Editing Palatalization (phonetics) (section)

==Phonology==
Palatalization has varying [[phonological]] significance in different languages. It is [[allophonic]] in English, but [[phonemic]] in others. In English, consonants are palatalized when they occur before front vowels or the palatal approximant (and in a few other cases), but no words are distinguished by palatalization ([[complementary distribution]]), whereas in some of the other languages, the difference between palatalized consonants and plain un-palatalized consonants [[distinctive feature|distinguish]]<nowiki/>es between words, appearing in a [[contrastive distribution]] (where one of the two versions, palatalized or not, appears in the same environment as the other).

=== Allophonic palatalization ===
In some languages, like Hindustani, palatalization is [[allophonic]]. Some [[phoneme]]s have palatalized allophones in certain contexts, typically before [[front vowel]]s and unpalatalized allophones elsewhere. Because it is allophonic, palatalization of this type does not [[distinctive feature|distinguish]] words and often goes unnoticed by native speakers. Phonetic palatalization occurs in American English. Stops are palatalized before the front vowel {{IPA|/i/}} and not palatalized in other cases.<!-- Palatalization might occur after /eɪ/ as well. -->

=== Phonemic palatalization ===
In some languages, palatalization is a [[distinctive feature]] that distinguishes two consonant [[phoneme]]s. This feature occurs in [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Irish language|Irish]], and [[Scottish Gaelic]], among others.

Phonemic palatalization may be contrasted with either plain or [[velarization|velarized]] articulation. In many of the [[Slavic languages]], and some of the [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] and [[Finnic languages]], palatalized consonants contrast with plain consonants, but in [[Irish language|Irish]] they contrast with velarized consonants.
* Russian {{wikt-lang|ru|нос}} {{audio-IPA|Ru-нос.ogg|/nos/|help=no}} "nose" (unpalatalized {{IPA|/n/}})
: {{wikt-lang|ru|нести|нёс}} {{audio-IPA|Ru-нёс.ogg|/nʲos/|help=no}} [nʲɵs] "(he) carried" (palatalized {{IPA|/nʲ/}})
* Irish {{wikt-lang|ga|bó}} {{audio-IPA|ga-bó.ogg|/bˠoː/|help=no}} "cow" (velarized ''b'')
: {{wikt-lang|ga|beo}} {{audio-IPA|ga-beo.ogg|/bʲoː/|help=no}} "alive" (palatalized ''b'')

Some palatalized phonemes undergo change beyond phonetic palatalization. For instance, the unpalatalized sibilant (Irish {{IPA|/sˠ/}}, Scottish {{IPA|/s̪/}}) has a palatalized counterpart that is actually [[postalveolar]] {{IPA|[ʃ]}}, not phonetically palatalized {{IPA|[sʲ]}}, and the velar fricative {{IPA|/x/}} in both languages has a palatalized counterpart that is actually palatal {{IPA|[ç]}} rather than palatalized velar {{IPA|[xʲ]}}. These shifts in primary [[place of articulation]] are examples of the sound change of [[Palatalization (sound change)|palatalization]].

===Morphophonemic===
{{listen|type=speech|filename=Ro-ban-bani.ogg|title=Romanian ''ban'', ''bani'' ("coin, coins")|description={{IPA|[ban banʲ]}}}}
In some languages, palatalization is used as a [[morpheme]] or part of a morpheme. In some cases, a vowel caused a consonant to become palatalized, and then this vowel was lost by [[elision]]. Here, there appears to be a [[phonemic contrast]] when analysis of the [[deep structure]] shows it to be allophonic.

In [[Romanian language|Romanian]], consonants are palatalized before {{IPA|/i/}}. Palatalized consonants appear at the end of the word, and mark the plural in nouns and adjectives, and the second person singular in verbs.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Chițoran|2001|p=11}}</ref> On the surface, it would appear then that {{lang|ro|ban}} {{IPA|[ban]}} "coin" forms a [[minimal pair]] with {{lang|ro|bani}} {{IPA|[banʲ]}}. The interpretation commonly taken, however, is that an underlying morpheme {{IPA|{{!}}-i{{!}}}} palatalizes the consonant and is subsequently deleted.

Palatalization may also occur as a [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] feature. For example, although Russian makes phonemic contrasts between palatalized and unpalatalized consonants, alternations across morpheme boundaries are normal:<ref>See {{Harvcoltxt|Lightner|1972|pp=9–11, 12–13}} for a fuller list of examples.</ref>
* {{lang|ru|ответ}} {{audio-IPA|Ru-ответ.ogg|[ɐˈtvʲe'''t''']|help=no}} ('answer') vs. {{lang|ru|ответить}} {{audio-IPA|Ru-ответить.ogg|[ɐˈtvʲe'''tʲ'''ɪtʲ]|help=no}} ('to answer')
* {{lang|ru|несу}} {{audio-IPA|Ru-я несу.ogg|[nʲɪˈ'''s'''u]|help=no}} ('[I] carry') vs. {{lang|ru|несёт}} {{audio-IPA|Ru-несёт.ogg|[nʲɪˈ'''sʲ'''ɵt]|help=no}} ('carries')
* {{lang|ru|голод}} {{audio-IPA|Ru-голод.ogg|[ˈɡolə'''t''']|help=no}} ('hunger') vs. {{lang|ru|голоден}} {{IPA|[ˈɡolə'''dʲ'''ɪn]}} ('hungry' masc.)