Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

*KL > TL sound change in Germanic and elsewhere: Descriptions, explanations, and implications

  • and
Published/Copyright: May 29, 2009
Linguistic Typology
From the journal Volume 13 Issue 2

Abstract

An underdescribed sound change in Germanic is the shift of initial kl and gl to tl and dl respectively. Though not widely known, KL > TL has occurred more than once in the history of Germanic. Relevant phonetic factors include coarticulation and perceptual similarity. A third structural factor in Germanic and elsewhere is a pre-existing TL gap. KL > TL gives rise to common TL clusters, though, under many phonological analyses, TL clusters are disfavored or marked. Typological comparison suggests that TL clusters are not marked, but that contrasts between KL and TL are disfavored.

Keywords:: assimilation; coarticulation; consonant clusters; Germanic; markedness; phonetic explanation; phonology; phonotactics; sound change
Correspondence address: Department of Linguistics, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; e-mail:
Correspondence address: Department of Linguistics, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; e-mail:
Received: 2008-10-16
Revised: 2009-03-09
Published Online: 2009-05-29
Published in Print: 2009-June

©Walter de Gruyter

Articles in the same Issue

  1. The transparency and density of phonological rule interactions
  2. *KL > TL sound change in Germanic and elsewhere: Descriptions, explanations, and implications
  3. Whence the Kanum base-6 numeral system?
  4. Two pus one makes thirteen: Senary numerals in the Morehead-Maro region
  5. Senary summary so far
  6. On comitative and related categories, by Thomas Stolz, Cornelia Stroh and Aina Urdze
  7. Describe everything! Grammar writer for a grammar-reading audience: In remembrance of Mickey Noonan
https://doi.org/10.1515/LITY.2009.013
Keywords for this article
assimilation; coarticulation; consonant clusters; Germanic; markedness; phonetic explanation; phonology; phonotactics; sound change

Articles in the same Issue

  1. The transparency and density of phonological rule interactions
  2. *KL > TL sound change in Germanic and elsewhere: Descriptions, explanations, and implications
  3. Whence the Kanum base-6 numeral system?
  4. Two pus one makes thirteen: Senary numerals in the Morehead-Maro region
  5. Senary summary so far
  6. On comitative and related categories, by Thomas Stolz, Cornelia Stroh and Aina Urdze
  7. Describe everything! Grammar writer for a grammar-reading audience: In remembrance of Mickey Noonan
Downloaded on 13.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/LITY.2009.013/html
Scroll to top button