CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Sound change - Wikipedia</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikimwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy", "wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"fde49ac7-5b04-4572-98d1-7caf27c52cbc","wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Sound_change","wgTitle":"Sound change","wgCurRevisionId":1250391386,"wgRevisionId":1250391386,"wgArticleId":29641,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Articles with short description","Short description is different from Wikidata","Articles needing additional references from April 2010","All articles needing additional references","Wikipedia articles that are too technical from March 2013","All articles that are too technical","Articles with limited geographic scope from April 2024","Pages in non-existent country centric categories","Articles with multiple maintenance issues","Pages with plain IPA", "Wikipedia articles needing clarification from August 2024","All articles with unsourced statements","Articles with unsourced statements from August 2024","Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from May 2024","Articles with unsourced statements from July 2021","Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012","Historical linguistics","Phonology","Sound changes"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Sound_change","wgRelevantArticleId":29641,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgNoticeProject":"wikipedia","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":false,"wgFlaggedRevsParams":{"tags":{"status":{"levels":1}}},"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgPopupsFlags":0,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search": true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":20000,"wgRelatedArticlesCompat":[],"wgCentralAuthMobileDomain":false,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false,"wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q754984","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform","platformVersion"],"GEHomepageSuggestedEditsEnableTopics":true,"wgGETopicsMatchModeEnabled":false,"wgGEStructuredTaskRejectionReasonTextInputEnabled":false,"wgGELevelingUpEnabledForUser":false};RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","ext.pygments":"ready","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready", "skins.vector.icons":"ready","jquery.makeCollapsible.styles":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready","ext.wikimediaBadges":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","ext.pygments.view","site","mediawiki.page.ready","jquery.makeCollapsible","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","ext.gadget.switcher","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","mmv.bootstrap","ext.popups","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init","ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","ext.cx.eventlogging.campaigns","ext.cx.uls.quick.actions","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","ext.growthExperiments.SuggestedEditSession","wikibase.sidebar.tracking"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cext.pygments%2CwikimediaBadges%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cjquery.makeCollapsible.styles%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.4"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:title" content="Sound change - Wikipedia"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="preconnect" href="//upload.wikimedia.org"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_change"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit this page" href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikipedia (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_change"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikipedia Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//login.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Sound_change rootpage-Sound_change skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-description" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z"><span>Main page</span></a></li><li id="n-contents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents" title="Guides to browsing Wikipedia"><span>Contents</span></a></li><li id="n-currentevents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Current_events" title="Articles related to current events"><span>Current events</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Visit a randomly selected article [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random article</span></a></li><li id="n-aboutsite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" title="Learn about Wikipedia and how it works"><span>About Wikipedia</span></a></li><li id="n-contactpage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us" title="How to contact Wikipedia"><span>Contact us</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-interaction" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-interaction" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Contribute </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-introduction" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" title="Learn how to edit Wikipedia"><span>Learn to edit</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_portal" title="The hub for editors"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes to Wikipedia [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_upload_wizard" title="Add images or other media for use on Wikipedia"><span>Upload file</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/wikipedia.png" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wikipedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"> <img class="mw-logo-tagline" alt="The Free Encyclopedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-tagline-en.svg" width="117" height="13" style="width: 7.3125em; height: 0.8125em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia" aria-label="Search Wikipedia" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donate</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Sound+change" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Sound+change" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="Log in and more options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en"><span>Donate</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Sound+change" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Sound+change" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">(Top)</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Principles" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Principles"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>Principles</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Principles-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Formal_notation" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Formal_notation"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Formal notation</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Formal_notation-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Terms_for_changes_in_pronunciation" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Terms_for_changes_in_pronunciation"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Terms for changes in pronunciation</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Terms_for_changes_in_pronunciation-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Examples_of_specific_sound_changes_in_various_languages" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Examples_of_specific_sound_changes_in_various_languages"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Examples of specific sound changes in various languages</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Examples_of_specific_sound_changes_in_various_languages-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Notes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Notes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Notes</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Notes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Sound change</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 31 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-31" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">31 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%BA%D9%8A%D8%B1_%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B8%D9%8A" title="تغير لفظي – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="تغير لفظي" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ast mw-list-item"><a href="https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camb%C3%A9u_fon%C3%A9ticu" title="Cambéu fonéticu – Asturian" lang="ast" hreflang="ast" data-title="Cambéu fonéticu" data-language-autonym="Asturianu" data-language-local-name="Asturian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Asturianu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenomen_fon%C3%A8tic" title="Fenomen fonètic – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Fenomen fonètic" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lautwandel" title="Lautwandel – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Lautwandel" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A6%CE%B8%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AD%CF%82_%CE%BC%CE%B5%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%B2%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%AD%CF%82" title="Φθογγικές μεταβολές – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Φθογγικές μεταβολές" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ελληνικά</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambio_fon%C3%A9tico" title="Cambio fonético – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Cambio fonético" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%BA%DB%8C%DB%8C%D8%B1_%D8%B5%D8%AF%D8%A7" title="تغییر صدا – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="تغییر صدا" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modification_phon%C3%A9tique" title="Modification phonétique – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Modification phonétique" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gl mw-list-item"><a href="https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambio_fon%C3%A9tico" title="Cambio fonético – Galician" lang="gl" hreflang="gl" data-title="Cambio fonético" data-language-autonym="Galego" data-language-local-name="Galician" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Galego</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9D%8C%EC%9A%B4_%EB%B3%80%ED%99%94" title="음운 변화 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="음운 변화" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hy mw-list-item"><a href="https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%80%D5%B6%D5%B9%D5%B5%D5%B8%D6%82%D5%B6%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D6%85%D6%80%D5%A5%D5%B6%D6%84" title="Հնչյունական օրենք – Armenian" lang="hy" hreflang="hy" data-title="Հնչյունական օրենք" data-language-autonym="Հայերեն" data-language-local-name="Armenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Հայերեն</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%AA%D7%A7_%D7%94%D7%92%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9D" title="מעתק הגאים – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="מעתק הגאים" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ka mw-list-item"><a href="https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A4%E1%83%9D%E1%83%9C%E1%83%94%E1%83%A2%E1%83%98%E1%83%99%E1%83%A3%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98_%E1%83%9E%E1%83%A0%E1%83%9D%E1%83%AA%E1%83%94%E1%83%A1%E1%83%94%E1%83%91%E1%83%98" title="ფონეტიკური პროცესები – Georgian" lang="ka" hreflang="ka" data-title="ფონეტიკური პროცესები" data-language-autonym="ქართული" data-language-local-name="Georgian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ქართული</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-la mw-list-item"><a href="https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutatio_phonologica" title="Mutatio phonologica – Latin" lang="la" hreflang="la" data-title="Mutatio phonologica" data-language-autonym="Latina" data-language-local-name="Latin" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Latina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangv%C3%A1ltoz%C3%A1s" title="Hangváltozás – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Hangváltozás" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klankverschuiving" title="Klankverschuiving – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Klankverschuiving" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nds-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nds-nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaankverskoeving" title="Klaankverskoeving – Low Saxon" lang="nds-NL" hreflang="nds-NL" data-title="Klaankverskoeving" data-language-autonym="Nedersaksies" data-language-local-name="Low Saxon" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nedersaksies</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9F%B3%E5%A4%89%E5%8C%96" title="音変化 – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="音変化" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydforskyvning" title="Lydforskyvning – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Lydforskyvning" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proces_fonetyczny" title="Proces fonetyczny – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Proces fonetyczny" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schimbare_fonetic%C4%83" title="Schimbare fonetică – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Schimbare fonetică" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Română</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-stq mw-list-item"><a href="https://stq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiske_Luudleere" title="Historiske Luudleere – Saterland Frisian" lang="stq" hreflang="stq" data-title="Historiske Luudleere" data-language-autonym="Seeltersk" data-language-local-name="Saterland Frisian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Seeltersk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_change" title="Sound change – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Sound change" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sl mw-list-item"><a href="https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasovna_sprememba" title="Glasovna sprememba – Slovenian" lang="sl" hreflang="sl" data-title="Glasovna sprememba" data-language-autonym="Slovenščina" data-language-local-name="Slovenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenščina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0" title="Гласовна промена – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Гласовна промена" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Српски / srpski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%84%C3%A4nteenmuutos" title="Äänteenmuutos – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Äänteenmuutos" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv badge-Q17437798 badge-goodarticle mw-list-item" title="good article badge"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ljudf%C3%B6r%C3%A4ndring" title="Ljudförändring – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Ljudförändring" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ta mw-list-item"><a href="https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%92%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%BF_%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D" title="ஒலி மாற்றம் – Tamil" lang="ta" hreflang="ta" data-title="ஒலி மாற்றம்" data-language-autonym="தமிழ்" data-language-local-name="Tamil" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>தமிழ்</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ses_de%C4%9Fi%C5%9Fmeleri" title="Ses değişmeleri – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Ses değişmeleri" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD" title="Фонетичний закон – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Фонетичний закон" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%AA%9E%E9%9F%B3%E8%AE%8A%E5%8C%96" title="語音變化 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="語音變化" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q754984#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Sound_change" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Article</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Talk:Sound_change" rel="discussion" title="Discuss improvements to the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Sound_change"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Sound_change"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Sound_change" title="List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Sound_change" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&oldid=1250391386" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-cite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Sound_change&id=1250391386&wpFormIdentifier=titleform" title="Information on how to cite this page"><span>Cite this page</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSound_change"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSound_change"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Sound_change&action=show-download-screen" title="Download this page as a PDF file"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q754984" title="Structured data on this page hosted by Wikidata [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Process of language change that affects pronunciation or sound system structure</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1248332772">.mw-parser-output .multiple-issues-text{width:95%;margin:0.2em 0}.mw-parser-output .multiple-issues-text>.mw-collapsible-content{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox{border:none;border-collapse:collapse;background-color:transparent;margin:0 0 0 1.6em!important;padding:0!important;width:auto;display:block}body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox.mbox-small-left{font-size:100%;width:auto;margin:0}.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-text{padding:0!important;margin:0!important}.