Effect On Preceding Consonant
In the history of many languages, for example French and Japanese, front vowels have altered preceding velar or alveolar consonants, bringing their place of articulation towards palatal or postalveolar. This change can be allophonic variation, or it can have become phonemic.
This historical palatalization is reflected in the orthographies of several European languages, including the "c" and "g" of almost all Romance languages, the "k" and "g" in Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic, and the "κ", "γ" and "χ" in Greek. English follows the French pattern, but without as much regularity. However, for native or early borrowed words affected by palatalization, English has generally altered the spelling after the pronunciation (Examples include cheap, church, cheese, churn from *k, and yell, yarn, yearn, yeast from *ɡ.)
| Before back vowel: hard | Before front vowel: soft | |
|---|---|---|
| English "C" | call | cell |
| English "G" | gall | gel |
| French "C" | calque | cela |
| French "G" | gare | gel |
| Italian "C" | cara | ciao |
| Italian "G" | gallo | genere |
| Italian "SC" | scala | scena |
| Swedish "K" | karta | kär |
| Swedish "G" | god | göra |
| Swedish "SK" | skal | skäl |
Read more about this topic: Front Vowel
Famous quotes containing the words effect and/or preceding:
“Worldly faces never look so worldly as at a funeral. They have the same effect of grating incongruity as the sound of a coarse voice breaking the solemn silence of night.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“... it must be obvious that in the agitation preceding the enactment of [protective] laws the zeal of the reformers would be second to the zeal of the highly paid night-workers who are anxious to hold their trade against an invasion of skilled women. To this sort of interference with her working life the modern woman can have but one attitude: I am not a child.”
—Crystal Eastman (1881–1928)