Gliderefleksjoner

Gliderefleksjoner (glide reflexes) is a term used in historical and comparative linguistics to describe the surface realization in a daughter language of a segment from an earlier stage that has become a glide, or semivowel, in the phonology of that language. Glides are consonants that function as vowel-like, rapid transitions between articulatory positions, most commonly [j] and [w]. A glide reflex, therefore, is the phonetic result of a phoneme or a phonological environment that yields a glide in the descendant language.

Glide reflexes are studied to understand patterns of sound change and vowel–consonant interaction. They can arise through various diachronic processes, including palatalization, vowel coalescence with a following vowel, or loss of a non-glide consonant that leaves behind a preceding or following glide. Across languages, gliderefleksjoner may contribute to the development of diphthongs, or to the appearance of semivowels before or after vowels in the syllable nucleus or coda.

Analytically, glide reflexes are identified by regular correspondences between proto-language segments and their reflexes in daughter languages, often requiring comparative methods and internal reconstruction. They are distinguished from the process whereby a consonant itself becomes a glide (glide formation) and from analogy or borrowing, which may produce similar surface results but through different mechanisms.

See also: glide, semivowel, diphthong, sound change, historical linguistics.