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-text-span{display:list-item;line-height:1.5em;list-style-type:disc}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .multiple-issues-text>.mw-collapsible-toggle,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-image,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-imageright,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-empty-cell,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .hide-when-compact{display:none}</style><table class="box-Multiple_issues plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-multiple_issues compact-ambox" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/40px-Ambox_important.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/60px-Ambox_important.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/80px-Ambox_important.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span"><div class="multiple-issues-text mw-collapsible"><b>This article has multiple issues.</b> Please help <b><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Sound_change" title="Special:EditPage/Sound change">improve it</a></b> or discuss these issues on the <b><a href="/wiki/Talk:Sound_change" title="Talk:Sound change">talk page</a></b>. <small><i>(<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove these messages</a>)</i></small> <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-More_citations_needed plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Sound_change" title="Special:EditPage/Sound change">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br /><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22Sound+change%22">"Sound change"</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22Sound+change%22+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22Sound+change%22&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22Sound+change%22+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Sound+change%22">scholar</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22Sound+change%22&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">April 2010</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Technical plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-style ambox-technical" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/40px-Edit-clear.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/60px-Edit-clear.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/80px-Edit-clear.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>may be too technical for most readers to understand</b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit">help improve it</a> to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Make_technical_articles_understandable" title="Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable">make it understandable to non-experts</a>, without removing the technical details.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">March 2013</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Globalize plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-globalize" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="Globe icon." src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Ambox_globe_content.svg/48px-Ambox_globe_content.svg.png" decoding="async" width="48" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Ambox_globe_content.svg/73px-Ambox_globe_content.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Ambox_globe_content.svg/97px-Ambox_globe_content.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="350" data-file-height="290" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">The examples and perspective in this article <b>deal primarily with Indo-European languages and do not represent a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Countering_systemic_bias" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias">worldwide view</a> of the subject</b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> You may <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit">improve this article</a>, discuss the issue on the <a href="/wiki/Talk:Sound_change" title="Talk:Sound change">talk page</a>, or <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_wizard" title="Wikipedia:Article wizard">create a new article</a>, as appropriate.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">April 2024</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> </div><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1246091330">.mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:22em;float:right;clear:right;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em;background:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa);border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);padding:0.2em;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%;border-collapse:collapse;display:table}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:table!important;float:right!important;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em!important}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-subgroup{width:100%;margin:0;border-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-left{float:left;clear:left;margin:0.5em 1em 1em 0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-none{float:none;clear:both;margin:0.5em 1em 1em 0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-outer-title{padding:0 0.4em 0.2em;font-size:125%;line-height:1.2em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-top-image{padding:0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-top-caption,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-pretitle-with-top-image,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-caption{padding:0.2em 0.4em 0;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-pretitle{padding:0.4em 0.4em 0;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{padding:0.2em 0.8em;font-size:145%;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{padding:0.1em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-image{padding:0.2em 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-heading{padding:0.1em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-content{padding:0 0.5em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-content-with-subgroup{padding:0.1em 0.4em 0.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-below{padding:0.3em 0.8em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-below{border-top:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-navbar{text-align:right;font-size:115%;padding:0 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:left;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;font-size:105%}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title-c{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:center;margin:0 3.3em}@media(max-width:640px){body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .sidebar a>img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1214851843">.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;padding:5px;border:none;font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .hidden-title{font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .hidden-content{text-align:left}@media all and (max-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{width:auto!important;clear:none!important;float:none!important}}</style><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1214851843"><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile" style="width:15em;margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em;"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title" style="background:#ccccff;padding: 0.3em; font-size: 120%;"><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Sound change</a> and <a href="/wiki/Alternation_(linguistics)" title="Alternation (linguistics)">alternation</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics)" title="Metathesis (linguistics)">Metathesis</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Quantitative_metathesis" title="Quantitative metathesis">Quantitative metathesis</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Lenition" title="Lenition">Lenition</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Consonant_gradation" title="Consonant gradation">Consonant gradation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Consonant_voicing_and_devoicing" title="Consonant voicing and devoicing">Consonant voicing and devoicing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Assibilation" title="Assibilation">Assibilation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spirantization" class="mw-redirect" title="Spirantization">Spirantization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/L-vocalization" title="L-vocalization">L-vocalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Debuccalization" title="Debuccalization">Debuccalization</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <a href="/wiki/Fortition" title="Fortition">Fortition</a></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Epenthesis" title="Epenthesis">Epenthesis</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Prothesis_(linguistics)" title="Prothesis (linguistics)">Prothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paragoge" title="Paragoge">Paragoge</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Unpacking_(linguistics)" title="Unpacking (linguistics)">Unpacking</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vowel_breaking" title="Vowel breaking">Vowel breaking</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Elision" title="Elision">Elision</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Apheresis_(linguistics)" title="Apheresis (linguistics)">Apheresis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Syncope_(phonology)" title="Syncope (phonology)">Syncope</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Apocope" title="Apocope">Apocope</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Haplology" title="Haplology">Haplology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cluster_reduction" title="Cluster reduction">Cluster reduction</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Transphonologization" title="Transphonologization">Transphonologization</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Compensatory_lengthening" title="Compensatory lengthening">Compensatory lengthening</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nasalization" title="Nasalization">Nasalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tone_(linguistics)#Origin" title="Tone (linguistics)">Tonogenesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Floating_tone" title="Floating tone">Floating tone</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Assimilation_(phonology)" title="Assimilation (phonology)">Assimilation</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Fusion_(phonetics)" title="Fusion (phonetics)">Fusion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Coarticulation" title="Coarticulation">Coarticulation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Palatalization_(sound_change)" title="Palatalization (sound change)">Palatalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Velarization" title="Velarization">Velarization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Labialization" title="Labialization">Labialization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Final-obstruent_devoicing" title="Final-obstruent devoicing">Final devoicing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Metaphony" title="Metaphony">Metaphony</a> (<a href="/wiki/Vowel_harmony" title="Vowel harmony">vowel harmony</a>, <a href="/wiki/I-mutation" title="I-mutation">umlaut</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Consonant_harmony" title="Consonant harmony">Consonant harmony</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <a href="/wiki/Dissimilation" title="Dissimilation">Dissimilation</a></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Sandhi" title="Sandhi">Sandhi</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Liaison_(French)" title="Liaison (French)">Liaison</a>, <a href="/wiki/Linking_and_intrusive_R" title="Linking and intrusive R">linking R</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Consonant_mutation" title="Consonant mutation">Consonant mutation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tone_sandhi" title="Tone sandhi">Tone sandhi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vowel_hiatus" title="Vowel hiatus">Vowel hiatus</a></li></ul> <div class="hidden-begin mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style=""><div class="hidden-title skin-nightmode-reset-color" style="text-align:center; padding-right: 1em;"><a href="/wiki/Synalepha" title="Synalepha">Synalepha</a></div><div class="hidden-content mw-collapsible-content" style="text-align:center;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Elision" title="Elision">Elision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Crasis" title="Crasis">Crasis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Synaeresis" title="Synaeresis">Synaeresis</a> and <a href="/wiki/Diaeresis_(prosody)" title="Diaeresis (prosody)">diaeresis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Synizesis" title="Synizesis">Synizesis</a></li></ul></div></div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Other types</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content plainlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Apophony" title="Apophony">Apophony</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Affrication" class="mw-redirect" title="Affrication">Affrication</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gemination" title="Gemination">Gemination</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Clipping_(phonetics)" title="Clipping (phonetics)">Clipping</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fronting_(sound_change)" title="Fronting (sound change)">Fronting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Raising_(sound_change)" title="Raising (sound change)">Raising</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Betacism" title="Betacism">Betacism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Iotacism" title="Iotacism">Iotacism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fusion_(phonetics)" title="Fusion (phonetics)">Fusion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_change#Merger" title="Phonological change">Merger</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Compensatory_lengthening" title="Compensatory lengthening">Compensatory lengthening</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Monophthongization" title="Monophthongization">Monophthongization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhotacism" title="Rhotacism">Rhotacism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhinoglottophilia" title="Rhinoglottophilia">Rhinoglottophilia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sulcalization" title="Sulcalization">Sulcalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Shm-reduplication" title="Shm-reduplication">Shm-reduplication</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Consonant_mutation" title="Consonant mutation">Consonant mutation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vowel_shift" title="Vowel shift">Vowel shift</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chain_shift" title="Chain shift">Chain shift</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar" style="border-top:#aaa 1px solid; padding-top: 1px;"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Sound_change" title="Template:Sound change"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Sound_change" title="Template talk:Sound change"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Sound_change" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Sound change"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><div class="side-box metadata side-box-right noprint selfref"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">This article contains <b><a href="/wiki/Phonetic_transcription" title="Phonetic transcription">phonetic transcriptions</a> in the <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> (IPA)</b>. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA" title="Help:IPA">Help:IPA</a>. For the distinction between <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ ]</span>, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ /</span> and ⟨<span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA" lang="und-Latn-fonipa"> </span>⟩, see <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet#Brackets_and_transcription_delimiters" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters</a>.</div></div> </div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Historical_linguistics" title="Historical linguistics">historical linguistics</a>, a <b>sound change</b> is a <a href="/wiki/Language_change" title="Language change">change</a> in the <a href="/wiki/Pronunciation" title="Pronunciation">pronunciation</a> of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one <a href="/wiki/Distinctive_feature" title="Distinctive feature">phonetic feature</a> value) by a different one (called <b>phonetic change</b>) or a more general change to the speech sounds that exist (<b><a href="/wiki/Phonological_change" title="Phonological change">phonological change</a></b>), such as the merger of two sounds or the creation of a new sound. A sound change can eliminate the affected sound, or a new sound can be added. Sound changes can be <b>environmentally conditioned</b> if the change occurs in only some <a href="/wiki/Phonetic_environment" title="Phonetic environment">sound environments</a>, and not others. </p><p>The term "sound change" refers to <a href="/wiki/Historical_linguistics" title="Historical linguistics">diachronic</a> changes, which occur in a language's sound system. On the other hand, "<a href="/wiki/Alternation_(linguistics)" title="Alternation (linguistics)">alternation</a>" refers to changes that happen <a href="/wiki/Synchronic_analysis" class="mw-redirect" title="Synchronic analysis">synchronically</a> (within the language of an individual speaker, depending on the neighbouring sounds) and do not change the language's <a href="/wiki/Underlying_representation" title="Underlying representation">underlying system</a> (for example, the <i>-s</i> in the <a href="/wiki/English_plural" class="mw-redirect" title="English