Consonant mutation explained

pronounced as /notice/Consonant mutation is change in a consonant in a word according to its morphological or syntactic environment.

Mutation occurs in languages around the world. A prototypical example of consonant mutation is the initial consonant mutation of all modern Celtic languages. Initial consonant mutation is also found in Indonesian or Malay, in Nivkh, in Southern Paiute and in several West African languages such as Fula. The Nilotic language Dholuo, spoken in Kenya, shows mutation of stem-final consonants, as does English to a small extent. Mutation of initial, medial and final consonants is found in Modern Hebrew. Also, Japanese exhibits word medial consonant mutation involving voicing, rendaku, in many compounds. Uralic languages like Finnish show consonant gradation, a type of consonant mutation.

Similar sound changes

Initial consonant mutation must not be confused with sandhi, which can refer to word-initial alternations triggered by their phonological environment, unlike mutations, which are triggered by their morphosyntactic environment. Some examples of word-initial sandhi are listed below.

• Spanish

pronounced as /[b, d, ɡ]/, occurring after nasals and pause, alternate with pronounced as /[β, ð, ɣ]/, occurring after vowels and liquid consonants. Example: un ['''b''']arco 'a boat', mi ['''β''']arco 'my boat'. This also occurs in Hebrew (as begedkefet, an acronym for the consonants this affects), Aramaic, and Tamil.

• Scottish Gaelic: in some dialects, stops in stressed syllables are voiced after nasals, e.g. cat pronounced as /['''kʰ'''aht]/ 'a cat', an cat pronounced as /[əŋ '''ɡ'''aht]/ 'the cat'.

Sandhi effects like these (or other phonological processes) are usually the historical origin of morphosyntactically triggered mutation. For example, English fricative mutation (specifically, voicing) in words such as house [haus], plural houses [hauzɪz], and the verb to house [hauz] originates in an allophonic alternation of Old English, where a voiced fricative occurred between vowels (or before voiced consonants), and a voiceless one occurred initially or finally, and also when adjacent to voiceless consonants. Old English infinitives ended in -(i)an and plural nouns (of Class One nouns) ended in -as. Thus, hūs 'a house' had pronounced as /[s]/, and hūsian 'house (verb)' had pronounced as /[z]/; however, the plural of hūs was hūs, being a neuter noun of the strong a-stem class. During the Middle English period, hous~hus, as part of the loss of gender and erosion of endings, developed plural variation, retaining hous [hu:s], the dative plural housen [hu:zən], which became extended to a general plural, and over time taking on the es plural from Old English Class 1 nouns, thus houses [hu:zəz]. After most endings were lost in English, and the contrast between voiced and voiceless fricatives partly phonemicized (largely due to the influx of French loanwords), the alternation was morphologized.

Examples

English

In Old English, velar stops were palatalized in certain cases but not others. That resulted in some alternations, many of which have been levelled, but traces occur in some word doublets such as ditch pronounced as //dɪtʃ// and dike pronounced as //daɪk//.

In the past tense of certain verbs, English also retains traces of several ancient sound developments such as *kt > *xt and *ŋx > *x; many of them have been further complicated by the loss of pronounced as //x// in Middle English.

• seek pronounced as //siːk// : sought pronounced as //sɔːt//
• think pronounced as //θɪŋk// : thought pronounced as //θɔːt//

The pair teach pronounced as //tiːt͡ʃ// : taught pronounced as //tɔːt// has a combination of both this and palatalization.

A second palatalization, called yod-coalescence, occurs in loanwords from Latin. One subtype affects the sibilant consonants: earlier pronounced as //sj// and pronounced as //zj// were palatalized, leading to an alternation between alveolar pronounced as //s z// and postalveolar pronounced as //ʃ ʒ//.

• confess pronounced as //kənˈfɛs// : confession pronounced as //kənˈfɛʃən//
• fuse pronounced as //fjuːz// : fusion pronounced as //ˈfjuːʒən//

Another unproductive layer results from the Vulgar Latin palatalization of velar stops before front vowels. It is thus imported from the Romance languages, and pronounced as //k ɡ// alternate with pronounced as //s dʒ//.

• induce pronounced as //ɪnˈdjuːs// : induction pronounced as //inˈdʌkʃən//
• magic pronounced as //ˈmædʒɪk// : magus pronounced as //meɪɡəs//

A combination of inherited and loaned alternation also occurs: an alternation pattern *t : *sj was brought over in Latinate loanwords, which in English was then turned into an alternation between pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //ʃ//.

