ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

AT-NAV-G05-009 · ATLAS 259

Spirantisation

Spirantisation is used here in the narrow sense of a change or alternation in which a sound becomes a fricative, often from a stop: complete closure gives way to a constriction producing friction.

Part of the subject path Sound, Phonetics and Phonology

Why is this entry in the Atlas?

E · Selected case R3 · Justified illustrative case

Spirantisation supplies a concrete change of manner through the transition to a fricative. This narrow process must be distinguished from general lenition and other weakening changes.

Colours and admission grounds

The rectangular label identifies the entry function: F – linguistic figure or procedure; A – analytical concept; G – foundational concept; E – selected concrete case. The rounded badge indicates the admission ground: R1 – distinctive contribution; R2 – necessary foundation; R3 – justified illustrative case. This editorial rationale explains the current selection rather than claiming an undocumented original selection history.

Explanation

Spirantisation is used here in the narrow sense of a change or alternation in which a sound becomes a fricative, often from a stop: complete closure gives way to a constriction producing friction. Some traditions also use the term for processes whose outputs are approximants or other frictionless continuants, so the actual realisation must be specified. Within lenition, fricativisation is one possible process rather than a definition of all weakening. Environment, speaking style and linguistic status must be examined separately: a phonetic variant is not automatically a historical sound change or a new phoneme. Calling a process weakening depends on the relevant analysis, not on a general judgement about pronunciation quality.

Movement of thought

1. Identify the source sound. 2. Compare closure and friction. 3. Record environments. 4. Check the variant's status. 5. Distinguish change from alternation.

Scientific use case

Acoustic and historical data can be compared to investigate conditions on fricativisation.

Example

The schematic development [t] → [θ] replaces closure with a fricative constriction; it illustrates a process without claiming evidence from a particular language.

Counterexample

A change from [t] to a tap would not thereby be spirantisation.

Distinction

Distinguish spirantisation from lenition in general, voicing alone and deletion.

Effect on thought and perception

The term specifies a particular change in manner of articulation.

Resonance

An interruption of airflow becomes an audible passage.

Provenance

Parallel corpus 98f0950771ae4662f291d2f15f5c51b6797f3c20ba458a68615cdb177002ea18; case-bounded source review accepted; human specialist review not claimed.

Cite this entry

Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Spirantisation“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-NAV-G05-009. ATLAS 259, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-NAV-G05-009

https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-NAV-G05-009

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