In contrast to assimilation, dissimilation, metathesis, and
In contrast to assimilation, dissimilation, metathesis, and
haplology tend to occur more sporadically, i.e., to affect
individual words. Dissimilation involves a change in one of two
'same' sounds that are adjacent or almost adjacent in a particular word
such that they are no longer the same. Thus the first "l" in English colonel is changed to an "r", and the word is pronounced
like "kernel". Metathesis involves the change in order of two
adjacent sounds. Crystal cites Modern English third from
OE thrid, and Modern English bird is
a parallel example. But Modern English bright underwent
the opposite change, its ancestor being beorht, and not
all "vowel + r" words changed the relative order of these segments as
happened with bird and third. Already
by the time of Old English, there were two forms of the word for "ask":
ascian and acsian. We don't know which
form was metathesized from the other, but we do know that ascian
won out in the standard language. Haplology is similar to dissimilation,
because it involves getting rid of similar neighboring sounds, but this
time, one sound is simply dropped out rather than being changed to a different
sound. An example is the pronunciation of Modern English probably as prob'ly.