[ʒ]→[j]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 3/5
Voiced postalveolar fricative to Voiced palatal approximant
The shift from the voiced postalveolar fricative [ʒ] (zh) to the palatal approximant [j] is a process of gliding or lenition. This transformation involves the loss of fricative turbulence while maintaining voicing and the palatal place of articulation, a hallmark of yeísmo variants in Spanish and other Romance developments.
Phonetic Effects
Gliding, Lenition
Language Examples
[ʒ] (historical /ʎ/ or /ʝ/)→[j]— In many dialects, the 'strong' palatals [ʒ] or [ʝ] reduce to a pure palatal glide [j].
historical [ʒ]→[j] stage— Stages in the lenition of historical palatalized sounds where fricatives weakened into glides before elision.
Related Transformations
More Romance Shifts
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