Leyes fonéticas · Ley 16 · Grupos consonánticos

L + yod

LI, LE + vowel

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

Español

j [x]

Francés

il, ill [j]

Italiano

gli [ʎʎ]

Portugués

lh [ʎ]

Rumano

i [j] (the l lost)

Catalán

ll [ʎ]

Qué ocurrió

In spoken Latin, an unstressed I or E before another vowel became a glide [j] (yod), and L + j merged into a palatal l, [ʎ]. Italian kept it, doubled between vowels, and Portuguese (lh) and Catalan (ll) kept it single. French later lost the lateral, leaving the glide [j], still spelled -il, -ill-, and Romanian did the same (foaie, pai). Spanish hardened ʎ to ʒ, devoiced it to ʃ and pushed it back to [x], the same road as medial CL.

Ejemplos

Latín	Italiano	Español	Francés	Portugués	Rumano	Catalán	Pariente en inglés
FOLIAM‘leaf (ro foaie 'sheet')’	foglia	hoja	feuille	folha	foaie	fulla	foliage
FĪLIAM‘daughter’	figlia	hija	fille	filha	—	filla	filial
ALIUM‘garlic’	aglio	ajo	ail	alho	ai	all
PALEAM‘straw’	paglia	paja	paille	palha	pai	palla
MELIŌREM‘better’	migliore	mejor	meilleur	melhor	—	millor	ameliorate
CONSILIUM‘counsel, advice’	consiglio	consejo	conseil	conselho	—	consell	counsel

Descodificador

Italian gli = Portuguese lh = Catalan ll = Spanish j = French ill/il: foglia, folha, fulla, hoja, feuille; aglio, alho, all, ajo, ail. Romanian has just i: foaie, ai.

Excepciones

French fils comes from the nominative FĪLIUS, not FĪLIUM, so it shows no palatal (and its l is silent). Romanian ai 'garlic' is now mostly usturoi in everyday speech. Learned words keep li: filial, conciliar, auxiliar.

Míralo en acción: FĪLIUM

Qué ocurrió

Ejemplos

Descodificador

Excepciones

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