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:
“That anger can be expressed through words and non-destructive activities; that promises are intended to be kept; that cleanliness and good eating habits are aspects of self-esteem; that compassion is an attribute to be prized—all these lessons are ones children can learn far more readily through the living example of their parents than they ever can through formal instruction.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)
“Wild as it was, it was hard for me to get rid of the associations of the settlements. Any steady and monotonous sound, to which I did not distinctly attend, passed for a sound of human industry.... Our minds anywhere, when left to themselves, are always thus busily drawing conclusions from false premises.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I acknowledge that the balance I have achieved between work and family roles comes at a cost, and every day I must weigh whether I live with that cost happily or guiltily, or whether some other lifestyle entails trade-offs I might accept more readily. It is always my choice: to change what I cannot tolerate, or tolerate what I cannot—or will not—change.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)