Fronting (phonetics)
Sound change and alternation |
---|
Fortition |
Dissimilation |
In phonology, fronting is a sound change in which a vowel or consonant becomes fronted, advanced or pronounced farther to the front of the vocal tract than some reference point. Fronting may be triggered by a nearby sound, in which case it is a form of assimilation, or may occur on its own.
Examples
Assimilation
In i-mutation and Germanic umlaut, a back vowel is fronted under the influence of /i/ or /j/ in a following syllable[1]. This is assimilation.
Vowel shifts
In the Attic and Ionic dialects of Ancient Greek, Proto-Greek close back /u uː/ were fronted to /y yː/. This change occurred in all cases and was not triggered by a nearby front consonant or vowel.
In Old English and Old Frisian, the back vowels /ɑ ɑː/ were fronted to /æ æː/ in certain cases. For more information, see Phonological history of Old English §§ First a-fronting and Second a-fronting.
In many dialects of English, the vowel /uː/ is fronted to [u̟ː] or [ʉː]. This sound change also occurred in many dialects of Norwegian and Standard Swedish, but not in Danish.
Fronting can also take place as part of a chain shift. For example, in the Northern Cities Shift, the raising of /æ/ left room in the low-front area of the vowel space into which [ɑ] could expand. Thus words like cot and father are often pronounced with a low-front vowel [æ].
References
See also
- Palatalization refers to a range of sound changes triggered by high or high-front vowels.