Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The similar word-final reduction of */mb/ to /m/ and */ŋɡ/ to /ŋ/ is complete in standard English (e.g. lamb, long), as it is in many other Germanic languages (e.g. Swedish lamm, lång). In AAVE, this cluster reduction is the result of a phonological rule. In unambiguous situations, the clusters can be reduced without leaving the listener ...
This change took place around the 17th century. In the word often, the [t] sound later came to be re-inserted by some speakers as a spelling pronunciation. [42] An earlier reduction that took place in early Middle English was the change of /ts/ to /s/ (the sent-cent merger). This led to the modern sound of soft c .
NG-coalescence – reduction of the final cluster [ŋɡ] to [ŋ], in words like hang, which has occurred in all but a few English dialects. G-dropping – reduction of the final cluster [ŋɡ] to [n] in weak syllables, principally in the verb ending -ing, which has occurred in many English dialects, although not in the modern standard varieties.
The cluster /mx/ is also rare, but occurs in Russian words such as мха (/mxa/). Consonant clusters at the ends of syllables are less common but follow the same principles. Clusters are more likely to begin with a liquid, approximant, or nasal and end with a fricative, affricate, or stop, such as in English "world" /wə(ɹ)ld/.
Persian also does not allow clusters at the beginning of a word and typically uses /æ/ to break up such clusters in borrowings except between /s/ and /t/, when /o/ is added. [citation needed] Spanish does not allow clusters at the beginning of a word with an /s/ in them and adds e-to such words: Latin species > especie, English stress > estrés.
Most commonly, the change is a result of sound assimilation with an adjacent sound of opposite voicing, but it can also occur word-finally or in contact with a specific vowel. 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 ]
Final-obstruent devoicing or terminal devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as Catalan, German, Dutch, Quebec French, Breton, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Turkish, and Wolof.
In the evolution of the modern Indo-Aryan languages, there is a first stage in which consonant clusters with dissimilar consonants preceded by a short vowel undergo assimilation resulting in consonant clusters with similar consonants. In the second stage, the first consonant of the cluster or geminate was lost, which was accompanied by the ...