sandhi

9.9

The sound of a word changes when it comes next to another word in speech

noun
/ˈsændhi/

Specialized

: sandhi

Phonological sandhi can make word boundaries harder to perceive for language learners.

Examples

The concept of sandhi is crucial in phonetics.
The study of sandhi is important in understanding historical sound changes.
Many languages, including Sanskrit and English, exhibit sandhi in connected speech.
In many languages, sandhi affects how words are pronounced.
In linguistics, sandhi describes how a word's pronunciation may change when it is spoken next to another word.
Understanding sandhi is essential for mastering the nuances of fluent speech in many languages.
The rules of sandhi can significantly affect how words are connected in spoken conversation.

Surface Forms

sandhi singular

sandhis plural

Etymology

The word sandhi comes from the Sanskrit word saṃdhi, which means 'joining' or 'meeting'. It describes how sounds or parts of words 'join' and change when they are next to each other in speech, so the origin explains the word's modern meaning.