[ɖ]→[ð]Certainty: 4/5Commonality: 4/5
Voiced retroflex stop to Voiced dental fricative
The transformation from a voiced retroflex stop /ɖ/ to a voiced dental fricative /ð/ represents a phonetic weakening process known as lenition. This shift involves two key changes: the complete obstruction of airflow characteristic of a stop is relaxed to a partial obstruction, forming a fricative, and the point of articulation moves forward from the retroflex position to the dental position. This type of sound change makes the consonant less obstruent and more vowel-like, often occurring in specific phonetic environments within a language.
Phonetic Effects
Lenition, Spirantization, Dentalization
Language Examples
*ɖ→/ð/— Proto-Rukai voiced retroflex stop *ɖ spirantized to /ð/ in Mantauran Rukai.
Related Transformations
More Lenition Shifts
Sources & References
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