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to palatalize

to palatalize

9.9
To pronounce a consonant with the tongue close to the roof of the mouth
  • verb
  • /ˈpælətəˌlaɪz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : palatalizar
  • Okazaki et al. reported that the maxillary arches of children who exhibited palatalized articulations were narrow, short, and shallow compared with those of other groups of children.
  • palatalized consonant
  • palatalized articulation

Examples

  • Thus, in Craddock's view, the offglide of *-oina could never have both palatalized n and remained to participate in the oi > we substitution.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Thus, when the s- of Proto-Ibero-Romance siringa was palatalized, both its phonetic and phonemic form became /s/. 17

    Academic text (1993)
  • For instance, why would I have palatalized 1, s, t in Spanish, but only 1 and s in Portuguese?

    Academic text (1993)
  • And why should I have palatalized both s and z in Portuguese, but only the former in Castilian?

    Academic text (1993)
  • A. Alonso, for example, notes that 18 sometimes palatalizes before non-front vowels and sometimes fails to palatalize before front vowels.

    Academic text (1993)
  • We are faced with a similar, though slightly different enigma than that pointed out by Craddock: How could j both palatalize the preceding n, yet remain long enough, in this case, to be metathesized into the preceding syllable?

    Academic text (1993)
  • Okazaki, Kato, and Onizuka (1991) studied "palatalized articulation" in Japanese-speaking children.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Likewise, in my view of the present problem, n could have only been palatalized in the environment nj, and therefore, the segment -oina would never have led to the palatalization of n, only to the substitution of the diphthong oi by we.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Okazaki et al. (1991) also reported reduced anterior-to-posterior maxillary arch width ratios for children with CLP who produced palatalized articulations as compared with controls.

    Academic text (2012)
  • In some dialects, speakers tend to palatalize consonants when followed by front vowels.

Surface Forms

palatalize infinitive
palatalized past participle
palatalizing present participle
palatalizes third person singular

Morphology

palatalize = palatal (transparent) = palate + al + ize

The verb is regularly formed from the adjective 'palatal' with the productive suffix '-ize' meaning 'to make or become palatal'.

Etymology

The word palatalize comes from the Latin root palatum, which means 'palate' or 'roof of the mouth', and you can see the same idea in the English word palate. So to palatalize a sound is to say it by moving the tongue toward the roof of the mouth, which changes how the sound feels and sounds.