View source for Delateralization

{{Short description|Consonant sound change}}
{{Sound change}}
{{IPA notice}}
'''Delateralization''' is a replacement of a [[lateral consonant]] by a [[central consonant]].

==Yeísmo (Romance languages)==
{{main|Yeísmo}}
Arguably, the best known example of this sound change is yeísmo, which occurs in many [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and some [[Galician language|Galician]] dialects.

In accents with yeísmo, the [[palatal lateral approximant]] {{IPA|/ʎ/}} merges with the [[palatal approximant]] {{IPA|/ʝ/}} which, phonetically, can be an affricate {{IPAblink|ɟ͡ʝ}} (word-initially and after {{IPA|/n/}}), an approximant {{IPAblink|ʝ̞}} (in other environments) or a fricative {{IPAblink|ʝ}} (in the same environments as the approximant, but only in careful speech).

In [[Romanian language|Romanian]], the palatal lateral approximant {{IPA|/ʎ/}} merged with {{IPA|/j/}} centuries ago. The same happened to the historic palatal nasal {{IPA|/ɲ/}}, although that is an example of [[lenition]].

In [[French language|French]], ⟨il⟩ (except in the word "il" [il]) and ⟨ill⟩ (usually followed by "e"; exceptions include "ville" [vil]) are usually pronounced [ij]. It generally occurs word- or morpheme-finally. For example, ''travail'' "work" (noun) [tʁavaj], ''gentil'' "kind" [[Grammatical gender|masculine]] singular [ʒɛ̃tij], ''travaillait'' "(he/she/it) used to work" [tʁavaje], ''gentille'' "kind" [[Grammatical gender|feminine]] singular [ʒɛ̃tij].

Furthermore, when a French word ending in ''al'' is pluralized, rather than becoming ''als'', it becomes ''aux''. For example, ''un animal spécial'' "a special animal" > ''des animaux spéciaux'' "(some) special animals".

==Turkish==
Delateralisation can occur in Turkish. Its one lateral is [l], which can become [j] after [i]. For example, ''değil'' "not" is pronounced [de.ij].

==English==
When [l] appears word-finally, or after a vowel and before a consonant, it can become [w]. For example, little [ˈlɪ.tʰl̩] > [ˈlɪ.tʰw̩], bell [bɛl] > [bɛw], help [hɛlp] > [hɛwpʰ].

==Polish==
The [[Polish language|Polish]] [[Polish alphabet|letter]] [[Ł]] represents the sound [w]. This is evidence of a delateralised sound.

==Arabic ''Ḍād''==
{{main|Ḍād}}
Another known example of delateralization is the sound change that happened to the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] ''ḍād'', which, historically, was a lateral consonant, either a [[pharyngealization|pharyngealized]] [[voiced alveolar lateral fricative]] {{audio-IPA|Voiced pharyngealized alveolar lateral fricative.ogg|[ɮˤ]}} or a similar [[affricate]]d sound {{IPAblink|d͡ɮ|d͡ɮˤ}} or {{IPAblink|d͡ɮ|dˡˤ}}.<ref name=Versteegh1999>{{cite book|last1=Versteegh|first1=Kees|editor1-last=Arazi|editor1-first=Albert|editor2-last=Sadan|editor2-first=Joseph|editor3-last=Wasserstein|editor3-first=David J.|title=Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luġa: Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948–1997)|date=1999|pages=273–286|chapter=Loanwords from Arabic and the merger of ḍ/ḏ̣ |isbn=9781575060453|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNNHi_RdJ1MC&pg=PA273}}</ref><ref name=Versteegh2000>{{cite book|last1=Versteegh|first1=Kees|editor1-last=Kinberg|editor1-first=Leah|editor2-last=Versteegh|editor2-first=Kees|title=Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic|date=2000|publisher=Brill|isbn=9004117652|pages=197–199|chapter=Treatise on the pronunciation of the ''ḍād''|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_EJ861jo4AQC&pg=PA197}}</ref> The affricated form is suggested by loans of ''ḍ'' into Akkadian as ''ld'' or ''lṭ'' and into Malaysian as ''dl''.<ref name=Versteegh1997>{{cite book|last1=Versteegh|first1=Kees|title=The Arabic language|date=2003|orig-year=1997|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|location=Edinburgh|isbn=9780748614363|page=89|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHfse3YY6NAC&pg=PA89|edition=Repr.}}</ref> However, some linguists, such as the French orientalist André Roman supposes that the letter was actually a pharyngealized [[voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant]] {{IPA|[ʑˤ]}}, similar to the Polish ''[[ź]]'', which is not a lateral sound.<ref name=Versteegh1999/><ref name=Versteegh2000/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Roman|first1=André|title=Étude de la phonologie et de la morphologie de la koiné arabe|date=1983|publisher=Université de Provence|location=Aix-en-Provence|volume=1|pages=162–206}}</ref>

In modern Arabic, there are three possible realizations of this sound, all of which are central:<ref name=Versteegh1997/>
* Pharyngealized [[voiced alveolar stop]] {{audio-IPA|Voiced_pharyngealized_alveolar_stop.ogg|[dˤ]}}
* Pharyngealized [[voiced dental stop]] {{IPA|[d̪ˤ]}}
* [[velarization|Velarized]] voiced dental stop {{IPA|[d̪ˠ]}}.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{IPA navigation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delateralization}}
[[Category:Lateral consonants]]
[[Category:Sound changes]]
[[Category:Central consonants]]


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