Betacism

In historical linguistics, betacism is a sound change in which IPA| [b] (the voiced bilabial plosive, like in "bane") shifts to IPA| [v] (the voiced labiodental plosive, like in English "vane"). Betacism is a fairly common phenomenon; it has taken place in Greek, Hebrew, and Spanish, among others.

In Classical Greek, the letter beta <β> denoted IPA| [b] . As a result of betacism, it has come to denote IPA| [v] in Modern Greek. (Modern Greek uses the digraph <μπ> to represent IPA| [b] .) Indeed, this is the origin of the word "betacism".

Perhaps the best known example of betacism is in the Romance languages. The first traces of betacism in Latin can be found in the third century C.E. The results of the shift are most widespread in the Italo-Western languages, especially in Spanish, where the letters <b> and <v> have come to be pronounced IPA| [β] (the voiced bilabial fricative, which is similar to IPA| [v] ) except phrase-initially and after IPA| [m] ; the two sounds are now allophones. A similar phenomenon takes place in Persian in casual speech.Fact|date=October 2008 Another example is in Neapolitan, which uses <v> to denote betacism-produced IPA| [v] , such that Italian "bocca" corresponds to Neapolitan "vocca", Italian "albero" to "arvero", and "barba" to "varva".

Betacism occurred in Ancient Hebrew; the sound IPA| [b] (denoted <ב>) changed to IPA| [β] and eventually to IPA| [v] except when geminated or when following a consonant or pause. As a result, the two sounds became allophones; but, due to later sound changes, including the loss of gemination, the distinction become phonemic in Modern Hebrew.