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Fusion (phonetics)

January 12, 2023

For fusion in morphology, see Fusional language.

In phonetics and historical linguistics, fusion, or coalescence, is a sound change where two or more segments with distinctive features merge into a single segment. This can occur both on consonants and in vowels. A word like educate is one that may exhibit fusion, e.g. /ɛdjʊkeɪt/ or /ˈɛdʒʊkeɪt/. A merger between two segments can also occur between word boundaries, an example being the phrase got ya being pronounced like gotcha /ɡɒtʃə/. Most cases of fusion lead to allophonic variation, though some sequences of segments may lead to wholly distinct phonemes.

A common form of fusion is found in the development of nasal vowels, which frequently become phonemic when final nasal consonants are lost from a language. This occurred in French and Portuguese. Compare the French words un vin blanc [œ̃ vɛ̃ blɑ̃] "a white wine" with their English cognates, one, wine, blank, which retain the n's.

Often the resulting sound has the place of articulation of one of the source sounds and the manner of articulation of the other, as in Malay.

Vowel coalescence is extremely common. The resulting vowel is often long, and either between the two original vowels in vowel space, as in [ai] → [eː] → [e] and [au] → [oː] → [o] in French (compare English day [deɪ] and law [lɔː]), in Hindi (with [ɛː], [ɔː]), and in some varieties of Arabic; or combines features of the vowels, as in [ui] → [yː] → [y] and [oi] → [øː] → [ø].

Compensatory lengthening may be considered an extreme form of fusion.

Examples

Indo-European languages

English

Historically, the alveolar plosives and fricatives have fused with /j/, in a process referred to as yod coalescence. Words like nature and omission have had such consonant clusters, being pronounced like /naːˈtiu̯r/ and /ɔˈmisjən/. Words ending in the Latin-derived suffixes -tion and -sion, such as fiction and mission, are examples that exhibit yod coalescence.

This sound change was not, however, distributed evenly. Words like module may be realised as either /ˈmɒdjuːl/ or /ˈmɒdʒuːl/. Words that did not experience universal yod coalescence, are always realised as two segments in accents like Received Pronunciation. Most other dialects do pronounce them as one segment, however, like American English.

Words with primary stress on a syllable with such a cluster did not experience coalescence either. Examples include tune /tjuːn/ and assume /əˈsjuːm/. Some dialects exhibit coalescence in these cases, where some coalesce only /tj/ and /dj/, while others also coalesce /sj/ and /zj/. In General American, /j/ elides entirely when following alveolar consonants, in a process called yod dropping. The previous examples end up as /tuːn/ and /əˈsuːm/. Words that have already coalesced are not affected by this.

Australian English exhibits yod coalescence to an extreme degree, even when the cluster is in a stressed syllable, though there is some sociolectal variation. In an accent with full yod coalescence, tune and assume are pronounced like /tʃuːn/ and /əˈʃuːm/. This can result in homophony between previously distinct words, as between dune and June, which are both pronounced /d͡ʒuːn/.

Romance languages

Further information: Romance languages § Palatalization, and Palatalization_(sound_change) § Romance_languages

Most Romance languages have coalesced sequences of consonants followed by /j/. Sequences of plosives followed by /j/ most often became affricates, often being intermediary stages to other manners of articulation. Sonorants in such a sequence (except bilabial consonants) mostly became palatalized.

Greek

Further information: Proto-Greek language § Other Post-Proto-Greek changes, and Iotacism

During the development of Ancient Greek from Proto-Greek, the labiovelar [kʷ], [kʷʰ], and [ɡʷ] became [p], [pʰ], and [b]. Although the labiovelars were already a single consonant, they had two places of articulation, a velar articulation and labial secondary articulation ([ʷ]). However, the development of labiovelars varies from dialect to dialect, and some may have become dental instead. An example is the word boûs "cow" from Proto-Greek *gʷous.

A vowel coalescence from Ancient Greek to Koine Greek fused many diphthongs, especially those including /i̯/. E.g. /ai̯/ > /e/; /aːi̯/ > /a/; /ɛːi̯/ and /oi̯/ > /i/ and /ɔːi̯/ > /o/.

Celtic languages

Several consonant clusters in Proto-Celtic underwent fusion, most prominently /*ɡ/ to the following consonant in coda position. Examples include *ougros to úar and *maglos to mál in Old Irish.

North Germanic languages

In Norwegian and Swedish, this process occurs whenever the phoneme /ɾ/ is followed by an alveolar consonant. The articulation of the resulting fusion becomes retroflex. Examples include the Norwegian bart [bɑʈ] and Swedish nord [nuːɖ]. This even occurs across word boundaries, as in the sentence "går det bra?" becoming /ɡoː‿ɖə brɑː/.

This process will continue for as long as there are more alveolar consonants, though when this amount exceeds four, people usually try to break it up or shorten it, usually by replacing /ʂ/ with /s/, or eliding /d/. An extreme example of this would be the word ordensstraff /ɔ.ɗɳ̩ʂ.ʂʈɽɑfː/, having six retroflex consonants in a row.