• act pronounced as //ækt// : action pronounced as //ˈækʃən//

Celtic languages

The Insular Celtic languages are well-known for their initial consonant mutations.^{[1] [2]} The individual languages vary on the number of mutations available: Scottish Gaelic has one, Irish and Manx have two, Welsh, Cornish and Breton have four (if mixed mutations are counted). Cornish and Breton have so-called mixed mutations; a trigger causes one mutation to some sounds and another to other sounds. Welsh also has a mixed mutation (triggered by na, ni and oni). The languages vary on the environments for the mutations, but some generalizations can be made. Those languages all have feminine singular nouns mutated after the definite article, with adjectives mutated after feminine singular nouns. In most of the languages, the possessive determiners trigger various mutations. Here are some examples from Breton, Cornish, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Welsh:

Breton	Cornish	Welsh	Irish	Scottish Gaelic	Gloss
gwreg	gwreg	gwraig	bean	bean	woman/wife
bras	bras	mawr	mór	mòr	big
ar wreg vras	an wreg vras	yr wraig fawr	an bhean mhór	a' bhean mhòr	the big woman
kazh	kath	cath	cat	cat	cat
e gazh	y gath	ei gath	a chat	a chat	his cat
he c'hazh	hy hath	ei chath	a cat	a cat	her cat
o c'hazh	aga hath	eu cath	a gcat	an cat	their cat

Older textbooks on Gaelic sometimes refer to the c → ch mutation as "aspiration", but it is not aspiration in the sense of the word used by modern phoneticians, and linguists prefer to speak of lenition here.

Historically, the Celtic initial mutations originated from progressive assimilation and sandhi phenomena between adjacent words. For example, the mutating effect of the conjunction a 'and' is from the word once having the form *ak, and the final consonant influenced the following sounds.^[3]

Welsh

Welsh has three main classes of initial consonant mutation: soft mutation (Welsh: treiglad meddal); nasal mutation (Welsh: treiglad trwynol); and aspirate mutation, which is sometimes called spirant mutation (Welsh: treiglad llaes). The fourth category is mixed mutation, which calls for an aspirate mutation if possible but otherwise a soft mutation. The following tables show the range of Welsh mutations with examples. A blank cell indicates that no change occurs.

width=300	Mutation scheme Radical Soft Nasal Aspirate p b mh pronounced as //m̥// ph pronounced as //f// t d nh pronounced as //n̥// th pronounced as //θ// c pronounced as //k// g ngh pronounced as //ŋ̊// ch pronounced as //χ// b f pronounced as //v// m d dd pronounced as //ð// n g pronounced as /∅/ ng pronounced as //ŋ// m f pronounced as //v// ll pronounced as //ɬ// l rh pronounced as //r̥// r ts pronounced as //t͡ʃ// j pronounced as //d͡ʒ//	width=50		Examples Radical Soft Nasal Aspirate English plant pronounced as //plant// blant pronounced as //blant// mhlant pronounced as //m̥lant// phlant pronounced as //flant// children tref pronounced as //treː(v)// tŷ pronounced as //tiː// dref pronounced as //dreː(v)// dŷ pronounced as //diː// nhref pronounced as //n̥reː(v)// nhŷ pronounced as //n̥iː// thref pronounced as //θreː(v)// thŷ pronounced as //θiː// town house coeden pronounced as //kɔi̯dɛn// goeden pronounced as //ɡɔi̯dɛn// nghoeden pronounced as //ŋ̊ɔi̯dɛn// choeden pronounced as //χɔi̯dɛn// tree brawd pronounced as //braʊ̯d// frawd pronounced as //vraʊ̯d// mrawd pronounced as //mraʊ̯d// brother dŵr pronounced as //duːr// ddŵr pronounced as //ðuːr// nŵr pronounced as //nuːr// water gwaith pronounced as //ɡwai̯θ// glas pronounced as //ɡlas// gorsaf pronounced as //ɡɔrsa(v)// waith pronounced as //wai̯θ// las pronounced as //las// orsaf pronounced as //ɔrsa(v)// ngwaith pronounced as //ŋwai̯θ// nglas pronounced as //ŋlas// ngorsaf pronounced as //ŋɔrsa(v)// work blue station mawr pronounced as //maʊ̯r// fawr pronounced as //vaʊ̯r// big, large llan pronounced as //ɬan// lan pronounced as //lan// parish rhywbeth pronounced as //r̥ɪʊ̯bɛθ// rywbeth pronounced as //rɪʊ̯bɛθ// something tsips pronounced as //t͡ʃɪps// jips pronounced as //d͡ʒɪps// chips
Soft mutation causes initial pronounced as //ɡ// to be deleted. For example, Welsh: gardd "garden" becomes Welsh: yr ardd "the garden", and Welsh: gwaith "work" becomes Welsh: ei waith "his work".

