Häälesega

Häälesega is a term used in Estonian linguistics to describe a specific phonetic phenomenon. It refers to the process by which a voiceless consonant in a word becomes voiced when it is adjacent to a voiced sound. This assimilation of voicing is a common feature in many languages, and in Estonian, it often occurs at the boundaries of morphemes or in connected speech.

For instance, a word ending in a voiceless stop like /p/ might have that /p/ become voiced as /b/ if it is followed by a word starting with a vowel or a voiced consonant. Similarly, a voiceless fricative like /s/ could become voiced as /z/ under similar conditions. The specific sounds that undergo this change and the environments in which it occurs are well-documented in Estonian phonology. Understanding häälesega is crucial for accurate pronunciation and for analyzing the sound structure of the Estonian language. It is considered a type of regressive assimilation, where a sound is influenced by the sound that follows it. The phenomenon can sometimes lead to alternations between voiceless and voiced consonants in the inflectional forms of words, which is a characteristic feature of Estonian grammar.