plural">English plural</a> can be pronounced differently depending on the preceding sound, as in <i>bet</i>[s], <i>bed</i>[z], which is a form of alternation, rather than sound change). Since "sound change" can refer to the historical introduction of an alternation (such as postvocalic /k/ in the <a href="/wiki/Tuscan_dialect" title="Tuscan dialect">Tuscan dialect</a>, which was once [k] as in <i>di</i> [k]<i>arlo</i> 'of Carlo' but is now [h] <i>di</i> [h]<i>arlo</i> and alternates with [k] in other positions: <i>con</i> [k]<i>arlo</i> 'with Carlo'), that label is inherently imprecise and must often be clarified as referring to either phonemic change or restructuring. </p><p>Research on sound change is usually conducted under the working assumption that it is <i>regular</i>, which means that it is expected to apply mechanically whenever its structural conditions are met, irrespective of any non-phonological factors like the meaning of the words that are affected. Apparent exceptions to regular change can occur because of dialect borrowing, grammatical analogy, or other causes known and unknown, and some changes are described as "sporadic" and so they affect only one or a few particular words, without any apparent regularity. </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/Neogrammarian" title="Neogrammarian">Neogrammarian</a> linguists of the 19th century introduced the term <b>sound law</b> to refer to rules of regular change, perhaps in imitation of the laws of physics,<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and the term "law" is still used in referring to specific sound rules that are named after their authors like <a href="/wiki/Grimm%27s_law" title="Grimm's law">Grimm's law</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grassmann%27s_law" title="Grassmann's law">Grassmann's law</a>, <a href="/wiki/Category:Sound_laws" title="Category:Sound laws">etc.</a> Real-world sound laws often admit exceptions, but the expectation of their regularity or absence of exceptions is of great <a href="/wiki/Heuristic" title="Heuristic">heuristic</a> value<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify"><span title="unclear why acknowledging exceptions makes sounds changes less understandable or would prevent the application of the comparative method (August 2024)">further explanation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> by allowing historical linguists to define the notion of <i>regular correspondence</i> by the <a href="/wiki/Comparative_method" title="Comparative method">comparative method</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (August 2024)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>Each sound change is limited in space and time and so it functions in a limited area (within certain <a href="/wiki/Dialects" class="mw-redirect" title="Dialects">dialects</a>) and for a limited period of time. For those and other reasons, the term "sound law" has been criticized for implying a universality that is unrealistic for sound change.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>A sound change that affects the phonological system or the number or the distribution of its <a href="/wiki/Phonemes" class="mw-redirect" title="Phonemes">phonemes</a> is a <a href="/wiki/Phonological_change" title="Phonological change">phonological change</a>. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Principles">Principles</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Principles"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The following statements are used as heuristics in formulating sound changes as understood within the <a href="/wiki/Neogrammarian" title="Neogrammarian">Neogrammarian</a> model. However, for modern linguistics, they are not taken as inviolable rules but are seen as guidelines. </p><p><b>Sound change has no memory</b>: Sound change does not discriminate between the sources of a sound. If a previous sound change causes X,Y > Y (features X and Y merge as Y), a new one cannot affect only an original X. </p><p><b>Sound change ignores grammar</b>: A sound change can have only phonological constraints, like X > Z in <a href="/wiki/Stress_(linguistics)" title="Stress (linguistics)">unstressed</a> <a href="/wiki/Syllables" class="mw-redirect" title="Syllables">syllables</a>. For example, it cannot affect only <a href="/wiki/Adjective" title="Adjective">adjectives</a>. The only exception is that a sound change may recognise word boundaries, even when they are unindicated by <a href="/wiki/Prosody_(linguistics)" title="Prosody (linguistics)">prosodic</a> clues. Also, sound changes may be <a href="/wiki/Regularization_(linguistics)" title="Regularization (linguistics)">regularized</a> in <a href="/wiki/Inflectional_paradigm" class="mw-redirect" title="Inflectional paradigm">inflectional paradigms</a> (such as verbal inflection), when it is no longer <a href="/wiki/Phonology" title="Phonology">phonological</a> but <a href="/wiki/Morphology_(linguistics)" title="Morphology (linguistics)">morphological</a> in nature.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><b>Sound change is exceptionless</b>: If a sound change can happen at a place, it will affect all sounds that meet the criteria for change. Apparent exceptions are possible because of <a href="/wiki/Analogy" title="Analogy">analogy</a> and other regularization processes, another sound change, or an unrecognized conditioning factor. That is the traditional view expressed by the Neogrammarians. In the past decades, however, it has been shown<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch"><span title="The material near this tag may use weasel words or too-vague attribution. (May 2024)">by whom?</span></a></i>]</sup> that sound change does not necessarily affect all possible words.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2021)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> However, when a sound change is initiated, it often eventually expands to the whole <a href="/wiki/Lexicon" title="Lexicon">lexicon</a>. For example, the <a href="/wiki/Spanish_language" title="Spanish language">Spanish</a> fronting of the <a href="/wiki/Vulgar_Latin" title="Vulgar Latin">Vulgar Latin</a> [g] (<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_stop" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced velar stop">voiced velar stop</a>) before [i e ɛ] seems to have reached every possible word. By contrast, the voicing of word-initial Latin [k] to [g] occurred in <i>colaphus</i> > <i>golpe</i> and <i>cattus</i> > <i>gato</i> but not in <i>canna</i> > <i>caña</i>. See also <a href="/wiki/Lexical_diffusion" title="Lexical diffusion">lexical diffusion</a>. </p><p><b>Sound change is inevitable</b>: All languages vary from place to place and time to time, and neither writing nor media prevents that change. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Formal_notation">Formal notation</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Formal notation"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Phonological_rule" title="Phonological rule">Phonological rule</a></div> <p>A statement of the form </p> <dl><dd><dl><dd><code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">A > B</code></dd></dl></dd></dl> <p>is to be read as "Sound A changes into (or is replaced by, is reflected as, etc.) sound B". Therefore, A belongs to an older stage of the language in question, and B belongs to a more recent stage. The symbol ">" can be reversed, B < A, which also means that the (more recent) B derives from the (older) A": </p> <dl><dd><dl><dd>POc. *t > Rot. f</dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd>means that "<a href="/wiki/Proto-Oceanic_language" title="Proto-Oceanic language">Proto-Oceanic</a> (POc.) *t is reflected as <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[f]</span> in <a href="/wiki/Rotuman_language" title="Rotuman language">Rotuman</a> (Rot.)".</dd></dl> <p>The two sides of such a statement indicate only the start and the end of the change, but additional intermediate stages may have occurred. The example above is actually a compressed account of a <i>sequence</i> of changes: *<span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[t]</span> first changed to <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[θ]</span> (like the initial consonant of <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a> <i>thin</i>), which has since yielded <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[f]</span> and can be represented more fully: </p> <dl><dd><dl><dd>t > <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">θ</span> > f</dd></dl></dd></dl> <p>Unless a change operates unconditionally (in all environments), the context in which it applies must be specified: </p> <dl><dd><dl><dd>A > B /X__Y</dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd>= "A changes to B when it is preceded by X and followed by Y."</dd></dl> <p>For example: </p> <dl><dd><dl><dd>It. b > v /[vowel]__[vowel], which can be simplified to just</dd> <dd>It. b > v /V__V (in which the V stands for any vowel)</dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd>= "Intervocalic [b] (inherited from <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a>) became [v] in <a href="/wiki/Italian_language" title="Italian language">Italian</a>" (such as in <i>caballum, dēbet</i> > <i>cavallo</i> 'horse', <i>deve</i> 'owe (3rd pers. sing.)'