Betaism

Betaism is a term in comparative linguistics and refers to the combinatorial sound change from "B" to "V".

Historical linguistics

In historical linguistics , betazism describes the sound change in which the sound [b] (the voiced bilabial plosive , as in English bane ) changes to the sound [v] (the voiced labiodental fricative , as in English vane ). Betaism is a fairly common phenomenon.

In ancient Greek , the letter Beta <β> stood for the sound [b]. As a result of betaism, the sound in modern Greek changed to [v] (in modern Greek the sound [b] is represented by the digraph <μπ>). This is precisely where the word Betaism arose .

Examples

Probably the best known example of Betaism occurs in the Romance languages . The first traces of Betaism in Latin can be found in the third century AD. The result of this sound change is most common in the Italian-Western languages, especially in Spanish , where the letters <b> and <v> - with the exception of the position at the beginning of the sentence and after <m> - the pronunciation [β] (the voiced labiodental fricative , which is similar to [v]) assumed; the two sounds are now allophone . A similar phenomenon occurs in the Persian colloquial language, which z. B. equates the Castilian-Spanish affirmative "vale" with the Persian. Another example is Neapolitan , in which the sound [v] produced by Betaism is represented with <v>, so that Italian bocca corresponds to the Neapolitan vocca ; albero corresponds to arvero and barba corresponds to varva .

Betaism also appeared in the ancient Hebrew language. The sound [b] (written <ב>) became [β] and eventually [v], except for gemination or when it follows a consonant or a pause. As a result, the two sounds became allophones. Because of later changes in sound including the loss of gemination, the demarcation in modern Hebrew became phonemic .

literature

Julia Wolf: The dialects of Italy: An overview . Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 2006, archive number: V89384, ISBN 978-3-638-03064-9