Sound Changes

Let’s travel by time machine into the future. Look at the list of contemporary English words below. Based on the sound changes that we’ve learned about in class, how would you expect these words to be pronounced in 1000 years? Think about what sound changes might occur in the words. What conditions for particular sound changes are present? (I’ve given you hints in parentheses after most words, and, for the first few, I’ve put the part or parts of the word to focus on in red.)

*Word*	*Pronunciation Now*	*Future???*
“gotten” (assimilation)	gatәn
“desk” (ellipsis)	desk
“suit” (palatalization)	syut (in some dialects)
“consonant” (ellipsis)	kansәnInt
“mortal” (assimilation)	mortәl
“business” (intrusion)	bIznIs
“provide” (metathesis)	prәvaId
“breadth”	bredq
“atune”	әtyun (in some dialects)
“button”	bәtIn

We learned in class about the most common sound changes that typically occur in languages over time (assimilation, dissimilation, intrusion, metathesis, consonant weakening, and ellipsis). Those same sound changes are also the most common sound changes that children make when they are first acquiring language. Examine the following utterances made by small children. What sound change(s) have the children made in the pronunciation of each word? (Keep in mind that in some cases the child may be making several changes; try to account for every difference between adult pronunciation and the child’s pronunciation.)

*Word*	*Adult Pronunciation*	*Child’s Pronunciation*
stop	stap	tap
baby	bebi	bibi
desk	desk	dek
crumb	krәm	gәm
self	self	felf
tent	tent	det
soup	sup	zup
truck	trәk	gәk
doggy	dagi	dadi
spaghetti	spәgeti	bәskedi

NOTE: Some childhood sound changes are not the typical ones that we’ve been studying in class. Children frequently devoice final consonants (e.g., [dak] for dog); they regularly denasalize nasal consonants (e.g., [bud] for spoon); and they often “front” consonant sounds, substituting sounds further forward in the mouth for sounds normally further back (e.g., [do] for go or [sIp] for ship). Devoicing, denasalization, and fronting do not fit into our list of the sound changes that generally occur in languages over time. In the exercise above, I have included none of these more unique childhood sound changes, so you should be able to explain all the examples given above with the sound changes we’ve discussed in class.