User:Megaman en m/Epenthesis
Epenthesis /ɪˈpɛnθɪsɪs/ (Greek ἐπένθεσις) is a term in phonology. It refers to adding one or more sounds to a word, especially inside of a word. If it's at the beginning, it's called prothesis and if it's at the end of the word, it's called paragoge. The word epenthesis comes from epi- "in addition to" and en "in" and thesis "putting". There are two types of epenthesis: excrescence, for when a consonant is added, and anaptyxis /ˌænəpˈtɪksɪs/ for when a vowel is added. The opposite process where one or more sounds are removed is called elision.
Uses[change | change source]
Epenthesis can happen for many reasons. The phonotactics (rules of how sounds can be placed) of a language may not allow vowels in hiatus (this means that the vowels are next to each other but in different syllables) or consonant clusters (combinations of consonants). In this situation a consonant or vowel can be added to make pronunciation easier. Epenthesis may be shown in writing or only happen in spoken language.
Breaking up vowels[change | change source]
A consonant can be added to break up vowels. This happens in the English rules of linking and intrusive R, which is a rule that puts an 'r' in a place where it doesn't normally happen.
- drawing → drawring
Linking consonants[change | change source]
A consonant can be placed between consonants in a consonant cluster where the place of articulation is different (e.g., where one consonant is labial (pronounced with the lips) and the other is alveolar.
- something → somepthing
- *a-mrotos → ambrotos
Breaking up consonants[change | change source]
A vowel can be placed between consonants to separate them.
- Hamtramck → Hamtramick
Regular examples in English are -i-, used in making words from Latin such as equidistant, and -o-, used in making words from Greek roots or general compound words, as in speedometer.
Other places[change | change source]
Epenthesis most often happens between two vowels or two consonants, but it can also happens between a vowel and a consonant, or at the ends of words.For example, the Japanese prefix ma- (真〜（ま〜）, pure …, complete …) turns regularly into ma'- (真っ〜（まっ〜）, ( following consonant gets doubled)) when followed by a consonant, as in masshiro (真っ白（まっしろ）, pure white). The English suffix -t, which often found in the form -st, as in amongst (from among + -st), is an example of excrescence at the end of words.
Excrescence[change | change source]
Excrescence, also known as vyanjanabhakti (/ˌvjɑːndʒənəˈbɑːkti/; from Sanskrit: व्यञ्जनभक्ति /ʋjənd͡ʑənəbʱəkt̪i/) is the epenthesis of a consonant.
sound change in history[change | change source]
- Latin tremulare > French trembler ("to tremble")
- Old English thunor > English thunder
- French messager, passager > English messenger, passenger
- French message, messager > Portuguese mensagem, mensageiro
- (Reconstructed) Proto-Germanic *sēaną > Old English sāwan, Old Saxon sāian ("to sow")
- (Reconstructed) Proto-Greek *amrotos > Ancient Greek ἄμβροτος ámbrotos ("immortal"; cf. ambrosia)
- Latin homine(m) > homne > homre > Spanish hombre ("man")
- (Reconstructed) Common Slavic *kupjǫ > Old Church Slavonic куплѭ kupljǫ, Russian куплю kuplju ("I will buy")
Rules in the present language[change | change source]
In French, /t/ is placed in inverted interrogative phrases between a verb that ends in a vowel and a pronoun that begins with a vowel: il a ('he has') > a-t-il ('has he?'). Because the a-t come from Latin habet ('he has') there is no epenthesis from the point of view of history. This is because the t is the original third-person verb inflection. However it is correct to call it epenthesis in the modern language because the modern basic form of the verb is a, so the way the process works in the mind is to add a t to the basic form.
A similar example is the English indefinite article a, which becomes an before a vowel. It comes from Old English ān ("one, a, an"), which kept an n in all positions. From a diachronic (historical) analysis, the original n disappears, except if a following vowel needs for it to stay: an > a. However, with a synchronic analysis people can also see it as epenthesis: a > an. This is how most native speakers see it.
In Dutch, when the suffix -er (which has several meanings) is placed after a word which already ends in -r, another -d- is put in the middle. For example, the comparative form (the form people use to compare things) of the adjective zoet ("sweet") is zoeter, but the comparative of zuur ("sour") is zuurder and not the expected *zurer. The same happens with the agent (someone who does something) noun form of verkopen ("to sell") which is verkoper ("salesperson"), but the agent noun of uitvoeren ("to perform") is uitvoerder ("performer").