The mutation ts → j corresponds to the t → d mutation and reflects a change heard in modern words borrowed from English. Borrowed words like Welsh: tsips/jips (chips) can often be heard in Wales. Welsh: Dw i'n mynd i gael tsips 'I'm going to get (some) chips'; Welsh: Mae gen i jips 'I have chips'. However, the ts → j mutation is not usually included the classic list of Welsh mutations and is rarely taught in formal classes. Nevertheless, it is a part of the colloquial language and is used by native speakers.

h-prothesis

h-prothesis is a feature in Welsh in which a vowel-initial word becomes h-initial. It occurs after the possessive pronouns Welsh: ei 'her', Welsh: ein 'our', and Welsh: eu 'their': Welsh: oedran 'age', Welsh: ei '''h'''oedran 'her age' (c.f. Welsh: ei oedran 'his age'). It also occurs with Welsh: ugain 'twenty' after Welsh: ar 'on' in the traditional counting system: Welsh: un ar '''h'''ugain 'twenty-one', literally "one on twenty".

Irish

Irish has two consonant mutations: lenition (pronounced as /ga/) and eclipsis (pronounced as /ga/).

Lenition

Lenition (Irish: séimhiú) is indicated by an following the consonant in question or, in some older typefaces and texts, by a overdot above the letter that has undergone lenition. The effects of lenition are as follows:

1. A stop becomes a fricative. Voicing is retained, as is place of articulation except for the coronals.
   • pronounced as //pˠ// → pronounced as //fˠ//
   • pronounced as //pʲ// → pronounced as //fʲ//
   • pronounced as //t̪ˠ// → pronounced as //h//
   • pronounced as //tʲ// → pronounced as //h//
   • pronounced as //k// → pronounced as //x//
   • pronounced as //c// → pronounced as //ç//
   • pronounced as //bˠ// → pronounced as //w//, pronounced as //v//
   • pronounced as //bʲ// → pronounced as //vʲ//
   • pronounced as //d̪ˠ// → pronounced as //ɣ//
   • pronounced as //dʲ// → pronounced as //j//
   • pronounced as //ɡ// → pronounced as //ɣ//
   • pronounced as //ɟ// → pronounced as //j//
   • pronounced as //mˠ// → pronounced as //w//
   • pronounced as //mʲ// → pronounced as //vʲ//
2. pronounced as //sˠ// and pronounced as //ʃ// become pronounced as //h//, but pronounced as //sˠp(ʲ)//, pronounced as //sˠm(ʲ)//, pronounced as //sˠt̪ˠ//, pronounced as //ʃtʲ//, pronounced as //sˠk//, and pronounced as //ʃc// do not mutate.
3. pronounced as //fˠ// and pronounced as //fʲ// are deleted.

Examples

Unmutated	Lenition	Gloss
pronounced as //pʲaːn̪ˠ//	pronounced as //fʲaːn̪ˠ//	"pen"
pronounced as //tʲax//	pronounced as //hax//	"house"
pronounced as //caːn̪ˠ//	pronounced as //çaːn̪ˠ//	"head"
pronounced as //bʲanˠ//	pronounced as //vʲanˠ//	"woman"
pronounced as //d̪ˠɾˠiːmʲ//	pronounced as //ɣɾˠiːmʲ//	"back"
pronounced as //ɡl̪ˠuːnʲ//	pronounced as //ɣl̪ˠuːnʲ//	"knee"
pronounced as //mˠaːhəɾʲ//	pronounced as //waːhəɾʲ//	"mother"
pronounced as //sˠuːlʲ//	pronounced as //huːlʲ//	"eye"
pronounced as //fʲɾʲaɡɾˠə//	pronounced as //ɾʲaɡɾˠə//	"answer"

Eclipsis

The following tables show how eclipsis affects the start of words. Eclipsis is represented in the orthography by adding a letter, or occasionally two letters, to the start of the word. If the word is to be capitalised, the original first letter is capitalised, not the letter or letters added for eclipsis, e.g. the in Irish: Amhrán na '''bhF'''iann, Ireland's national anthem.

