Re: x > f sound change

--- You wrote:
BP Jonsson wrote:


>I've just got hands-on evidence that the /x/ > /f/ sound change as in
>English _tough_ is a natural one:
>In my dialect of Swedish the normal pronunciation of _garage_ is /ga"rA:x/,
>but my son (who is 3 1/2 years old) says /ga"rA:f/ very
>clearly.  Sound-change in the making!
There's also German _luft_ vs. Dutch _lucht_, though IIRC that's unique;
probably ultimately a dialect form. Another: Germ. Stiftung, Du. stichting; unclear
exactly what the base forms are.
--- end of quote ---

There's also the name McLoughlin (or McLaughlin), which was originally [m@klaxl@n],
but which many people pronounce [m@klafl@n].

There are lots of precedents out there for velar sounds (especially labiovelar ones)
changing into bilabials, and vice versa. /kw/ > /p/ is a common sound change in
many language families, and is even found in Indo-European (cf. Latin _quinque_
/kwiNkwe/ "five" with Welsh _pump_ /pymp, pimp/). /x/ > /f/ is less common, but
clearly not unattested. Although /x/ and /f/ differ radically in terms of how
they're articulated, acoustically they're actually pretty similar (much more
similar than, say, /s/ and /f/, or /s/ and /x/).

Matt.

Matt Pearson
Department of Linguistics
Reed College
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd
Portland, OR 97202 USA
ph:  503-771-1112 (x 7618)

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