[ʃ]→[k]Certainty: 2/5Commonality: 5/5

Voiceless postalveolar fricative to Voiceless velar plosive

The shift from the postalveolar fricative [ʃ] to the voiceless velar stop [k] represents extreme retraction and fortition, often occurring in dissimilation or cluster reduction contexts. It is not a widespread regular change but appears occasionally in phonological accidents or in specific morphological environments.

Phonetic Effects

Retraction, Fortition, Deaffrication-like Shortening

Language Examples

English (regional/popular) Germanic

sugar [ʃ]→[sk] (older pronunciation)— Historical re-analysis of French [ʃ] as [s] then palatalized to [ʃ] again, some dialects preserve [sk] cluster

Related Transformations

Palatalization/Deaffrication

More Germanic Shifts

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

Sources & References

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