Dissimilation (from Latin dis- - prefix meaning separation, negation (“times / races”) and similis “similar”, that is, “assimilation”, “divergence”) - in phonetics and phonology , dissimilation is understood as the reverse assimilation process, that is, two or more identical or similar in type of sound diverge further in pronunciation. In general, dissimilation is expressed in the replacement of one of two identical or similar (at the place of origin) sounds with another, less similar in articulation to that which remained unchanged. As a phenomenon, assimilation is somewhat less common, although statistically its frequency varies depending on a particular language.
Content
Feature
As a phonetic phenomenon, dissimilation is noted at different stages in the history of the most diverse languages. Dissimilative phenomena can be massive in nature, turning over time into a language law , but can be limited to individual dialects of the language , dialects , or simply vernacular for the poorly educated part of the population. Like assimilation, dissimilation can be progressive (that is, moving forward to the end of the word and changing the second and / or subsequent components) and regressive (moving backward, affecting the previous components). Also, a more detailed phonetic analysis allows one to detect diachronic dissimilation (when only one sound changes) and synchronous (when two or more changes at once).
Examples
It is noteworthy that in literary Russian, morphologically or phonetically fixed dissimilation is practically not found, however, an etymological analysis of a number of words reveals traces of its presence in the past: a classic example is the evolution of the modern word February (earlier “February” from Latin februarius); other examples: “camel”, from al. Velblud; “Soft, soft”, from other Russian. “Flesh”, compare “flesh”; “Settlement”, from “freedom” (dissimilation of labial c , b ); "Burner" of "comfort"; “Stoker”, from “poker”, from “poker”. In common parlance, non-normative examples of dissimilation such as “secretary” (instead of secretary ), “colidor” (instead of “corridor”), “tramway” (instead of tram ), etc. were also noted earlier.
Vowel Dissimilation
The most common is the dissimilation of consonants, but sometimes vowel sounds are involved in this process. Example: lat. bonus> buono> use. bueno (“good”, “tasty”), where the lip elements of the newly formed diphthong dissimilated and one of them lost the labiality uo> ue during the process.
Scientific Research
Russian scientist A. Musorin made the following preliminary conclusions regarding the phenomenon of phonetic dissimilation after a long study of dissimilative processes in different languages ( Russian , Avar , Ossetian , Karaite , Gothic , Georgian , Orkhon-Yenisei ). These findings were as follows:
- Dissimilation can be purely phonetic, but it can also be morphological in nature.
- In all the languages he examined, dissimilation was either purely phonetic ( Russian ) or morphological. In both languages, both types of dissimilation were not found at once.
- Phonetic dissimilation is always of a contact nature. Morphonological dissimilation can be either contact (in Orkhon-Yenisei) or distact (in Gothic, Georgian).
- Both phonetic and morphological dissimilation is associated in each of the languages examined by us with a limited number of sounds (for example, only the consonant [l] dissimulates in the Karaite language); the greatest number of sounds subjected to dissimilation were extinct Gothic and modern Icelandic .
- The presence in the language of dissimilation of both the first and second types is not related to its genealogical belonging to any group of related languages or to the area of its distribution.