palatalisation
|pa-lat-a-li-sa-tion|
🇺🇸
/ˌpælətələˈzeɪʃən/
🇬🇧
/ˌpælətəlaɪˈzeɪʃən/
making palatal; raising tongue toward palate
Etymology
'palatalisation' originates from Latin via Late Latin and French, ultimately from the Latin noun 'palatum' meaning 'palate'.
'palatum' (Latin) → 'palatial'/'palatalis' (Late Latin/Medieval Latin) → French/Italian forms and English verb 'palatalize' → noun 'palatalisation' in modern English.
Initially related simply to the 'palate' (the roof of the mouth), the term evolved in linguistic usage to mean the process or result of making sounds palatal or palatalized.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the process or result in phonetics whereby a sound (usually a consonant) is articulated closer to the hard palate, often producing a palatal or palatalized sound.
The palatalisation of /k/ before /i/ produced an affricate in that language.
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Noun 2
a historical sound change in which non‑palatal consonants become palatal or palatalized in certain environments.
Linguists traced the palatalisation that affected several consonants during the language's early development.
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Last updated: 2025/12/18 00:34