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Leggi fonetiche · Legge 8 · Consonanti

Voiceless stops between vowels soften

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

Per ora le spiegazioni sono in inglese; gli esempi sono in tutte le lingue.

Spagnolo

b d g

Francese

v; t, c lost

Italiano

mostly kept (p t c)

Portoghese

b (v) d g

Rumeno

kept (p t c)

Catalano

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

Cosa è successo

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.

Esempi

LatinoItalianoSpagnoloFrancesePortogheseRumenoCatalanoParente inglese
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

Chiave di decodifica

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.

Eccezioni

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).

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