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:
“It is easy to face Death and Fate, and the things that sound so dreadful. It is on my muddles that I look back with horror—on the things that I might have avoided.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“What does not change is the will to change”
—Charles Olson (1910–1970)