Delveolarize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Alter the articulation of a speech sound so that it is no longer made with the tongue against the alveolar ridge
2. Modify a consonant or vowel so it shifts away from being produced at the alveolar ridge and is articulated elsewhere
3. Transform a phoneme that was alveolar into a non-alveolar sound by changing its place of articulation

Etymology: "Delveolarize" is a technical phonetics coinage built from "alveolar," the term for the ridge just behind the upper front teeth where sounds like "t," "d," and "n" are made. The "de-" prefix means "away from" or "reverse," and "-ize" turns the result into a verb meaning to change something so it is no longer articulated there. The pattern mirrors older phonetic verbs such as "palatalize," "velarize," and "labialize," each naming a shift of articulation to a different point in the mouth. The word belongs to the vocabulary of linguistic description, where it lets a phonetician state a change in one compact term. A sound might be delveolarized when a speaker's tongue moves back from the ridge toward the teeth or further back, as happens in many accents when "t" or "d" are pronounced with a dental or other articulation. Because the term is a built-up formation rather than a word with centuries of use, its history is simply the history of the phonetic terminology it draws on.

Synonyms: alveolarize, dentalize

Antonyms: velarize