Lenition

From Glottopedia
Revision as of 17:47, 21 September 2014 by NBlöcher (talk | contribs) (Edited the format and removed the block {{cats}})
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Definition

Lenition is a process of weakening. The diachronic development in (i) can be analyzed as a case of lenition (Hooper (1976), Katamba (1989)):

(i)       Latin	 Italian  Spanish  French
	  vita	 vita	  vida	   vie	  'life'
            t  ->  t   ->   d   ->    0

Lenition can be explained by referring to the sonority hierarchy: the progression down the sonority hierarchy is from a voiceless stop to a voiced stop before deletion takes place. Lenition can also occur in one language.

Link

References

  • Hooper, J. 1976. Introduction to Natural Generative Phonology, Academic Press, New York.
  • Katamba, F. 1989. An Introduction to Phonology, Longmans, London.