Mollifikaatio

Mollifikaatio is a term used in linguistics to describe a process where a consonant, typically a stop or fricative, becomes a softer, less forceful sound. This often involves a shift towards a more sonorous or continuant quality. In some languages, this can manifest as a voicing change, where a voiceless consonant becomes voiced, or as a lenition, where a consonant weakens in articulation.

The exact phonetic changes involved in mollifikaatio can vary significantly between languages and contexts. It might involve a change in the place of articulation, such as a velar stop becoming a palatal affricate, or a change in the manner of articulation, like a plosive becoming a fricative. This linguistic phenomenon is often driven by ease of pronunciation or by the influence of surrounding sounds.

Mollifikaatio is a common occurrence in language change and can be observed across different language families. For instance, the historical development of certain Romance languages from Latin often involved various forms of consonant weakening, including mollifikaatio. Understanding this process is crucial for historical linguistics and for analyzing the sound systems of languages. It helps explain why cognate words in related languages may have different consonant realizations.