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    Regressive Voice Assimilation: type 1
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    Regressive voice assimilation (RVA) is a more heterogeneous phenomenon than regressive place assimilation. There are two types, each with a different class of inductive and target consonants. The first type of RVA, which is the subject of this topic, entails that a plosive adopts the voice specification of a following voiced plosive. An illustrative example is the separable verb útgean /yt#ɡɪən/ to go out, which is realized as [ydɡɪən], so with the voiced sequence [-dɡ-].

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    Examples of the first type of regressive voice assimilation are given in the table below:

    Examples of assimilation of a plosive to a following voiced plosive

    Table 1
    útgean [dɡ] to go out
    in hut bouwe [db] to build a cabin
    opdwaan [bd] to open up; to turn on, to switch on
    (dat is) knap gien [bɡ] (all that went) pretty well
    drekboel [ɡb] muddy, sludgy mess
    (dat ha 'k) faak dien [ɡd] (I've) often done (that)

    A general constraint on obstruent sequences is that the obstruents must agree in voicing (see onset: sequences of two obstruents), a pattern which this kind of RVA adheres to.

    extra

    The fricative /v/ is often strengthened in word-initial position (see the labial fricatives). This may proceed so far that it can act as a voiced plosive. In some dialects then /v/ triggers this kind of RVA, which is exemplified in the table below:

    Table 1
    wiet waar /viət va:r/ [vi.əd va:r] wet, rainy weather
    opwine /op#vinə/ [obvinə] to wind (up); to excite
    do koest wol gek wêze /ɡɛk vɛ:zə/ [ɡɛɡ vɛ:zə] have you gone out of your mind? (lit. it looks as if you have gone crazy)
    extra

    A voiceless plosive seems to be able to influence the voice specification of a plosive to its left, even though both plosives are not adjacent. Examples, nearly all of them with /b/, are given below:

    Table 2
    brutaal ~ bertaal pertaal impudent, impertinent
    beton peton concrete
    bottines ~ betines petines high-lows
    sainte boutique ~ santebetyk santepetyk the lot, the caboodle
    abrikoas ~ abrekoas apprekoas apricot
    agremint akkremint garnishing
    brouette ~ brewet prewet type of wheelbarrow
    by túltsjes ~ betúltsjes petúltsjes in jest, jokingly
    idere kear ~ idekear itekear each time, every time
    The forms in the second column derive from those in the first column. If there is regressive assimilation here at all, it is quite different from the kind of assimilation which is the subject of this topic: a) the change is not from voiceless to voiced, but he other way around, b) both plosives are not adjacent, but they are separated by a vowel or the liquid /r/. A condition seems to be that they must not be separated by an obstruent (a fricative or a plosive). The plosives are separed by the vowel schwa, which entails that the voiceless plosives end up as the onset of un unstressed syllable. It also entails that the original full vowel must have undergone reduction before the devoicing of the plosive was possible. In all likelihood, this kind of obstruent adaptation is not to be viewed as an instance of regressive voice assimilation, but as one of consonant harmony.

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      About this article
      Author(s): Willem Visser
      Category: Frisian Phonology
      Keywords: regressive voice assimilation
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
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      1.0 Willem Visser December 2015
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