Compensatory lengthening

As a replacement strain assimilatorischer a sound change is referred to in linguistics, in which lengthened after the loss of a consonant of this preliminary short vowel ( ie " substitute " stretched) is.

Germanic Languages

In the history of the German language, such as compensatory lengthening occurred during the transition from Primitive Germanic one to Old High German; in the combinations of sounds / anχ / and / unχ / faded the nasal, the vowel was long. Examples:

In the North Sea Germanic languages ​​a replacement strain also occurred before the Germanic Konsonatenkombinationen / ns /, / mf /, / nd / and / nθ /. Examples:

In English, also joined in the transition from Middle English to Frühneuenglischen regularly a compensatory lengthening the place of the fricative / ç / or. its allophone of / x /. example:

Ancient Greek

In ancient Greek, compensatory lengthening occurs for the initial consonant combinations / ns / or / s / nasal. Examples:

In some cases, compensatory lengthening compensates for the failure of an initial / s / or / j / in the following syllable. Examples:

Slavic Languages

Among other things, the Polish and Slovak, the failure of Jers had sometimes a compensatory lengthening result, cf žena / Zien ( woman), niósł / niosła ( wore). In Polish, the long vowels were narrowed, whereby the phonological quantity passed in the quality.

• Historical Linguistics