Consonant Voicing and Devoicing - Sound Change

Sound Change

Voicing of initial letter is a process of historical sound change where voiceless consonants become voiced at the beginning of a word. For example, modern German sagen, Yiddish זאָגן, and Dutch zeggen (all "say") all begin with, which derives from in an earlier stage of Germanic, as still attested in English say, Swedish säga, and Icelandic segja . Some English dialects were affected by this as well, but it is rare in Modern English. One example is fox (with the original consonant) compared to vixen (with a voiced consonant).

Read more about this topic:  Consonant Voicing And Devoicing

Famous quotes containing the words sound and/or change:

    A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this World: he that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be little the better for anything else.
    John Locke (1632–1704)

    The appeal of the New Right is simply that it seems to promise that nothing will change in the domestic realm. People are terrified of change there, because it’s the last humanizing force left in society, and they think, correctly, that it must be retained.
    Gerda Lerner (b. 1920)