äänteenmuutos

Äänteenmuutos, also known as sound change, refers to the alteration of pronunciation in a language over time. This is a natural and ongoing process that affects all living languages, leading to the evolution of their sound systems. Sound changes can occur for various reasons, including physiological factors related to speech production, the influence of neighboring sounds, or the need for greater ease of articulation.

There are several types of sound changes. Assimilation occurs when a sound becomes more like a neighboring sound. For example, in English, the "n" in "inpossible" might become an "m" to match the following "p," resulting in "impossible." Dissimilation is the opposite, where sounds become less alike. Elision is the loss of a sound, often in unstressed syllables or between consonants, like the dropping of the "t" in "often." Epenthesis is the insertion of a sound, often to break up a difficult consonant cluster. Metathesis involves the transposition of sounds, as seen in the common alternation of "ask" and "aks."

Sound changes can be regular or irregular. Regular sound changes affect a specific sound or sound sequence in all or most contexts where it occurs, leading to systematic shifts in pronunciation. Irregular sound changes, often called sporadic changes, affect only a single word or a small set of words. The study of sound change is fundamental to historical linguistics, as it provides crucial evidence for reconstructing proto-languages and understanding the relationships between different languages.