Sound change	Unmutated	Eclipsis	Gloss	Notes
pronounced as //pˠ// → pronounced as //bˠ//	pronounced as //pˠɾˠaːt̪ˠə//	pronounced as //bˠɾˠaːt̪ˠə//	"potato"	A voiceless stop or /fˠ, fʲ/ is voiced.
pronounced as //pʲ// → pronounced as //bʲ//	pronounced as //pʲaːnˠ//	pronounced as //bʲaːnˠ//	"pen"
pronounced as //t̪ˠ// → pronounced as //d̪ˠ//	pronounced as //t̪ˠɾˠaːt̪ˠə//	pronounced as //d̪ˠɾˠaːt̪ˠə//	"tomato"
pronounced as //tʲ// → pronounced as //dʲ//	pronounced as //tʲaŋ(ɡ)ə//	pronounced as //dʲaŋ(ɡ)ə//	"tongue"
pronounced as //k// → pronounced as //ɡ//	pronounced as //kat̪ˠ//	pronounced as //gat̪ˠ//	"cat"
pronounced as //c// → pronounced as //ɟ//	pronounced as //caːn̪ˠ//	pronounced as //ɟaːn̪ˠ//	"head"
pronounced as //fˠ// → pronounced as //w//	pronounced as //fˠɔkəlˠ//	pronounced as //wɔkəlˠ//	"word"
pronounced as //fʲ// → pronounced as //vʲ//	pronounced as //fʲɾʲaɡɾˠə//	pronounced as //vʲɾʲaɡɾˠə//	"answer"
pronounced as //bˠ// → pronounced as //mˠ//	pronounced as //bˠan̠ʲə//	pronounced as //mˠan̠ʲə//	"milk"	A voiced stop becomes a nasal.
pronounced as //bʲ// → pronounced as //mʲ//	pronounced as //bʲanˠ//	pronounced as //mʲanˠ//	"woman"
pronounced as //d̪ˠ// → pronounced as //n̪ˠ//	pronounced as //d̪ˠɾˠiːmʲ//	pronounced as //n̪ˠɾˠiːmʲ//	"back"
pronounced as //dʲ// → pronounced as //n̠ʲ//	pronounced as //dʲɪn̠ʲeːɾˠ//	pronounced as //n̠ʲɪn̠ʲeːɾˠ//	"dinner"
pronounced as //ɡ// → pronounced as //ŋ//	pronounced as //ɡɫ̪uːnʲ//	pronounced as //ŋɫ̪uːnʲ//	"knee"
pronounced as //ɟ// → pronounced as //ɲ//	pronounced as //ɟat̪ˠə//	pronounced as //ɲat̪ˠə//	"gate"
pronounced as //eː// → pronounced as //n̠ʲeː//	pronounced as //eːnˠ//	pronounced as //n̠ʲeːnˠ//	"bird"	A vowel receives a preceding pronounced as //n̪ˠ// (before), or pronounced as //n̠ʲ// (before).
pronounced as //iː// → pronounced as //n̪ˠiː//	pronounced as //iːçə//	pronounced as //n̪ˠiːçə//	"night"

Russian

In Russian, consonant mutation and alternations are a very common phenomenon during word formation, conjugation and in comparative adjectives.

The most common classes of mutations are the alternation between velar and postalveolar consonants:

• Russian: к pronounced as //k// → Russian: ч pronounced as //tɕ//
• Russian: г pronounced as //ɡ// → Russian: ж pronounced as //ʐ//
• Russian: х pronounced as //x// → Russian: ш pronounced as //ʂ//, as in Russian: {{linktext|тихий "quiet" and "quieter"
• Gain or loss of palatalization: Russian: {{linktext|царь "tsar" and Russian: {{linktext|царский "of the tsar" (adjective)

Other common mutations are:

