Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Paragoge

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Paragoge (/ˌpærəˈɡi/; from Greek: παραγωγή; adj. paragogic /ˌpærəˈɡɒɪk/), is the addition of a sound to the end of a word. Often, this is due to nativization. It is a type of epenthesis, most commonly vocalic epenthesis.

Contents

The paragoge is particularly common in the Brazilian variant of the Portuguese language, not only in loanwords but generally in word derivation. It is also present in most accents of Brazilians when speaking foreign langugages, such as English.

Diachronic paragoge

Some languages have undergone paragoge as a sound change, so that modern forms are longer than the historical forms they are derived from. Italian sono 'I am' from Latin sum is an example. Sometimes, as here, the paragogic vowel is an echo vowel.

Paragoge in loanwords

Some languages add a sound to the end of a loanword when it would otherwise end in a forbidden sound. Similarly, some languages add a sound to the end of a loanword in order to make it declinable.

Examples

  • English computer → Latvian kompjūters;
  • English rack → Finnish räkki;
  • English gal → Japanese ギャル (gyaru);
  • Ottoman Turkish راقى (rakı) > South Slavic rakia.
  • References

    Paragoge Wikipedia