Consonant Mutation

Consonant mutation is change in a consonant in a word according to its morphological and/or syntactic environment.

Mutation phenomena occur in languages around the world. A prototypical example of consonant mutation is the initial consonant mutation of all modern Celtic languages. Initial consonant mutation is also found in Indonesian or Malay, in Southern Paiute and in several West African languages such as Fula. The Nilotic language Dholuo, spoken in Kenya, shows mutation of stem-final consonants, as does English to a small extent. Mutation of initial, medial, and final consonants is found in Modern Hebrew. Japanese exhibits word medial consonant mutation involving voicing, rendaku, in many compounds.

Read more about Consonant Mutation:  Celtic Languages, Central Vanuatu Languages, Dholuo, Fula, Hebrew, Indonesian and Malay, Japanese, Russian, Uralic Languages, Ute Language, Mutation Vs. Sandhi, Further Reading