</dd></dl> <p>Here is a second example: </p> <dl><dd><dl><dd>PIr. [−cont][−voi] > [+cont] /__[C][+cont]</dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd>= "A preconsonantal voiceless non-continuant (voiceless stop) changed into corresponding a voiceless continuant (<a href="/wiki/Fricative_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Fricative consonant">fricative</a>) in <a href="/wiki/Proto-Iranian" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Iranian">Proto-Iranian</a> (PIr.)" when it was immediately followed by a continuant consonant (a <a href="/wiki/Resonant_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Resonant consonant">resonant</a> or a fricative): <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-Iranian" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Indo-Iranian">Proto-Indo-Iranian</a> *<i>pra</i> 'forth' > <a href="/wiki/Avestan_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Avestan language">Avestan</a> <i>fra</i>; *<i>trayas</i> "three" (masc. nom. pl.)> Av. <i>θrayō</i>; *<i>čatwāras</i> "four" (masc. nom. pl.) > Av. <i>čaθwārō</i>; *<i>pśaws</i> "of a cow" (nom. *<i>paśu</i>) > Av. <i>fšāoš</i> (nom. <i>pasu</i>). The fricativization did not occur before stops and so *<i>sapta</i> "seven" > Av. <i>hapta</i>. (However, in the variety of <a href="/wiki/Iranian_languages" title="Iranian languages">Iranian</a> that led to <a href="/wiki/Old_Persian" title="Old Persian">Old Persian</a>, fricativization occurred in all clusters: Old Persian <i>hafta</i> "seven".)</dd></dl> <p>The symbol "#" stands for a word boundary (initial or final) and so the notation "/__#" means "word-finally", and "/#__" means "word-initially": </p> <dl><dd><dl><dd>Gk. [stop] > ∅ /__#</dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd>= "Word-final stops were deleted in <a href="/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language">Greek</a> (<i>Gk.</i>)".</dd></dl> <p>That can be simplified to </p> <dl><dd><dl><dd>Gk. P > ∅ / __#</dd></dl></dd></dl> <p>in which P stands for any <a href="/wiki/Plosive_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Plosive consonant">plosive</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Terms_for_changes_in_pronunciation">Terms for changes in pronunciation</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Terms for changes in pronunciation"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Historical_linguistics" title="Historical linguistics">historical linguistics</a>, a number of traditional terms designate types of phonetic change, either by nature or result. A number of such types are often (or usually) sporadic, that is, more or less accidents that happen to a specific form. Others affect a whole phonological system. Sound changes that affect a whole phonological system are also classified according to how they affect the overall shape of the system; see <i><a href="/wiki/Phonological_change" title="Phonological change">phonological change</a></i>. </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Assimilation_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Assimilation (linguistics)">Assimilation</a>: One sound becomes more like another, or (much more rarely) two sounds become more like each other. Example: in Latin the prefix *<i>kom</i>- becomes <i>con</i>- before an <a href="/wiki/Apical_consonant" title="Apical consonant">apical stop</a> (<span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[t<span class="wrap"> </span>d]</span>) or <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[n]</span>: <i>contactus</i> "touched", <i>condere</i> "to found, establish", <i>connūbium</i> "legal marriage". The great majority of assimilations take place between contiguous segments,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2012)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> and the great majority involve the earlier sound becoming more like the later one (e.g. in <i>connūbium,</i> <i>m- + n</i> becomes <i>-nn-</i> rather than <i>-mm-</i>). Assimilation between contiguous segments are (<a href="/wiki/Diachronics" class="mw-redirect" title="Diachronics">diachronically</a> speaking) exceptionless sound laws rather than sporadic, isolated changes.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2012)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dissimilation" title="Dissimilation">Dissimilation</a>: The opposite of assimilation. One sound becomes less like another, or (much more rarely) two sounds become less like each other. Examples: Classical Latin <i>quīnque</i> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/kʷiːnkʷe/</span> "five" > Vulgar Latin *<i>kinkʷe</i> (whence French <i>cinq</i>, Italian <i>cinque</i>, etc.); <a href="/wiki/Old_Spanish_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Old Spanish language">Old Spanish</a> <i>omne</i> "man" > Spanish <i>hombre</i>. The great majority of dissimilations involve segments that are <b>not</b> contiguous, but, as with assimilations, the great majority involve an earlier sound changing with reference to a later one. Dissimilation is usually a sporadic phenomenon, but <a href="/wiki/Grassmann%27s_Law" class="mw-redirect" title="Grassmann's Law">Grassmann's Law</a> (in Sanskrit and Greek) exemplifies a systematic dissimilation. If the change of a sequence of fricatives such that one becomes a stop is dissimilation, then such changes as <a href="/wiki/Proto-Germanic_language" title="Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic</a> *hs to <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ks/</span> (spelled <i>x</i>) in English would count as a regular sound law: PGmc. *<i>sehs</i> "six" > <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a> <i>siex</i>, etc.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics)" title="Metathesis (linguistics)">Metathesis</a>: Two sounds switch places. Example: Old English <i>th<b>ri</b>dda</i> became Middle English <i>th<b>ir</b>d</i>. Most such changes are sporadic, but occasionally a sound law is involved, as Romance *<i>tl</i> > Spanish <i>ld</i>, thus *<i>kapitlu, *titlu</i> "chapter (of a cathedral)", "<a href="/wiki/Tittle" title="Tittle">tittle</a>" > Spanish <i>cabildo, tilde</i>. Metathesis can take place between non-contiguous segments, as Greek <i>amélgō</i> "I milk" > Modern Greek <i>armégō.</i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lenition" title="Lenition">Lenition</a>: "Weakening" of a consonant from one that takes more effort to pronounce (and more constriction in the vocal tract) to one that takes less, e.g. a <a href="/wiki/Stop_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Stop consonant">stop consonant</a> becoming an <a href="/wiki/Affricate" title="Affricate">affricate</a> or <a href="/wiki/Fricative" title="Fricative">fricative</a>.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fortition" title="Fortition">Fortition</a>: the opposite of lenition, "strengthening" a consonant, e.g. an <a href="/wiki/Approximant" title="Approximant">approximant</a> becoming an affricate or fricative.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tone_(linguistics)#Origin" title="Tone (linguistics)">Tonogenesis</a>: Syllables come to have distinctive <a href="/wiki/Pitch_contour" title="Pitch contour">pitch contours</a>.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sandhi" title="Sandhi">Sandhi</a>: Conditioned changes that take place at word-boundaries but not elsewhere. It can be <a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morpheme</a>-specific, as in the loss of the vowel in the enclitic forms of English <i>is</i> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ɪz/</span>, with subsequent change of <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/z/</span> to <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/s/</span> adjacent to a voiceless consonant <i>Frank's not here</i> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ˈfræŋksnɒtˈhɪər/</span>. Or a small class of elements, such as the assimilation of the <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ð/</span> of English <i>the, this</i> and <i>that</i> to a preceding <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/n/</span> (including the <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/n/</span> of <i>and</i> when the <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/d/</span> is elided) or <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/l/</span>: <i>all the</i> often <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ɔːllə/</span>, <i>in the</i> often <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ɪnnə/</span>, and so on. As in these examples, such features are rarely indicated in standard orthography. In a striking exception, Sanskrit orthography reflects a wide variety of such features; thus, <i>tat</i> "that" is written <i>tat</i>,<i> tac</i>,<i> taj</i>,<i> tad</i>,<i> </i>or <i>tan</i> depending on what the first sound of the next word is. These are all assimilations, but medial sequences do not assimilate the same way.