[i]→[ẽ]Certainty: 4/5Commonality: 5/5
Close front unrounded vowel to Nasalized close-mid front unrounded vowel
The transformation of the close front unrounded vowel /i/ to the nasalized close-mid front unrounded vowel /ẽ/ is a well-attested historical phonetic shift. This change typically involves two primary processes: nasalization, often triggered by a neighboring nasal consonant, and subsequent vowel lowering. The nasalization causes the velum to lower, allowing air to escape through the nose, while the vowel lowering shifts the tongue position from a high to a close-mid position in the mouth.
Phonetic Effects
Vowel Lowering, Nasalization, Compensatory Nasalization
Language Examples
i (in Latin *vinum)→ɛ̃ (in Modern French vin)— In the history of French, oral vowels followed by nasal consonants became nasalized. High nasal vowels, such as [ĩ], subsequently lowered to mid-nasal vowels like [ɛ̃] or [œ̃] between the 13th and 18th centuries.
/i/→[ẽ]— In the Horb dialect of Swabian, oral /i/ undergoes regressive nasalization and surfaces as [ẽ].
Related Transformations
More Vowel Shift Shifts
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