As stable as they may seem, every sound of every spoken language, at some point in the past, didn’t exist. The incessant shifting of speech involves the innovation of sounds, when either new ones are born or old ones transform. Consequently, within the sounds that a particular spoken language (such as Modern English) makes useContinue reading “Meet English’s Newest Consonant”
Tag Archives: historical phonology
Humble Thimbles and Thor’s Thunder
Reading time: 5-10 minutes For this month, I’d like to highlight a phonological phenomenon that should be part of the conceptual toolkit of all etymology fans. It’s something that’s happened in the history of English, and in languages that have gone on to influence English. Awareness of this change can therefore clarify and connect allContinue reading “Humble Thimbles and Thor’s Thunder”
Danny L. Bate 