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Haplology" title="Haplology">Haplology</a>: The loss of a syllable when an adjacent syllable is similar or (rarely) identical. Example: Old English <i>Englaland</i> became Modern English <i>England</i>, or the common pronunciation of <i>probably</i> as <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ˈprɒbli]</span>. This change usually affects commonly used words. The word haplology itself is sometimes jokingly pronounced "haplogy".</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Elision" title="Elision">Elision</a>, <a href="/wiki/Apheresis_(linguistics)" title="Apheresis (linguistics)">aphaeresis</a>, <a href="/wiki/Syncope_(phonetics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Syncope (phonetics)">syncope</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Apocope" title="Apocope">apocope</a>: All are losses of sounds. Elision is the loss of unstressed sounds, aphaeresis the loss of initial sounds, syncope is the loss of medial sounds, and apocope is the loss of final sounds. <ul><li>Elision examples: in the southeastern United States, unstressed schwas tend to drop, so "American" is not <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/əˈmɛɹəkən/</span> but <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ˈmɚkən/</span>. Standard English is <i>possum</i> < <i>opossum</i>.</li> <li>Syncope examples: the Old French word for "state" is <i>estat</i>, but the <i>s</i> disappeared, yielding <i>état</i>. Similarly, the loss of <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/t/</span> in English <i>soften, hasten, castle</i>, etc.</li> <li>Apocope examples: the final -<i>e</i> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ə]</span> in Middle English words was pronounced, but is only retained in spelling as a <a href="/wiki/Silent_E" class="mw-redirect" title="Silent E">silent E</a>. In English <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/b/</span> and <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ɡ/</span> were apocopated in final position after nasals: <i>lamb, long</i> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/læm/,<span class="wrap"> </span>/lɒŋ<span class="wrap"> </span>~<span class="wrap"> </span>lɔːŋ/</span>.</li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Epenthesis" title="Epenthesis">Epenthesis</a> (also known as anaptyxis): The introduction of a sound between two adjacent sounds. Examples: Latin <i>humilis</i> > English <i>humble</i>; in Slavic an -l- intrudes between a labial and a following yod, as *<i>zemya</i> "land" > Russian <i>zemlya</i> (земля). Most commonly, epenthesis is in the nature of a "transitional" consonant, but vowels may be epenthetic: non-standard English <i>film</i> in two syllables, <i>athlete</i> in three. Epenthesis can be regular, as when the Indo-European "tool" suffix *-<i>tlom</i> everywhere becomes Latin -<i>culum</i> (so <i>speculum</i> "mirror" < *<i>speḱtlom</i>, <i>pōculum</i> "drinking cup" < *<i>poH<sub>3</sub>-tlom</i>). Some scholars reserve the term <i>epenthesis</i> for "intrusive" vowels and use <i>excrescence</i> for intrusive consonants.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Prothesis_(linguistics)" title="Prothesis (linguistics)">Prothesis</a>: The addition of a sound at the beginning of a word. Example: word-initial <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/s/</span> + stop clusters in Latin gained a preceding <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/e/</span> in Old Spanish and Old French; hence, the Spanish word for "state" is <i>estado</i>, deriving from Latin <i>status</i>.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nasalization" title="Nasalization">Nasalization</a>: Vowels followed by nasal consonants can become nasalized. If the nasal consonant is lost but the vowel retains its nasalized pronunciation, nasalization becomes <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phonemic</a>, that is, distinctive. Example: French "-in" words used to be pronounced <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[in]</span>, but are now pronounced <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ɛ̃]</span>, and the <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[n]</span> is no longer pronounced (except in cases of <a href="/wiki/Liaison_(French)" title="Liaison (French)">liaison</a>).</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Examples_of_specific_sound_changes_in_various_languages">Examples of specific sound changes in various languages</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Examples of specific sound changes in various languages"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ingvaeonic_nasal_spirant_law" title="Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law">Anglo-Frisian nasal spirant law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Canaanite_shift" title="Canaanite shift">Canaanite shift</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cot-caught_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="Cot-caught merger">Cot-caught merger</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dahl%27s_law" title="Dahl's law">Dahl's law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grassmann%27s_law" title="Grassmann's law">Grassmann's law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift" title="Great Vowel Shift">Great Vowel Shift</a> (English)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grimm%27s_law" title="Grimm's law">Grimm's law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/High_German_consonant_shift" title="High German consonant shift">High German consonant shift</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kluge%27s_law" title="Kluge's law">Kluge's law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Onbin" title="Onbin">Onbin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonetic_change_%22f_%E2%86%92_h%22_in_Spanish" title="Phonetic change "f → h" in Spanish">Phonetic change "f → h" in Spanish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ruki_sound_law" title="Ruki sound law">Ruki sound law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Slavic_palatalization_(disambiguation)" class="mw-redirect mw-disambig" title="Slavic palatalization (disambiguation)">Slavic palatalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/I-mutation" title="I-mutation">Umlaut</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Verner%27s_law" title="Verner's law">Verner's law</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Notes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Sihler, p. 50</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"The French phoneticians and the Fino-Ugric linguists" are examples according to Anttila, p. 85.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">See Hill, Nathan W. (2014) '<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/18595/">Grammatically conditioned sound change</a>.' <i>Language and Linguistics Compass,</i> 8 (6). pp. 211-229.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Anttila, Raimo (1989). <i>Historical and Comparative Linguistics</i>. John Benjamins.</li> <li>Campbell, Lyle (2004). <i>Historical Linguistics: An Introduction</i>. The MIT Press.</li> <li>Hale, Mark (2007). <i>Historical Linguistics: Theory and Method</i>. Oxford, Blackwell</li> <li>Hock, Hans Henrich (1991). <i>Principles of Historical Linguistics</i>. Mouton De Gruyter.</li> <li>McDorman, Richard E. (1999). <i>Labial Instability in Sound Change</i>. Organizational Knowledge Press.</li> <li>Morley, Rebecca (2019). <i>Sound Structure and Sound Change: A Modeling Approach</i>. Berlin: Language Science Press. <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-96110-191-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-3-96110-191-7">978-3-96110-191-7</a>. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.5281%2Fzenodo.3264909">10.5281/zenodo.3264909</a>. Open Access. <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/251">http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/251</a></li> <li>Sihler, Andrew L. (2000). <i>Language History: An Introduction</i>. John Benjamins.</li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Historical_linguistics" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible mw-collapsed navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Historical_linguistics" title="Template:Historical linguistics"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Template_talk:Historical_linguistics&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Template talk:Historical linguistics (page does not exist)"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Historical_linguistics" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Historical linguistics"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Historical_linguistics" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Historical_linguistics" title="Historical linguistics">Historical linguistics</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Comparative_Linguistics" class="mw-redirect" title="Comparative Linguistics">Comparative Linguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Synchrony_and_diachrony" class="mw-redirect" title="Synchrony and diachrony">Synchrony and diachrony</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Protolanguage" class="mw-redirect" title="Protolanguage">Protolanguage</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Language_death" title="Language death">Language death</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neogrammarians" class="mw-redirect" title="Neogrammarians">Neogrammarians</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:Historical_linguistics" title="Category:Historical linguistics">More...