Replosivation

In historical linguistics, replosivation is a phenomenon of sound change . It is that plosives regain their Plosivqualität again after they previously phonetically had lost.

Examples

The Lenis split (cf. Lenis), as it is e.g. B. was described by Karl Luick and his student Hans Pinsker: An Indo-European media aspirata (a breathy, voiced plosive sound , ie -b ^h -, -d ^h -, -g ^h - ) usually loses its breath as part of the Germanic sound shift and becomes media (the voiced plosive sound). Now there are numerous examples that have a voiced fricative ( spirans ) where a media would be expected .

This is explained by the influence of the sound environment; Pinsker assumes - to put it simply - that mediae aspiratae, which stood after vowels or liquids - which he called friction points - were ground down to voiced fricative sounds , while in other sound surroundings - the inhibition points - they became mediae as described above.

The prerequisite for replosivation is fulfilled by all these fricatives originating from original mediae aspiratae. Following the Lenis split, z. B. in West Germanic replosivation also takes place in attrition points .

literature

• Karl Luick: Historical grammar of the English language. With the second chapter worked out from the notes left behind. First volume, section I. Bernhard Tauchnitz, Stuttgart 1964, p. 800ff.
• Matthias Passer: Nautica Germanica. Etymological research on Germanic seafaring terminology: designations of ships and ship parts in Old English. Diploma thesis, University of Salzburg 2008, p. 68ff.
• Hans Pinsker: Old English study book. August Bagel Verlag / Francke Verlag, Düsseldorf / Bern / Munich 1976, p. 66f.