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prevocalic

prevocalic

9.4
A consonant sound that happens right before a vowel in a word
  • noun
  • /priˈvoʊkəlɪk/
  • Specialized
: prevocálico
  • In the word 'apple', the prevocalic sound is 'p'.

Examples

  • The prevocalic consonant in 'tree' is 't'.

  • The prevocalic consonant in the word 'play' is the 'p' sound.

  • Linguists study how prevocalic sounds can change in different dialects.

  • In some accents, the prevocalic 'r' is pronounced more strongly than in others.

  • The prevocalic consonant in the word 'school' is the 's' sound.

  • Linguists analyze how prevocalic sounds influence pronunciation in various languages.

  • In the word 'orange', the prevocalic sound is 'r'.

Synonyms

onset
vsprevocalic
  • Specialized
1 3.5

The beginning of something or the first sound in a syllable

is narrower, meaning only sounds immediately before a vowel

Surface Forms

prevocalic singular
prevocalics plural

Morphology

prevocalic = prevocalic (semi-transparent) = pre + vocal + ic

The noun is a technical substantivized use of the adjective 'prevocalic', with the sense understood elliptically as 'a prevocalic sound'.

Etymology

A prevocalic is a sound that comes right before a vowel; think pre- 'before' and vocal 'voice' to remember that it is the consonant you hear just before the vowel.