[t]→[ʃ]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 5/5
Voiceless alveolar plosive to Voiceless postalveolar fricative
The shift from the alveolar stop [t] to the postalveolar fricative [ʃ] is a form of palatalization followed by deaffrication. It typically occurs when [t] is followed by a palatal glide [j] or high front vowel, forcing the tongue toward the palate. This process creates an affricate [tʃ] that later simplifies into a fricative.
Phonetic Effects
Palatalization, Deaffrication, Yod-coalescence
Language Examples
Alveolar stop [t] before palatal context→[tʃ] or [ʃ] in certain morphological contexts— Georgian shows affricationand fricativization of dentals in palatal environments, contributing to harmonic clustering patterns.
natio [t]→nation [ʃ]— Historical palatalization of Latin loanwords in English.
patient→patient [ʃ]
Related Transformations
More Romance Shifts
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