[ʃ]→[ʔ]Certainty: 4/5Commonality: 2/5
Voiceless postalveolar fricative to Glottal stop
The shift from the postalveolar fricative [ʃ] to a glottal stop [ʔ] is a severe form of debuccalization. It represents the final stage of lenition where the sibilant loses its oral place of articulation (the tongue-to-palate friction) and is reduced to a simple glottal gesture, typically in syllable-coda positions.
Phonetic Effects
Debuccalization, Glottalization, Lenition
Language Examples
esta [ʃ/s]→[ˈeʔta]— In dialects where final sibilants are heavily aspirated, the sound can further reduce to a weak glottal stop or trigger gemination of the following consonant.
[ʃ] (final)→[ʔ]— Widespread reduction of word-final voiceless consonants to glottal stops.
Related Transformations
More Romance Shifts
Sources & References
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