köthangosítás

Köthangosítás is a term used in Hungarian linguistics to refer to a phonological process in which neighboring consonants influence each other’s articulation in a way that can be described as consonant binding. The term is formed from köt- “to bind” and hangosítás “sound-making,” and is used to describe a spectrum of coarticulatory effects that lead to more uniform or merged consonants within a word or across morpheme boundaries.

Mechanism and environments: The process is typically described as a type of assimilation or coarticulation, where features spread from one consonant to another, especially in rapid speech or in dialectal speech. It may appear as regressive or progressive assimilation and can affect voicing, place of articulation, or manner of articulation. Köthangosítás is most often reported in clusters of obstruents or across affix boundaries, and may produce outcomes such as reduced consonant contrast or more homogeneous sequences.

Variation and interpretation: In the literature, köthangosítás is treated variously. Some linguists consider it a distinct phenomenon with condition-specific triggers (e.g., particular adjacent segments or prosodic context), while others analyze the observed effects as ordinary coarticulatory processes that simply have a strong cross-dialectal profile. It is most frequently discussed in dialectology and diachronic studies of Hungarian phonology rather than in standard descriptions of the language.

Relation to related concepts: Köthangosítás is related to broader concepts of coarticulation, assimilation, and consonant harmony. It is distinguished from vowel harmony by its consonantal focus, though it shares the underlying idea that segments influence neighboring sounds.