Dissimilation (phonology)
In phonology, dissimilation is the dissimilarity of two or more similar sounds within a word .
Examples
- The ch in the sequence chs (e.g. in six or in fox ) was originally pronounced as a fricative . This pronunciation has been preserved for the words “sixteen” and “sixty”, as well as in certain areas (e.g. in Switzerland, see Helvetism ). Since s is also a fricative, a dissimilation has taken place, so that ch is pronounced as / k /.
- Latin me r i d ies ('noon') from * me d i d ie (locative of medius dies )
- Spanish a lm a ('soul') from Latin a n i m a
See also
- Assimilation (phonology) - in phonology, changes in speech sounds, which mostly arise through coarticulation (articulatory simplification).
- Sound change - a type of language change that consists in the pronunciation of sounds changing over time.
- Graßmann's Law (Linguistics) - a phonetic dissimilation rule proven for Indo-European linguistics in 1863.
source
- Jörg Meibauer, Introduction to German Linguistics, 2nd edition (2007), p. 98.