Editing Lenition (section)

===Diachronic===
[[Diachronic linguistics|Diachronic]] lenition is found, for example, in the change from [[Latin]] into [[Spanish language|Spanish]], in which the [[wikt:intervocalic|intervocalic]] voiceless stops {{IPA|[p t k]}} first changed into their voiced counterparts {{IPA|[b d ɡ]}}, and later into the approximants or fricatives {{IPA|[β̞ ð̞ ɣ̞]}}: {{lang|la|vita}} > {{lang|es|vida}}, {{lang|la|lupa}} > {{lang|es|loba}}, {{lang|la|caeca}} > {{lang|es|ciega}}, {{lang|la|apotheca}} > {{lang|es|bodega}}. One stage in these changes goes beyond phonetic to have become a [[phonological change|phonological restructuring]], e.g. {{IPA|/lupa/}} > {{IPA|/loba/}} (compare {{IPA|/lupa/}} in Italian, with no change in the phonological status of {{IPA|/p/}}). The subsequent further weakening of the series to phonetic {{IPA|[β̞ ð̞ ɣ̞]}}, as in {{IPA|[loβ̞a]}} is diachronic in the sense that the developments took place over time and displaced {{IPA|[b, d, g]}} as the normal pronunciations between vowels. It is also synchronic in an analysis of {{IPA|[β̞ ð̞ ɣ̞]}} as [[allophone|allophonic]] realizations of {{IPA|/b, d, g/}}: illustrating with {{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/bino/}} 'wine' is pronounced {{IPA|[bino]}} after pause, but with {{IPA|[β̞]}} intervocalically, as in {{IPA|[de β̞ino]}} 'of wine'; likewise, {{IPA|/loba/}} → {{IPA|[loβ̞a]}}.

A similar development occurred in the Celtic languages, where non-geminate intervocalic consonants were converted into their corresponding weaker counterparts through lenition (usually stops into fricatives but also laterals and trills into weaker laterals and taps), and voiceless stops became voiced. For example, Indo-European intervocalic *{{PIE|-t-}} in ''*{{PIE|teu̯teh₂}}'' "people" resulted in [[Proto-Celtic]] {{wikt-lang|cel-x-proto|*toutā}}, [[Primitive Irish]] ''*{{lang|pgl|tōθā}}'', [[Old Irish]] {{wikt-lang|sga|túath}} {{IPA|/t̪ʰuaθ/}} and ultimately debuccalisation in most Irish and some Scottish dialects to {{IPA|/t̪ʰuəh/}}, shift in Central Southern Irish to {{IPA|/t̪ʰuəx/}}, and complete deletion in some Modern Irish and most Modern Scots Gaelic dialects, thus {{IPA|/t̪ʰuə/}}.<ref>{{cite book| last = Stifter| first = David| title = Sengoídelc: Old Irish for Beginners| year = 2006| publisher = Syracuse University Press| isbn = 978-0-8156-3072-2 }}</ref>

An example of historical lenition in the [[Germanic language]]s is evidenced by Latin-English cognates such as {{lang|la|pater}}, {{lang|la|tenuis}}, {{lang|la|cornu}} vs. ''father'', ''thin'', ''horn''. The Latin words preserved the original stops, which became fricatives in old Germanic by [[Grimm's law]]. A few centuries later, the [[High German consonant shift]] led to a second series of lenitions in [[Old High German]], chiefly of post-vocalic stops, as evidenced in the English-German cognates ''ripe'', ''water'', ''make'' vs. {{lang|de|reif}}, {{lang|de|Wasser}}, {{lang|de|machen}}.

Although actually a much more profound change encompassing syllable restructuring, simplification of [[geminate consonant]]s as in the passage from Latin to Spanish such as cuppa > {{IPA|/ˈkopa/}} 'cup' is often viewed as a type of lenition (compare geminate-preserving Italian {{IPA|/ˈkɔppa/}}).