[h]→[j]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5

Fortition Assimilation Glide Formation Germanic Koreanic

Voiceless glottal fricative to Voiced palatal approximant

The change from the glottal fricative /h/ to the palatal glide /j/ is a process of fortition or 'strengthening' where a sound with only laryngeal articulation gains a specific oral articulation. This often happens before a high front vowel like /i/, where the /h/ assimilates the palatal quality of the vowel, effectively becoming /j/.

Phonetic Effects

Fortition, Assimilation, Glide Formation

Language Examples

English (some historical stages) Germanic

*[h]eorte→[ç]eorte -> [j]eorte (heart)— The palatal allophone of /h/ before front vowels, [ç], can merge with /j/.

Korean Koreanic

/h/ before /i/ or /j/→[ç] or [j]— /h/ is often realized as a palatal fricative or glide in this context.

Related Transformations

Reverse

More Assimilation Shifts

[a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction [æ] → [ɛ] — Vowel Raising

Sources & References

Spotted a mistake or have a better example?

EchoDrift is community-driven. You can suggest a change directly through GitHub.

Propose an Edit on GitHub