Debuccalization

Sound change and alternation
Metathesis Quantitative metathesis
Lenition Consonant gradation Consonant voicing and devoicing Assibilation L-vocalization Debuccalization
Fortition
Epenthesis Anaptyxis Excrescence Prosthesis Paragoge Unpacking Vowel breaking
Elision Apheresis Syncope Apocope Haplology Fusion Cluster reduction
Cheshirization Compensatory lengthening Nasalization Tonogenesis Floating tone
Assimilation Coalescence Coarticulation Palatalization Velarization Labialization Final devoicing Metaphony (vowel harmony, umlaut) Consonant harmony
Dissimilation
Sandhi Liaison, linking R Consonant mutation Tone sandhi Hiatus Synalepha  Elision Crasis Synaeresis and diaeresis Synizesis
Other types Rhotacism Rhinoglottophilia Sulcalization
view

Debuccalization is a sound change in which a consonant loses its original place of articulation and becomes [h] or [ʔ] (glottal stop). The pronunciation of a consonant as [h] is sometimes called aspiration, but in phonetics aspiration is the burst of air accompanying a plosive. The word comes from Latin bucca, meaning "cheek"; "debuccalization" is the loss of articulation in the mouth, leaving the place of articulation at the glottis.

Debuccalization is the second-to-last stage in the "opening" type of lenition, a consonant mutation involving the weakening of a consonant by progressive shifts in pronunciation.

Glottal stop

American English

Many speakers of American English debuccalize /t/ to a glottal stop [ʔ] in two environments: in word-final position before another consonant—

• get ready ['ɡɛʔ'ɹɛɾi]
• not much ['nɑʔ'mʌtʃ]
• not good ['nɑʔ'ɡʊd]
• it says [ɪʔ'sɛz]

and before a syllabic [n̩] following /l/, /r/, /n/, or a vowel. Here the /t/ may also be nasally released.

• Milton ['mɪlʔn̩]
• Martin ['mɑɹʔn̩]
• mountain ['maʊnʔn̩]
• cotton ['kɑʔn̩]
• Chattanooga [tʃæʔn̩'nuɡə]

Cockney English

In Cockney English, /t/ is replaced by [ʔ] between vowels, liquids, and nasals (notably in the word bottle), a process called t-glottalization.

German

The Bavarian dialect debuccalizes any p, t, k, b, d, g that occurs between two consonants (a situation often produced by vowel elision in the same dialect) and replaces them by [ʔ]. Thus Antn (ducks) and Andn (Andes) are both pronounced [anʔn], although speakers think it is the t or d they are pronouncing.^{[citation needed]} With frequency depending on the location, hàn(d) ("are") occurs instead of the other (and altogether more general) Bavarian form sàn(d) (from the German seind, in contemporary German: sind).

Glottal fricative

Scottish English

In some varieties of Scottish English, /θ/ th shifted to [h], a process called th-debuccalization.

Proto-Greek

In Proto-Greek, /s/ shifted to [h] initially and between sonorants (vowels, liquids, and nasals).

• Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥ → Ancient Greek heptá "seven" (compare Latin septem)

Intervocalic /h/ was lost by the time of Ancient Greek, and vowels in hiatus were contracted in the Attic dialect.

• post-PIE *génesos → Proto-Greek *génehos → Ionic Greek géneos — Attic Greek génous "of a race"

Before a liquid or nasal, an /h/ was assimilated to the preceding vowel in Attic-Ionic and Doric and to the following nasal in Aeolic. The process of vowel assimilation is called compensatory lengthening.

• PIE *h₁ésmi → Proto-Greek *ehmi → Attic-Ionic ēmí — Aeolic émmi "I am"

Sanskrit

In Sanskrit, /s/ becomes [h] (written ḥ in transliteration) when utterance-final. E.g. kā́mas ("erotic love") becomes kā́maḥ.

Spanish

Main article: Spanish dialects and varieties: Variants of /s/ and debuccalization of coda /s/

A number of Spanish dialects debuccalize /s/ at the end of a syllable to [h].

Gaelic

Main articles: Scottish Gaelic phonology: Lenition and spelling and Irish initial mutations

In Scottish and Irish Gaelic, s, t, f changed by lenition to [h], spelled sh, th and fh. Later the sound represented by fh was lost entirely.

External links

• "Debuccalization" (Chapter 4 of Paul D. Fallon's The Synchronic and Diachronic Phonology of Ejectives [Routledge, 2001]) gives many other terms that have been proposed for the phenomenon.
• Debuccalization and supplementary gestures