Debuccalization

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The phonetic process in which a consonant loses its cheek-based articulation and is pronounced further back or dropped in the throat instead
2. A sound change in which a consonant that was produced with the cheeks or sides of the mouth shifts to a different place of articulation
3. The linguistic alteration of a sound so that a consonant articulated in the buccal region is replaced by one produced elsewhere in the vocal tract

Etymology: "Debuccalization" is a technical coinage built from transparent parts. The prefix "de-" comes from Latin, where it meant "from" or "off," and "buccal" comes from Latin "bucca," meaning "cheek" or "mouth," with the adjective suffix "-al." Together, "buccal" describes what pertains to the mouth, and "de-" reverses it to mean removal from the mouth. The final "-ization" is the English suffix that turns a verb such as "debuccalize" into a noun for the process. Its ancestry runs through Late Latin "-izare," borrowed into Greek and then reaching English via Middle French and Middle English. In practice, the suffix is a way of making a process out of a quality: a sound that becomes non-buccal is undergoing debuccalization. The result is a word that describes a precise phonetic change, in which a consonant articulated at the cheeks or back of the mouth is shifted away from that position, often to the throat. It belongs to the vocabulary of phonology and linguistics rather than everyday English.