The Formal Notation of Sound Change
See also: Phonological rule-
- A > B
- is to be read, "A changes into (or is replaced by, is reflected as, etc.) B". It goes without saying that A belongs to an older stage of the language in question, whereas B belongs to a more recent stage. The symbol ">" can be reversed:
-
- B < A
- "(more recent) B derives from (older) A"
For example,
-
- POc. *t > Rot. f
- = "Proto-Oceanic *t is reflected as in the Rotuman language."
The two sides of such an equation indicate start and end points only, and do not imply that there are not additional intermediate stages. The example above is actually a compressed account of a sequence of changes: *t changed first into a dental fricative (like the initial consonant of English thin), which has yielded present-day . This can be represented more fully as:
-
- t > θ > f
Unless a change operates unconditionally (in all environments), the context in which it applies must be specified:
-
- A > B /X__Y
- = "A changes into B when preceded by X and followed by Y."
For example:
-
- It. b > v /__, which can be simplified to just
- It. b > v /V__V (where the capital V stands for any given vowel)
- = "Intervocalic (inherited from Latin) became in Italian" (e.g. in caballum, dēbet > cavallo 'horse', deve 'owe (3sg.)'
A second example:
-
- PIr. > /__
- = "Preconsonantal voiceless non-continuants (i.e. voiceless stops) changed into corresponding voiceless continuants (fricatives) in Proto-Iranian" when immediately followed by a continuant consonant (i.e. resonants and fricatives). Examples: Proto-Indo-Iranian *pra 'forth' > Avestan fra, *trayas "three" (masc.nom.pl.)> Av. θrayō, *čatwāras "four" (masc.nom.pl.) > Av. čaθwārō, *pśaws "of a cow" (nom. *paśu) > Av. fšāoš (nom. pasu). Note that the fricativization does not occur before stops, so *sapta "seven" > Av. hapta. (However, in the variety of Iranian underlying Old Persian, fricativization occurs in all clusters, thus Old Persian hafta "seven".)
If the symbol "#" stands for a word boundary (initial or final), the notation "/__#" = "word-finally", and "/#__" = "word-initially". For example:
-
- Gk. > ∅ /__#
- = "Word-final stops were deleted in Greek." Which can be simplified to
-
- Gk. P > ∅ / __#
- where capital P stands for any plosive.
Read more about this topic: Sound Change
Famous quotes containing the words formal, sound and/or change:
“The bed is now as public as the dinner table and governed by the same rules of formal confrontation.”
—Angela Carter (19401992)
“Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.”
—Bible: New Testament Matthew 6:2-3.
The Sermon on the Mount.
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under mens reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (18961970)