Sound laws · Law 8 · Consonants

Voiceless stops between vowels soften

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

Spanish

b d g

French

v; t, c lost

Italian

mostly kept (p t c)

Portuguese

b (v) d g

Romanian

kept (p t c)

Catalan

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

What happened

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.

Examples

Latin	Italian	Spanish	French	Portuguese	Romanian	Catalan	English relative
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

Decoder

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).

Watch it happen: FOCUM

What happened

Examples

Decoder

Exceptions

In your word bank