Variable rule[change | change source]
In English, people often add a stop consonant in nasal + fricative combinations:
- English hamster /ˈhæmstər/ often pronounced with an added p sound, GA: [ˈhɛəmpstɚ] or RP: [ˈhampstə]
- English warmth /ˈwɔːrmθ/ often pronounced with an added p sound, GA: [ˈwɔɹmpθ] or RP: [ˈwoːmpθ]
- English fence /ˈfɛns/ often pronounced [ˈfɛnts]
Epenthesis for easier pronunciation[change | change source]
Epenthesis will often make pronunciation easier by adding sounds in words that are difficult or impossible to pronounce in the language. Regular or semi-regular epenthesis happens often in languages with affixes. For example, a reduced vowel /ɪ/ or /ə/ (here written as /ᵻ/) is put before the English plural suffix -/z/ and the past tense suffix -/d/ when the root ends in a similar consonant: glass → glasses /ˈɡlæsᵻz/ or /ˈɡlɑːsᵻz/; bat → batted /ˈbætᵻd/. This is a synchronic (non-historical) analysis, because the form with the vowel is the original form and the vowel was normally removed later.
Words from other languages[change | change source]
Vowel epenthesis usually happens when words are taken from a language that has combinations of consonants that can not happen in that language.
Languages use several vowels, but people use the schwa vowel quite often if it is possible:
- Hebrew uses a single vowel, the schwa (pronounced /ɛ/ in Israeli Hebrew).
- Japanese generally uses /u/ except after /t/ and /d/, when it uses /o/, and after /h/, when it uses an echo vowel (the same vowel used twice). For example, the English word street becomes ストリート /sutoɾiːto/ in Japanese; the Dutch name Gogh becomes ゴッホ /ɡohho/, and the German name Bach, バッハ /bahha/.
- Korean uses [ɯ] except after borrowed /ʃ/. In this situation it has a following /i/ at the end of the word or /ju/ . For example, English strike becomes 스트라이크 /sɯtʰɯɾaikɯ/, with three epenthetic vowels and a split of English diphthong /aɪ/ into two syllables.
- Brazilian Portuguese uses /i/, which, in most dialects, makes palatalization of a /t/ or /d/ that comes before happen: bullying > [ˈbulĩ ~ bulẽj]; nerd > /nɛʁdʒi/; stress > /istɾɛsi/ (which became estresse); McDonald's > /makidonaudʒis/ ~ [mɛkiˈdõnəwdʑis] with normal vocalization (turning into a vowel) of /l/ to /u/. Most speakers pronounce borrowings like it is written, and others try find the closest pronunciation for it in Portuguese from the sounds of the original language. Compare anime /a'nimi/ with animê /ani'me/ (but the word may also be pronounced /a'nimi/ and written anime).
- In Classical Arabic, combinations of consonants at the beginning of a word can not happen. It normally uses /i/ to break up such combinations in borrowings: صِرَا /siraːtˤ/ "street" < Latin strāta.
- In Persian combinations of consonants at the beginning of a word can also not happen. It normally uses /æ/ to break up such combinations in borrowings except between /s/ and /t/, when /o/ is added.
- In Spanish combinations of consonants at the beginning of a word with an /s/ in them can not happen. It adds e- to such words: especie < species, estándar < standard, estrés < stress.
- Turkish puts high vowels in borrowed words with combinations of alveolar fricatives at the beginning that are followed by another consonant: (Sparti), setuskur < set screw, uskumru < Greek σκουμπρί (skoúmbri), Üsküdar < Byzantine Greek Σκουτάριον (Skoutárion), istimbot < steamboat, İskoçya < Scotland, istavrit < Greek σταυροειδής (stavridís), İzmir < Greek Σμύρνη (Smírni). This does not happen anymore as of late 20th century and a few such words have changed back: spor < ıspor < French sport.
In sign language[change | change source]
A type of epenthesis in sign language is known as "movement epenthesis". It normally happens between signs while the hands move from the position that is needed by the first sign to the one that ais needed by the next.[1]
Similar ideas[change | change source]
- Prothesis: adding a sound to the beginning of a word
- Paragoge: adding a sound to the end of a word
- Infixation: adding a morpheme within a word
- Tmesis: having a whole word within another one
- Metathesis: putting the sounds of a word in a different order
Other ideas[change | change source]
- Assibilation
- Assimilation
- Coarticulation (Co-articulated consonant, Secondary articulation)
- Consonant harmony
- Crasis
- Dissimilation
- Labialisation
- Language game
- Lenition
- Metathesis
- Palatalization
- Pharyngealisation
- Sandhi
- Velarization
- Vowel harmony
Sources[change | change source]
- ↑ Liddell, Scott; Johnson, Robert (2011), "American Sign Language: The Phonological Base", in Valli, Clayton; Lucas, Ceil; Mulrooney, Kristin; Villanueva, Miako (eds.), Linguistics of American Sign Language (5th ed.), Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, pp. 315–316, ISBN 9781563685071
- Crowley, Terry. (1997) An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.