Debuccalization
Encyclopedia
Debuccalization is a sound change
in which a consonant
loses its original place of articulation
and becomes h or [ʔ] (glottal stop
). The pronunciation of a consonant as [h] is sometimes called aspiration, but in phonetics
aspiration is the burst of air accompanying a plosive. The word comes from Latin
bucca, meaning "cheek"; "debuccalization" is the loss of articulation in the mouth, leaving the place of articulation
at the glottis
.
Debuccalization is the second-to-last stage in the "opening" type of lenition
, a consonant mutation
involving the weakening of a consonant by progressive shifts in pronunciation.
debuccalize /t/ to a glottal stop [ʔ] in two environments: in word-final position before another consonant—
and before a syllabic
[n̩] following /l/, /r/, /n/, or a vowel. Here the /t/ may also be nasally released
.
.
n dialect debuccalizes any p, t, k, b, d, g that occurs between two consonants (a situation often produced by vowel elision in the same dialect) and replaces them by [ʔ]. Thus Antn (ducks) and Andn (Andes) are both pronounced [anʔn], although speakers think it is the t or d they are pronouncing. With frequency depending on the location, hàn(d) ("are") occurs instead of the other (and altogether more general) Bavarian form sàn(d) (from the German seind, in contemporary German: sind).
, /θ/ th shifted to [h], a process called th-debuccalization
.
, /s/ shifted to [h] initially and between sonorant
s (vowel
s, liquids
, and nasals
).
Intervocalic /h/ was lost by the time of Ancient Greek
, and vowels in hiatus
were contracted
in the Attic
dialect.
Before a liquid or nasal, an /h/ was assimilated to the preceding vowel in Attic-Ionic and Doric
and to the following nasal in Aeolic
. The process is also described as loss of /h/ and subsequent lengthening of a vowel or consonant to keep the syllable the same length
(compensatory lengthening
).
, /s/ becomes [h] (written ḥ in transliteration) when utterance-final
. E.g. kā́mas ("erotic love") becomes kā́maḥ.
dialects
debuccalize /s/ at the end
of a syllable
to [h].
, s, t, f changed by lenition
to [h], spelled sh, th and fh. Later the sound represented by fh was lost entirely.
Sound change
Sound change includes any processes of language change that affect pronunciation or sound system structures...
in which a consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
loses its original place of articulation
Place of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
and becomes h or [ʔ] (glottal stop
Glottal stop
The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
). The pronunciation of a consonant as [h] is sometimes called aspiration, but in phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
aspiration is the burst of air accompanying a plosive. The word comes from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
bucca, meaning "cheek"; "debuccalization" is the loss of articulation in the mouth, leaving the place of articulation
Place of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
at the glottis
Glottis
The glottis is defined as the combination of the vocal folds and the space in between the folds .-Function:...
.
Debuccalization is the second-to-last stage in the "opening" type of lenition
Lenition
In linguistics, lenition is a kind of sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word lenition itself means "softening" or "weakening" . Lenition can happen both synchronically and diachronically...
, a consonant mutation
Consonant mutation
Consonant mutation is when a consonant in a word changes according to its morphological and/or syntactic environment.Mutation phenomena occur in languages around the world. A prototypical example of consonant mutation is the initial consonant mutation of all modern Celtic languages...
involving the weakening of a consonant by progressive shifts in pronunciation.
American English
Many speakers of American EnglishAmerican English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
debuccalize /t/ to a glottal stop [ʔ] in two environments: in word-final position before another consonant—
- get ready ['ɡɛʔ'ɹɛɾi]
- not much ['nɑʔ'mʌtʃ]
- not good ['nɑʔ'ɡʊd]
- it says [ɪʔ'sɛz]
and before a syllabic
Syllabic consonant
A syllabic consonant is a consonant which either forms a syllable on its own, or is the nucleus of a syllable. The diacritic for this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the under-stroke, ⟨⟩...
[n̩] following /l/, /r/, /n/, or a vowel. Here the /t/ may also be nasally released
Nasal release
In phonetics, a nasal release is the release of a plosive consonant into a nasal stop. Such sounds are transcribed in the IPA with superscript nasal letters, for example as . In English words such as sudden in which historically the tongue made separate contacts with the alveolar ridge for the /d/...
.
- Milton ['mɪlʔn̩]
- Martin ['mɑɹʔn̩]
- mountain ['maʊnʔn̩]
- cotton ['kɑʔn̩]
- Chattanooga [tʃæʔn̩'nuɡə]
Cockney English
In Cockney English, /t/ is replaced by [ʔ] between vowels, liquids, and nasals (notably in the word bottle), a process called t-glottalizationT-glottalization
T-glottalization is a process that occurs for many English speakers, that causes the phoneme to be pronounced as the glottal stop in certain positions. This is an instance of the more general phonetic phenomenon called glottalization...
.
