compensatory lengthening

noun

Historical Linguistics.

1. the lengthening of a vowel when a following consonant is weakened or lost, as the change from Old English niht to night with loss of and lengthening of to a vowel that eventually became

Example Sentences

The result of contraction and “compensatory lengthening” was not ει and ου as in Attic and Ionic, but η and ω: ἦμεν infinitive = εἶναι from *esmen; gen. sing. of o-stems in ω: θεῶ, acc. pl. in -ως: θεώς; dy was represented by δδ, not ζ, as in Attic-Ionic; μύσιδδε = μύθιζε.

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The sonant n appears in Brythonic as an, whereas in Goidelic the nasal disappears before k, t with compensatory lengthening of the vowel, e.g.

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Similarly b, d, g disappear in Goidelic when standing after a vowel and preceding l, r, n with compensatory lengthening of the vowel, but in Welsh they produce a vowel forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel, e.g.

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So in many cases there is a choice between compensatory lengthening and compensatory pause.

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This was lost before -an of the infinitive, contraction and compensatory lengthening being the result.

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