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 on, effect and/or preceding:
“Movies are one of the bad habits that corrupted our century. Of their many sins, I offer as the worst their effect on the intellectual side of the nation. It is chiefly from that viewpoint I write of them—as an eruption of trash that has lamed the American mind and retarded Americans from becoming a cultured people.”
—Ben Hecht (1893–1964)
“Let’s take the instant by the forward top;
For we are old, and on our quick’st decrees
Th’ inaudible and noiseless foot of time
Steals ere we can effect them.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“And so, standing before the aforesaid officiator, the two swore that at every other time of their lives till death took them, they would assuredly believe, feel, and desire precisely as they had believed, felt, and desired during the few preceding weeks. What was as remarkable as the undertaking itself was the fact that nobody seemed at all surprised at what they swore.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)