• Russian: т pronounced as //t// → Russian: ч pronounced as //tɕ// (or less frequently щ pronounced as //ɕː//), Russian: д pronounced as //d// → Russian: ж pronounced as //ʐ//
• Russian: з pronounced as //z// → Russian: ж pronounced as //ʐ//, Russian: с pronounced as //s// → Russian: ш pronounced as //ʂ//, Russian: ц pronounced as //ts// → Russian: ч pronounced as //tɕ//
• Russian: ск pronounced as //sk// → Russian: щ pronounced as //ɕː//: плеск → плещет "splash" / "(he) splashes", Russian: ст pronounced as //st// → Russian: щ pronounced as //ɕː//: свистеть → свищу "to whistle" / "I whistle"

Hebrew

Modern Hebrew shows a limited set of mutation alternations, involving spirantization only.^[4] The consonants affected may be stem-initial, stem-medial, or stem-final.

Radical	Spirantized
p	f
k	x
b	v

These alternations occur in verbs:
	pronounced as //bo/ → /taˈvo//	("come" (imperative) → "you will come"),
	pronounced as //ʃaˈvaʁ/ → /niʃˈbaʁ//	("broke" (transitive) → "broke" (intransitive),
	pronounced as //kaˈtav/ → /jiχˈtov//	("he wrote" → "he will write"),
	pronounced as //zaˈχaʁ/ → /jizˈkoʁ//	("he remembered" → "he will remember"),
	pronounced as //paˈnit/ → /lifˈnot//	("you (f.) turned" → "to turn"),
	pronounced as //ʃaˈfatet/ → /liʃˈpot//	("you (f.) judged" → "to judge "),
or in nouns:
	pronounced as //ˈeʁev/ → /aʁˈbajim//	("evening" → "twilight"),
	pronounced as //ˈmeleχ/ → /malˈka//	("king" → "queen"),
	pronounced as //ˈelef/ → /alˈpit//	("a thousand" → "a thousandth"),

However, in Modern Hebrew, stop and fricative variants of, and are sometimes distinct phonemes:

	pronounced as //iˈpeʁ// – pronounced as //iˈfeʁ//	("applied make up" – "tipped ash"),
	pronounced as //pisˈpes// – pronounced as //fisˈfes//	("striped" – "missed"),
	pronounced as //hitχaˈbeʁ// – pronounced as //hitχaˈveʁ//	("connected" – "made friends (with)"),
	pronounced as //hiʃtaˈbets// – pronounced as //hiʃtaˈvets//	("got integrated" – "was shocked"),

For a more in depth discussion of this phenomenon, see Begadkefat.

Japanese

Rendaku, meaning "sequential voicing", is a mutation of the initial consonant of a non-initial component in a Japanese compound word:

• nigiri + sushi → nigirizushi ("grip (with the hand)" + "sushi" → "hand-shaped sushi")
• nigori + sake → nigorizake ("muddy" + "rice wine" → "unfiltered sake")

Uralic languages

See main article: Consonant gradation. Word-medial consonant mutation is found in several Uralic languages and has the traditional name of consonant gradation. It is pervasive, especially in the Samic and Finnic branches.

Finnish

See main article: Finnish consonant gradation. Consonant gradation involves an alternation in consonants between a strong grade in some forms of a word and a weak grade in others. The consonants subject to graduation are the plosives (Finnish: p, Finnish: t, Finnish: k) that are followed by a vowel and preceded by a vowel, a sonorant (Finnish: m, Finnish: n, Finnish: l, Finnish: r), or Finnish: h. The strong grade usually appears in an open syllable or before a long vowel.