In colloquial Norwegian, the sequence /rt/ may even coalesce over non-alveolar phonemes, changing their place of articulation to retroflex, even if /r/ normally wouldn't trigger it. Examples include sterkt /stæɾkt/ [stæʈː], skarpt /skɑɾpt/ [skɑʈː], verktøy /ʋæɾk.tœʏ̯/ [ʋæʈ.ʈœʏ̯] and varmt /ʋɑɾmt/ [ʋɑɳʈ]. This process does not occur across word boundaries, e.g. sterk tann is pronounced /stæɾk tɑnː/ and not */stæ‿ʈɒnː/[1]

In dialects where /r/ is articulated uvularly, this process invariably takes place on idiolectal level. For example, /rɑːrt/ may be realised as [ʁɑːʁt] or [ʁɑːʈ]. This may appear in regions where /r/ has recently become uvular.[2]

Austronesian languages

Malay

In Malay, the final consonant of the prefix /məN-/ (where N stands for a "placeless nasal", i.e. a nasal with no specified place of articulation) coalesces with a voiceless stop at the beginning of the root to which the prefix is attached. The resulting sound is a nasal that has the place of articulation of the root-initial consonant.[3] For example:

  • /məN + potoŋ/ becomes /məmotoŋ/ 'cut' ([p] and [m] are both pronounced with the lips)
  • /məN + tulis/ becomes /mənulis/ 'write' ([t] and [n] are both pronounced with the tip of the tongue)
  • /məN + kira/ becomes /məŋira/ 'guess' ([k] and [ŋ] are both pronounced at the back of the tongue)

Japanese

Vowel coalescence occurs in Owari Japanese. The Diphthongs /ai/ and /ae/ change to [æː], /oi/ and /oe/ change to [øː] and /ui/ changes to [yː]. E.g. 来年 /raineN/ > [ræ:nen], 鯉 /koi/ > [køː], 熱い /atsui/ > [atsyː~atɕːyː]. Younger speakers may vary between Standard Japanese diphthongs and dialectal monophthongs.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Solhaug, Tor H. (2010) Retroflexion in Norwegian. University of Tromsø. Retrieved 2019-10-12
  2. ^ Johnson, Sverre S. (2012) A diachronic account of phonological unnaturalness*. University of Oslo. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/S0952675712000243. Retrieved 2019-10-12
  3. ^ Laura Benua, July 1995, Identity Effects in Morphological Truncation. Retrieved 2009-05-03
  4. ^ Youngberg, Connor. (2013) Vocalic Coalescence in Owari Japanese 2022-01-11 at the Wayback Machine SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 16.

Sources

  • Crowley, Terry. (1997) An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.

