Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

Dictionary of language and linguistics 1098sound physiologyArticulatory phonetics as practised by the Neogrammarians.sound shiftTerm for a set of sound changes occurring systematically, so that a whole sound systemis shifted. ( also Great Vowel Shift, Grimm’s Law, push chain vs drag chain)sound changeReferencessound substitution1 Process in which foreign words are adopted into another language and their soundsassimilated to those in the adopting language. As a rule, sounds of a foreign language thatare not found in one’s own language system are replaced by those sounds in one’s ownlanguage that are most similar to the foreign sound, e.g. the imitation of Eng. and [θ](written ‹th› for the voiced and voiceless dental fricatives) as Ger. [d] or [z], [t], or [s] inthese vs thick.2 Sound substitution is also found when sounds are adopted from a prestigiouslanguage variety within a given language community, for example in the often haphazardsubstitution of standard American pronunciation in favor of a sometimes imaginedBritish standard, e.g. [toma:to:] instead of [təme:to:]. Since this sound substitutionhappens consciously, it occurs word by word, and is replete with exceptions, theNeogrammarians referred to it as a ‘process of irregular sound alteration,’ as opposed toregular, unconsciously occurring sound change. In historical linguistics, particularly inthe study of place-names, ascertaining regularities in sound substitution between differentlanguages is a significant method for substantiating and dating regional language contact.sound changeReferences