German
The BavariaBavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n dialect debuccalizes any p, t, k, b, d, g that occurs between two consonants (a situation often produced by vowel elision in the same dialect) and replaces them by [ʔ]. Thus Antn (ducks) and Andn (Andes) are both pronounced [anʔn], although speakers think it is the t or d they are pronouncing. With frequency depending on the location, hàn(d) ("are") occurs instead of the other (and altogether more general) Bavarian form sàn(d) (from the German seind, in contemporary German: sind).
Scottish English
In some varieties of Scottish EnglishScottish English
Scottish English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Scotland. It may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language. It is always considered distinct from Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language....
, /θ/ th shifted to [h], a process called th-debuccalization
Th-debuccalization
Th-debuccalization is a process in varieties of Scots and Scottish English where a voiceless dental fricative at the beginning of a word and between vowels becomes the voiceless glottal fricative . It is a stage in the process of lenition....
.
Proto-Greek
In Proto-GreekProto-Greek language
The Proto-Greek language is the assumed last common ancestor of all known varieties of Greek, including Mycenaean, the classical Greek dialects , and ultimately Koine, Byzantine and modern Greek...
, /s/ shifted to [h] initially and between sonorant
Sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...
s (vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s, liquids
Liquid consonant
In phonetics, liquids or liquid consonants are a class of consonants consisting of lateral consonants together with rhotics.-Description:...
, and nasals
Nasal consonant
A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
).
- Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-Indo-European languageThe Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
*septḿ̥ → Ancient GreekAncient GreekAncient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
heptá "seven" (compare LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
septem)
Intervocalic /h/ was lost by the time of Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, and vowels in hiatus
Hiatus (linguistics)
In phonology, hiatus or diaeresis refers to two vowel sounds occurring in adjacent syllables, with no intervening consonant. When two adjacent vowel sounds occur in the same syllable, the result is instead described as a diphthong....
were contracted
Crasis
Crasis is a type of contraction in which two vowels or diphthongs merge into one new vowel or diphthong — making one word out of two. Crasis occurs in Portuguese and Arabic as well as in Ancient Greek, where it was first described.-French:...
in the Attic
Attic Greek
Attic Greek is the prestige dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek, and is the standard form of the language studied in courses of "Ancient Greek". It is sometimes included in Ionic.- Origin and range...
dialect.
- post-PIE *génesos → Proto-Greek *génehos → Ionic GreekIonic GreekIonic Greek was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic dialect group of Ancient Greek .-History:Ionic dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C.By the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 5th Century...
géneos — Attic GreekAttic GreekAttic Greek is the prestige dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek, and is the standard form of the language studied in courses of "Ancient Greek". It is sometimes included in Ionic.- Origin and range...
génous "of a race"
Before a liquid or nasal, an /h/ was assimilated to the preceding vowel in Attic-Ionic and Doric
Doric Greek
Doric or Dorian was a dialect of ancient Greek. Its variants were spoken in the southern and eastern Peloponnese, Crete, Rhodes, some islands in the southern Aegean Sea, some cities on the coasts of Asia Minor, Southern Italy, Sicily, Epirus and Macedon. Together with Northwest Greek, it forms the...
and to the following nasal in Aeolic
Aeolic Greek
Aeolic Greek is a linguistic term used to describe a set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia , Thessaly, and in the Aegean island of Lesbos and the Greek colonies of Asia Minor ....
. The process is also described as loss of /h/ and subsequent lengthening of a vowel or consonant to keep the syllable the same length
Syllable weight
In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical poetry, both Greek and Latin, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter of the line....
(compensatory lengthening
Compensatory lengthening
Compensatory lengthening in phonology and historical linguistics is the lengthening of a vowel sound that happens upon the loss of a following consonant, usually in the syllable coda...
).
- PIE *h₁ésmi → Proto-Greek *ehmi → Attic-Ionic ēmí — Aeolic émmi "I am"
Sanskrit
In SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, /s/ becomes [h] (written ḥ in transliteration) when utterance-final
Pausa
In linguistics, pausa is the end of a prosodic unit, such as an utterance. Some sound laws specifically operate in pausa only; for example, certain phonemes may be pronounced differently at the end of a word, when no other word follows within the same prosodic unit, such as in citation form...
. E.g. kā́mas ("erotic love") becomes kā́maḥ.
Spanish
A number of SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
dialects
Spanish dialects and varieties
Spanish dialects and varieties are the regional variants of the Spanish language, some of which are quite divergent from one another, especially in pronunciation and vocabulary, and less so in grammar....
debuccalize /s/ at the end
Syllable coda
In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. Some syllables consist only of a nucleus with no coda...
of a syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
to [h].
Gaelic
In Scottish and Irish GaelicIrish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, s, t, f changed by lenition
Lenition
In linguistics, lenition is a kind of sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word lenition itself means "softening" or "weakening" . Lenition can happen both synchronically and diachronically...
to [h], spelled sh, th and fh. Later the sound represented by fh was lost entirely.
External links
- "Debuccalization" (Chapter 4 of Paul D. Fallon's The Synchronic and Diachronic Phonology of Ejectives [Routledge, 2001]) gives many other terms that have been proposed for the phenomenon.
- Debuccalization and supplementary gestures