers
162 views
How does the initial consonant in “Jupiter” and “Zeus” come from the “d” in PIE “*dyew-”?
Jupiter, is from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“sky”) (whence also Latin diēs).
Cognate with Ancient Greek Ζεύς (Zeus), Hittite 𒅆𒍑 (sius), Sanskrit द्यु (dyú). The nominative Iuppiter comes ...
3
votes
3answers
222 views
Why does “g” in Middle English “boga” become “w” in Modern English “bow”?
With the help of Wiktionary, we know two useful Midlle English etymologies of the word "bow".
bow-1
From Old English boga, from Proto-Germanic *bugô. Cognate with Dutch boog, German Bogen, ...
7
votes
1answer
156 views
What is the sound law to describe the etymology of “helix” and “vulva”?
What confused me is the transition from "w" in PIE *wel- to "h" in E. helix .
And what's the sound law applied to the word E. "vulva",which has the change from "w" to "v"?
helix
"a spiral ...
5
votes
1answer
162 views
Is there a known rule of correspondence between Latin and Greek *p and *kʷ - in other languages?
It seems to me that some words that have -p- in stem in Latin have clearly reconstructible -ku̯- based on other Indo-European languages. Some examples include
*u̯lpes - *u̯lku̯os ("wolf")
*u̯esper - ...
5
votes
1answer
117 views
How do linguists determine at which point the Great Vowel Shift was complete?
The chart below shows a chain of sound changes that happened to the English language, from 1400 onwards. Although the chart was intended to describe the Great Vowel Shift, it is not accurate*, since ...
16
votes
2answers
312 views
Do onomatopoeias resist sound change?
Regular sound changes can of course affect phonemes used in onomatopoeias. For example, consider a language containing /mjaw/, referring to the call of a cat. Suppose that final /w/ is sound-changed ...
3
votes
1answer
140 views
What processes of lenition in historical phonology exemplify affrication?
Are there any lenitive processes in historical phonology that show affrication? For example, that of the High German Consonant Shift where a stop becomes an affricate before becoming a fricative.
...
4
votes
1answer
140 views
Across West Germanic Languages, what sound changes have been most common since 1000 CE?
Across West Germanic Languages, what sound changes have been most common since 1000 CE?
For example, has there been much epenthesis (vowel insertion) or syncope (dropping middle vowels) or metathesis ...
6
votes
4answers
349 views
What about the sound change initial n -> initial l?
While learning (a little) Cantonese, I was annoyed by the fact that every initial [n] was converted to [l], so that the word "you", written
néih hóu
in guidebooks is universally pronounced
...
4
votes
1answer
209 views
Vanishing phonemes, nasalization of vowels, tones
Looking at modern French in light of vulgar Latin, or Chinese compared with Proto-Sino-Tibetan (if that can even be reconstructed), there seems to be quite a few contexts in which phonemes are ...
7
votes
1answer
149 views
What is the history of the sound spelled <â> or <î> (IPA /ɨ/) in Romanian?
I've read that some people attribute it to influence from the Slavic languages. But it doesn't just appear in Slavic loans — it also shows up in obviously Latin-derived words like câine 'dog' ...
11
votes
2answers
592 views
How did Italian manage to stay (mostly) phonetically spelled despite its long written tradition?
Italian is commonly cited as an example of a phonetically spelled language. It is easy to guess how an Italian word is pronounced based on the way it is written, because each written symbol highly ...
15
votes
6answers
382 views
Which phenomena compensate for sound losses in languages?
There is a tendency in all of the world’s languages to drop word sounds, especially unstressed syllables. One example is the word for “winter” in Proto-Algonquian, “peponwi”, which developed into “aa” ...