January 12, 2023
fusion, phonetics, fusion, morphology, fusional, language, phonetics, historical, linguistics, fusion, coalescence, sound, change, where, more, segments, with, distinctive, features, merge, into, single, segment, this, occur, both, consonants, vowels, word, li. For fusion in morphology see Fusional language In phonetics and historical linguistics fusion or coalescence is a sound change where two or more segments with distinctive features merge into a single segment This can occur both on consonants and in vowels A word like educate is one that may exhibit fusion e g ɛdjʊkeɪt or ˈɛdʒʊkeɪt A merger between two segments can also occur between word boundaries an example being the phrase got ya being pronounced like gotcha ɡɒtʃe Most cases of fusion lead to allophonic variation though some sequences of segments may lead to wholly distinct phonemes A common form of fusion is found in the development of nasal vowels which frequently become phonemic when final nasal consonants are lost from a language This occurred in French and Portuguese Compare the French words un vin blanc œ vɛ blɑ a white wine with their English cognates one wine blank which retain the n s Often the resulting sound has the place of articulation of one of the source sounds and the manner of articulation of the other as in Malay Vowel coalescence is extremely common The resulting vowel is often long and either between the two original vowels in vowel space as in ai eː e and au oː o in French compare English day deɪ and law lɔː in Hindi with ɛː ɔː and in some varieties of Arabic or combines features of the vowels as in ui yː y and oi oː o Compensatory lengthening may be considered an extreme form of fusion Contents 1 Examples 1 1 Indo European languages 1 1 1 English 1 1 2 Romance languages 1 1 3 Greek 1 1 4 Celtic languages 1 1 5 North Germanic languages 1 2 Austronesian languages 1 2 1 Malay 1 3 Japanese 2 See also 3 References 4 SourcesExamples EditIndo European languages Edit English Edit Historically the alveolar plosives and fricatives have fused with j in a process referred to as yod coalescence Words like nature and omission have had such consonant clusters being pronounced like naːˈtiu r and ɔˈmisjen Words ending in the Latin derived suffixes tion and sion such as fiction and mission are examples that exhibit yod coalescence This sound change was not however distributed evenly Words like module may be realised as either ˈmɒdjuːl or ˈmɒdʒuːl Words that did not experience universal yod coalescence are always realised as two segments in accents like Received Pronunciation Most other dialects do pronounce them as one segment however like American English Words with primary stress on a syllable with such a cluster did not experience coalescence either Examples include tune tjuːn and assume eˈsjuːm Some dialects exhibit coalescence in these cases where some coalesce only tj and dj while others also coalesce sj and zj In General American j elides entirely when following alveolar consonants in a process called yod dropping The previous examples end up as tuːn and eˈsuːm Words that have already coalesced are not affected by this Australian English exhibits yod coalescence to an extreme degree even when the cluster is in a stressed syllable though there is some sociolectal variation In an accent with full yod coalescence tune and assume are pronounced like tʃuːn and eˈʃuːm This can result in homophony between previously distinct words as between dune and June which are both pronounced d ʒuːn Romance languages Edit Further information Romance languages Palatalization and Palatalization sound change Romance languages Most Romance languages have coalesced sequences of consonants followed by j Sequences of plosives followed by j most often became affricates often being intermediary stages to other manners of articulation Sonorants in such a sequence except bilabial consonants mostly became palatalized Greek Edit Further information Proto Greek language Other Post Proto Greek changes and Iotacism During the development of Ancient Greek from Proto Greek the labiovelar kʷ kʷʰ and ɡʷ became p pʰ and b Although the labiovelars were already a single consonant they had two places of articulation a velar articulation and labial secondary articulation ʷ However the development of labiovelars varies from dialect to dialect and some may have become dental instead An example is the word bous cow from Proto Greek gʷous A vowel coalescence from Ancient Greek to Koine Greek fused many diphthongs especially those including i E g ai gt e aːi gt a ɛːi and oi gt i and ɔːi gt o Celtic languages Edit Several consonant clusters in Proto Celtic underwent fusion most prominently ɡ to the following consonant in coda position Examples include ougros to uar and maglos to mal in Old Irish North Germanic languages Edit In Norwegian and Swedish this process occurs whenever the phoneme ɾ is followed by an alveolar consonant The articulation of the resulting fusion becomes retroflex Examples include the Norwegian bart bɑʈ and Swedish nord nuːɖ This even occurs across word boundaries as in the sentence gar det bra becoming ɡoː ɖe brɑː This process will continue for as long as there are more alveolar consonants though when this amount exceeds four people usually try to break it up or shorten it usually by replacing ʂ with s or eliding d An extreme example of this would be the word ordensstraff ɔ ɗɳ ʂ ʂʈɽɑfː having six retroflex consonants in a row In colloquial Norwegian the sequence rt may even coalesce over non alveolar phonemes changing their place of articulation to retroflex even if r normally wouldn t trigger it Examples include sterkt staeɾkt staeʈː skarpt skɑɾpt skɑʈː verktoy ʋaeɾk tœʏ ʋaeʈ ʈœʏ and varmt ʋɑɾmt ʋɑɳʈ This process does not occur across word boundaries e g sterk tann is pronounced staeɾk tɑnː and not stae ʈɒnː 1 In dialects where r is articulated uvularly this process invariably takes place on idiolectal level For example rɑːrt may be realised as ʁɑːʁt or ʁɑːʈ This may appear in regions where r has recently become uvular 2 Austronesian languages Edit Malay Edit In Malay the final consonant of the prefix meN where N stands for a placeless nasal i e a nasal with no specified place of articulation coalesces with a voiceless stop at the beginning of the root to which the prefix is attached The resulting sound is a nasal that has the place of articulation of the root initial consonant 3 For example meN potoŋ becomes memotoŋ cut p and m are both pronounced with the lips meN tulis becomes menulis write t and n are both pronounced with the tip of the tongue meN kira becomes meŋira guess k and ŋ are both pronounced at the back of the tongue Japanese Edit Vowel coalescence occurs in Owari Japanese The Diphthongs ai and ae change to aeː oi and oe change to oː and ui changes to yː E g 来年 raineN gt rae nen 鯉 koi gt koː 熱い atsui gt atsyː atɕːyː Younger speakers may vary between Standard Japanese diphthongs and dialectal monophthongs 4 See also EditSandhi sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries Unpacking the opposite of fusion Yod coalescenceReferences Edit Solhaug Tor H 2010 Retroflexion in Norwegian University of Tromso Retrieved 2019 10 12 Johnson Sverre S 2012 A diachronic account of phonological unnaturalness University of Oslo Cambridge University Press doi 10 1017 S0952675712000243 Retrieved 2019 10 12 Laura Benua July 1995 Identity Effects in Morphological Truncation Retrieved 2009 05 03 Youngberg Connor 2013 Vocalic Coalescence in Owari Japanese Archived 2022 01 11 at the Wayback Machine SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics vol 16 Sources EditCrowley Terry 1997 An Introduction to Historical Linguistics 3rd edition Oxford University Press Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fusion phonetics amp oldid 1125258361, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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