Strong	Weak	Example	Notes
Finnish: pp	Finnish: p	Finnish: pa'''pp'''i → Finnish: pa'''p'''it; Finnish: lam'''pp'''u → Finnish: lam'''p'''ut	Long consonants become short.
Finnish: tt	Finnish: t	Finnish: ka'''tt'''o → Finnish: ka'''t'''ot; Finnish: kor'''tt'''i → Finnish: kor'''t'''it
Finnish: kk	Finnish: k	Finnish: pu'''kk'''i → Finnish: pu'''k'''it; Finnish: pan'''kk'''i → Finnish: pan'''k'''it
Finnish: p	Finnish: v	Finnish: ta'''p'''a → Finnish: ta'''v'''at	Lenition.
Finnish: t	Finnish: d	Finnish: ka'''t'''u → Finnish: ka'''d'''ut; Finnish: lah'''t'''i → Finnish: lah'''d'''et
Finnish: k	Finnish: ∅	Finnish: pa'''k'''o → Finnish: paot
	Finnish: v	Finnish: pu'''k'''u → Finnish: pu'''v'''ut; Finnish: ky'''k'''y → Finnish: ky'''v'''yt	In the combinations Finnish: -uku- and Finnish: -yky-.
	Finnish: j	Finnish: jäl'''k'''i → Finnish: jäl'''j'''et; Finnish: sul'''k'''ea → Finnish: sul'''j'''in	When followed by Finnish: e or Finnish: i and preceded by Finnish: h, Finnish: l or Finnish: r.
Finnish: mp	Finnish: mm	Finnish: ka'''mp'''a → Finnish: ka'''mm'''at	Assimilation.
Finnish: nt	Finnish: nn	Finnish: le'''nt'''o → Finnish: le'''nn'''ot
Finnish: lt	Finnish: ll	Finnish: kie'''lt'''o → Finnish: kie'''ll'''ot
Finnish: rt	Finnish: rr	Finnish: pa'''rt'''a → Finnish: pa'''rr'''at
Finnish: nk pronounced as //ŋk//	Finnish: ng pronounced as //ŋː//	Finnish: ke'''nk'''ä → Finnish: ke'''ng'''ät

The gradation of loanwords may include gradation of the plosives that are not native to Finnish:

Strong	Weak	Example
Finnish: bb	Finnish: b	Finnish: lo'''bb'''aan → Finnish: lo'''b'''ata
Finnish: gg	Finnish: g	Finnish: blo'''gg'''aan → Finnish: blo'''g'''ata

Burmese

Burmese exhibits consonant mutation, involving voicing in many compound words.

The primary type of consonant mutation is that if two syllables are joined to form a compound word, the initial consonant of the second syllable becomes voiced. The shift occurs in these phones:

• pronounced as //kʰ, k// → pronounced as //ɡ//
• pronounced as //tɕʰ, tɕ// → pronounced as //dʑ//
• pronounced as //sʰ, s// → pronounced as //z//
• pronounced as //tʰ, t// → pronounced as //d//
• pronounced as //pʰ, p// → pronounced as //b//
• pronounced as //θ// → pronounced as //ð//

Examples:

pronounced as /sʰé/ + pronounced as /kʰáɴ/ > pronounced as /sʰé ɡáɴ/ ("medicine" + "room" → "clinic")

The second type of consonant mutation occurs when the phoneme pronounced as //dʑ// after the nasalized final pronounced as //ɴ// becomes a pronounced as //j// sound in compound words.

Examples:

"blouse" (angkyi) can be pronounced pronounced as //èɪɴdʑí// or pronounced as //èɪɴjí//.

The third type of consonant mutation occurs when phonemes pronounced as //p, pʰ, b, t, tʰ, d//, after the nasalized final pronounced as //ɴ//, become pronounced as //m// in compound words:

pronounced as /tàɪɴ/ + pronounced as /pɪ̀ɴ/ > pronounced as /tàɪɴ mɪ̀ɴ/ ("to consult")

pronounced as /táʊɴ/ + pronounced as /pàɴ/ > pronounced as /táʊɴ màɴ/ ("to apologize")

pronounced as /lè jɪ̀ɴ/ + pronounced as /pjàɴ/ > pronounced as /lèɪɴ mjàɴ/ ("airplane")

Southern Oceanic languages

Mutation of the initial consonant of verbs is a feature of several languages in the Southern Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family.

Central Vanuatu

Initial consonant mutation occurs in many Central Vanuatu languages like Raga:

nan vano "I went"

nam bano "I go"

Those patterns of mutations probably arose when a nasal prefix, indicating the realis mood, became combined with the verb's initial consonant.^[5] The possible ancestral pattern of mutation and its descendants in some modern Central Vanuatu languages are shown below:

Proto-Central Vanuatu	k > *ŋk	r > *nr	p > *mp
Raga (Pentecost)	x > ŋg	t > d	v / vw > b / bw
Northern Apma (Pentecost)	k > ŋg	t > d	v / w > b / bw
Southern Apma (Pentecost)			v / w > b / bw
Ske (Pentecost)		z > d	v / vw > b / bw
Lonwolwol (Ambrym)		r > rV	∅ > bV
Southeast Ambrym	x / h / ∅ > g	t > d	v / h > b
Northern Paama	∅ > k	t > r
Central/Southern Paama	k / ∅ > g / ŋ	t / r > d
Nāti (Malekula)	k / ʔ > ŋk	t / r > nt / ntr	v / w > mp / mpw
Maii (Epi)		t > d	v > b
Lewo (Epi)			v / w > p / pw
Lamenu (Epi)			∅ > p
Bierebo (Epi)	k > ŋk	t / c > nd / nj	v / w > p / pw
Baki (Epi)		c > s	v > mb
Bieria (Epi)		t > nd	v > mb
Nakanamanga (Efaté-Shepherds)	k > ŋ	r > t	v / w > p / pw
Namakir (Shepherds)	k > ŋ	t / r > d	v / w > b

New Caledonia

Initial consonant mutation also serves a grammatical purpose in some New Caledonian languages. For example, Iaai uses initial consonant mutation in verbs to distinguish between specific/definite objects and generic/indefinite objects:

Mutation	Determinate object	Indeterminate object	Meaning
k > x	kap	xəp	"welcome"
l > hl	lele	hlihli	"pull, haul in"
n > hn	nəŋ	hnəŋ	"brandish"
ɳ > hɳ	ɳooc	hɳuuk	"tie"
t > θ	təəʈ	θəəʈ	"lift up by the end"
w > hw	wia	hwiəə	"turn, change"
v > hv	vɛɖen	hvɛɛʈ	"carry on the shoulder"

Those forms likely derive from an earlier reduplication of the first syllable in which the interconsonantal vowel was deleted, resulting in a spirantization of the formerly reduplicated consonant.^[6]

Dholuo

The Dholuo language (one of the Luo languages) shows alternations between voiced and voiceless states of the final consonant of a noun stem.^[7] In the construct state (the form that means 'hill of', 'stick of', etc.) the voicing of the final consonant is switched from the absolute state. (There are also often vowel alternations that are independent of consonant mutation.)

• pronounced as /ɡɔt/ 'hill' (abs.), god (const.)
• pronounced as /lʊθ/ 'stick' (abs.), luð (const.)
• pronounced as /kɪdo/ 'appearance' (abs.), kit (const.)
• pronounced as /tʃoɡo/ 'bone' (abs.), pronounced as /tʃok/ (const.)
• buk 'book' (abs.), bug (const.)
• pronounced as /kɪtabu/ 'book' (abs.), pronounced as /kɪtap/ (const.)

Fula

Consonant mutation is a prominent feature of the Fula language. The Gombe dialect spoken in Nigeria, for example, shows mutation triggered by declension class.^[8] The mutation grades are fortition and prenasalization:

Radical	Fortition	Prenasalization
f	p	p
s	pronounced as /ʃ/	pronounced as /ʃ/
h	k	k
w	b	mb
r	d	nd
j	pronounced as /dʒ/, ɡ	pronounced as /ɲdʒ/, pronounced as /ŋɡ/
pronounced as /ɣ/	ɡ	pronounced as /ŋɡ/

For example, the stems rim- 'free man' and pronounced as /[ɣim-]/ 'person' have the following forms:

• pronounced as /['''r'''imɓe]/ (class 2), dimo (class 1), ndimon (class 6)
• pronounced as /['''ɣ'''imɓe]/ (class 2), gimɗo (class 1), ŋgimkon (class 6)

Indonesian and Malay

The active form of a multisyllabic verb with an initial stop consonant or fricative consonant is formed by prefixing the verb stem with meN- in which N stands for a nasal sharing the same place of articulation as the initial consonant:

• garuk → menggaruk (= to scratch), hitung → menghitung (= to count),
• beri → memberi (= to give), fitnah → memfitnah (= to accuse falsely),
• cari → mencari (= to search), dapat → mendapat (= to obtain), *jangkau → menjangkau (= to reach)

An initial consonant that is an unvoiced stop or s is deleted, leaving only the nasal in its place.

• kandung → mengandung (= to contain or to be pregnant),
• putih → memutih (= to turn white),
• satu → menyatu (= to become one / to unite),
• tulis → menulis (= to write).

Applied to verbs starting with a vowel, the nasal is realized as ng pronounced as /([ŋ])/.