</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Language_change" title="Language change">Language change</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Sound change</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Language_change" title="Language change">Language change</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_change" title="Semantic change">Semantic change</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Syntactic_change" title="Syntactic change">Syntactic change</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Archaism" title="Archaism">Archaism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Relationship with <a href="/wiki/Anthropology" title="Anthropology">anthropology</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Father_Tongue_hypothesis" class="mw-redirect" title="Father Tongue hypothesis">Father Tongue hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Farming/language_dispersal_hypothesis" title="Farming/language dispersal hypothesis">Farming/language dispersal hypothesis</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Historical_linguistics" title="Category:Historical linguistics">Category</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1038841319">.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox authority-control" aria-label="Navbox" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Help:Authority_control" title="Help:Authority control">Authority control databases</a>: National <span class="mw-valign-text-top noprint" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q754984#identifiers" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/15px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20" /></a></span></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"><ul><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://d-nb.info/gnd/4034779-5">Germany</a></span></li><li><span class="uid"><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip tooltip-dotted" title="Mutation (Phonetics)"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh87003526">United States</a></span></span></li><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://olduli.nli.org.il/F/?func=find-b&local_base=NLX10&find_code=UID&request=987007536756105171">Israel</a></span></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&oldid=1250391386">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&oldid=1250391386</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Historical_linguistics" title="Category:Historical linguistics">Historical linguistics</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Phonology" title="Category:Phonology">Phonology</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Sound_changes" title="Category:Sound changes">Sound changes</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden categories: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_short_description" title="Category:Articles with short description">Articles with short description</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Short_description_is_different_from_Wikidata" title="Category:Short description is different from Wikidata">Short description is different from Wikidata</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_needing_additional_references_from_April_2010" title="Category:Articles needing additional references from April 2010">Articles needing additional references from April 2010</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_needing_additional_references" title="Category:All articles needing additional references">All articles needing additional references</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_articles_that_are_too_technical_from_March_2013" title="Category:Wikipedia articles that are too technical from March 2013">Wikipedia articles that are too technical from March 2013</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_that_are_too_technical" title="Category:All articles that are too technical">All articles that are too technical</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_limited_geographic_scope_from_April_2024" title="Category:Articles with limited geographic scope from April 2024">Articles with limited geographic scope from April 2024</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Pages_in_non-existent_country_centric_categories" title="Category:Pages in non-existent country centric categories">Pages in non-existent country centric categories</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_multiple_maintenance_issues" title="Category:Articles with multiple maintenance issues">Articles with multiple maintenance issues</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Pages_with_plain_IPA" title="Category:Pages with plain IPA">Pages with plain IPA</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_articles_needing_clarification_from_August_2024" title="Category:Wikipedia articles needing clarification from August 2024">Wikipedia articles needing clarification from August 2024</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_with_unsourced_statements" title="Category:All articles with unsourced statements">All articles with unsourced statements</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_unsourced_statements_from_August_2024" title="Category:Articles with unsourced statements from August 2024">Articles with unsourced statements from August 2024</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_specifically_marked_weasel-worded_phrases_from_May_2024" title="Category:Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from May 2024">Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from May 2024</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_unsourced_statements_from_July_2021" title="Category:Articles with unsourced statements from July 2021">Articles with unsourced statements from July 2021</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_unsourced_statements_from_September_2012" title="Category:Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012">Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 10 October 2024, at 04:35<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy policy">Privacy Policy</a>. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/">Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.</a>, a non-profit organization.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sound_change&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" loading="lazy"></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-settings" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul></ul> </div><script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-f69cdc8f6-ps8jv","wgBackendResponseTime":146,"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.531","walltime":"0.701","ppvisitednodes":{"value":3082,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":99317,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":16832,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":23,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":11,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":0,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":39571,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":1,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 620.904 1 -total"," 18.23% 113.175 1 Template:Sound_change"," 17.86% 110.899 1 Template:Sidebar_with_collapsible_lists"," 17.39% 107.984 1 Template:Multiple_issues"," 12.95% 80.432 1 Template:Short_description"," 12.23% 75.922 3 Template:Ambox"," 11.09% 68.834 1 Template:ISBN"," 10.83% 67.269 1 Template:More_citations_needed"," 9.02% 55.997 6 Template:Fix"," 8.65% 53.723 2 Template:Pagetype"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.327","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":4395565,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.codfw.main-f69cdc8f6-sscwj","timestamp":"20241122143342","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","name":"Sound change","url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sound_change","sameAs":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q754984","mainEntity":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q754984","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Contributors to Wikimedia projects"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.org\/static\/images\/wmf-hor-googpub.png"}},"datePublished":"2002-01-21T20:07:19Z","dateModified":"2024-10-10T04:35:23Z","headline":"process of language change affecting pronunciation or sound system structure"}</script> </body> </html>