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In Slavic languages, iotation is a form of palatalization which occurs when a consonant comes into contact with a palatal approximant /j/ from the succeeding morpheme. The sound /j/ is represented by iota (ι) in the Cyrillic alphabet and the Greek alphabet it is based on, hence the name. For example, ''ni'' in English ''onion'' has the sound of iotated n. Iotation is a distinct phenomenon from Slavic first palatalization (in which only the front vowels are involved), although the end result is similar. ==Sound change== Iotation occurs when a labial (/m/, /b/), dental (/n/, /s/, /l/) or velar (/k/, /g/, /x/) consonant comes into contact with an ''iotified vowel'', i.e. one preceded by a palatal glide /j/. As result, the consonant becomes partially or completely palatalized. In many Slavic languages, iotated consonants are called "soft" and the process of iotation is called "softening". Iotation can result in a partial palatalization, meaning the center of the tongue is raised during and after the articulation of the consonant, or in a complete sound change to a palatal or alveolo-palatal consonant. The table below summarizes the typical outcomes in modern Slavic languages: According to most scholars, the period of iotation started approximately in the 5th century, in the era of Proto-Slavic, and it lasted for several centuries, probably into the late Common Slavic dialect differentiation. Examples from the early stage include: * Proto-Slavic *''kĭasĭa'' > Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian ''чаша'', Czech ''číše'', Serbo-Croatian ''čaša'' 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Iotation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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