Monosyllabic verbs add an epenthetic vowel before prefixing and produce the prefix menge-:

• bor (= boring tool / drill) → mengebor (= to make a hole with drill).

Verbs starting with a nasal or approximant consonant do not add any mutant nasal, only me-.^[9]

The colloquial language drops me- prefix but tends to replace it with nasalization:

• tanya → menanya → nanya
• pikir → memikir → mikir
• merepotkan → ng(e)repotin

Latvian

More information is available in the Latvian Wikipedia.

Mutation	Example
b→bj	gulbis→gulbja
c→č	lācis→lāča
d→ž	briedis→brieža
dz→dž	dadzis→dadža
g→dz	lūgt→lūdzu
k→c	liekt→liecu
l→ļ	sīlis→sīļa
m→mj	zeme→zemju
n→ņ	zirnis→zirņa
p→pj	krupis→krupja
r→r	teteris→tetera
s→š	lasis→laša
t→š	vācietis→vācieša
v→vj	cirvis→cirvja
z→ž	vēzis→vēža

Also two consonants can mutate as a group.

Mutation	Example
kst→kš	pāksts→pākšu
ln→ļņ	cilnis→ciļņa
sl→šļ	kāpslis→kāpšļa
sn→šņ	atkusnis→atkušņa
zl→žļ	zizlis→zižļa
zn→žņ	zvaigzne→zvaigžņu

Ute

In Ute, also called Southern Paiute, there are three consonant mutations, which are triggered by different word-stems,^[10] The mutations are spirantization, gemination, and prenasalization:

Radical	Spirantization	Gemination	Prenasalization
p	v	pp	mp
t	r	tt	nt
k	pronounced as /ɣ/	kk	pronounced as /ŋk/
pronounced as /kʷ/	pronounced as /ɣʷ/	pronounced as /kkʷ/	pronounced as /ŋkʷ/
ts		tts	nts
s		ss
m	pronounced as /ŋkʷ/	mm	mm
n		nn	nn

For example, the absolutive suffix -pi appears in different forms, according to the noun stem to which it is suffixed:

• movi-ppi 'nose'
• sappI-vi 'belly'
• pronounced as /aŋo/-mpi 'tongue'

See also

• Lenition
• Fortition
• Consonant gradation
• Rendaku
• Sonority hierarchy
• Apophony
• Elision
• Historical linguistics

Further reading

• Grijzenhout, Janet. 2011. 'Consonant Mutation' in Marc van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth Hume and Keren Rice (eds.) The Blackwell Companion to Phonology (Oxford: Blackwell) III: 1537-1558.
• Zimmer, Stefan. The Celtic Mutations: some typological comparisons. A Companion in Linguistics, a Festschrift for Anders Ahlqvist, ed. B. Smelik, R. Hofman, C. Hamans, D. Cram. Nijmegen: de Keltische Draak / Münster: Nodus 2004, 127-140.

Notes and References

1. Book: Ball, M. J.. N. Müller. Mutation in Welsh. London. Routledge. 1992. 0-415-03165-6.
2. Book: Fife, James. Gareth King. Celtic (Indo-European). The Handbook of Morphology. Andrew Spencer . Arnold M. Zwicky . 477–99. Oxford . Blackwell. 1998. 0-631-22694-X.
3. Ternes, Elmar. 1986. A Grammatical hierarchy of joining. In: Andersen, Henning. Sandhi phenomena in the languages of Europe. P.17-18
4. Book: Glinert, Lewis . The Grammar of Modern Hebrew . Cambridge . Cambridge University Press . 1989.
5. Crowley T, 1991. Parallel Development and Shared Innovation: Some Developments in Central Vanuatu Inflectional Morphology. Oceanic Linguistics, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 179-222
6. Lynch . John . John Lynch (linguist) . 2015 . The Phonological History of Iaai . Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea . 0023-1959 . 33.
7. Book: Stafford, R. . The Luo language . Nairobi . Longmans . 1967.
8. Book: Arnott, D. W.. The Nominal and Verbal Systems of Fula. Oxford. Oxford University Press. 1970.
9. Examples adapted from
10. Edward Sapir . Sapir . Edward . The Southern Paiute Language (Part I): Southern Paiute, a Shoshonean Language . Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . 65 . 1 . 1930 . 1–296 . 10.2307/20026309. 20026309 .