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Lois phonétiques · Loi 8 · Consonnes

Voiceless stops between vowels soften

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

Les explications sont pour l’instant en anglais ; les exemples sont dans toutes les langues.

Espagnol

b d g

Français

v; t, c lost

Italien

mostly kept (p t c)

Portugais

b (v) d g

Roumain

kept (p t c)

Catalan

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

Ce qui s’est passé

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.

Exemples

LatinItalienEspagnolFrançaisPortugaisRoumainCatalanParent anglais
VĪTAM‘life (ro vită 'cattle')’vitavidavievidavităvidavital
ROTAM‘wheel’ruotaruedarouerodaroatărodarotate
CAPRAM‘goat’capracabrachèvrecabracaprăcabra
SAPERE (VL *SAPĒRE)‘to know’saperesabersavoirsaber—sabersapient
AMĪCUM‘friend’amicoamigoamiamigo—amicamicable
MĀTŪRUM‘ripe’maturomaduromûrmaduro—madurmature
SĒCŪRUM‘safe, sure’sicurosegurosûrseguro—segursecure
ACŪTUM‘sharp’acutoagudoaiguagudo—agutacute

Clé de lecture

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.

Exceptions

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).

Voir la transformation: FOCUM

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