Leyes fonéticas · Ley 8 · Consonantes

Voiceless stops between vowels soften

-P- -T- -C- (between vowels)

Por ahora, las explicaciones de esta sección están en inglés; los ejemplos están en todas las lenguas.

Español

b d g

Francés

v; t, c lost

Italiano

mostly kept (p t c)

Portugués

b (v) d g

Rumano

kept (p t c)

Catalán

b (v) d g; p t c again at the end of a word (amic, agut)

Qué ocurrió

In western Romance, a p, t or k between vowels relaxed into its voiced partner b, d, g, since the vocal folds simply kept vibrating from one vowel to the next. Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan stopped there (Catalan devoiced the consonant again where it ended up word-final: amic, agut); French went further, turning b into v and losing d and g altogether. Standard Italian, based on Tuscan south of the La Spezia–Rimini line, mostly kept the voiceless stops, and so did Romanian, the eastern sister.

Ejemplos

Latín	Italiano	Español	Francés	Portugués	Rumano	Catalán	Pariente en inglés
VĪTAM‘life (ro vită 'cattle')’	vita	vida	vie	vida	vită	vida	vital
ROTAM‘wheel’	ruota	rueda	roue	roda	roată	roda	rotate
CAPRAM‘goat’	capra	cabra	chèvre	cabra	capră	cabra
SAPERE (VL *SAPĒRE)‘to know’	sapere	saber	savoir	saber	—	saber	sapient
AMĪCUM‘friend’	amico	amigo	ami	amigo	—	amic	amicable
MĀTŪRUM‘ripe’	maturo	maduro	mûr	maduro	—	madur	mature
SĒCŪRUM‘safe, sure’	sicuro	seguro	sûr	seguro	—	segur	secure
ACŪTUM‘sharp’	acuto	agudo	aigu	agudo	—	agut	acute

Descodificador

Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan b, d, g between vowels often match Italian and Romanian p, t, c: vida → vita, roda → roată, amigo → amico. French may have v, or nothing at all: vie, ami, savoir.

Excepciones

Tuscan voiced some words too, so Italian has lago (LACUM), strada (STRĀTAM), ago (ACUM). Double consonants simplified in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Catalan and Romanian but stay double in Italian (VACCAM → vaca, vache, vacca, vacă). Learned words keep the voiceless stop (vital beside vida and vie; maturación beside maduro).

Míralo en acción: FOCUM

Qué ocurrió

Ejemplos

Descodificador

Excepciones

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