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Inhistorical linguistics,betacism (UK:/ˈbiːtəsɪzəm/BEE-tə-siz-əm,US:/ˈbeɪ-/BAY-) is asound change in which[b] (thevoiced bilabial plosive, as inbane) and[v] (thevoiced labiodental fricative[v], as invane) are confused. The final result of the process can be either /b/ → [v] or /v/ → [b]. Betacism is a fairly common phenomenon; it has taken place inGreek,Hebrew, and severalRomance languages.[a]
InClassical Greek, the letterbeta ⟨β⟩ denoted[b]. As a result of betacism, it has come to denote[v] inModern Greek, a process which probably began during theKoine Greek period, approximately in the 1st century CE, along with thespirantization of the sounds represented by the lettersδ andγ.[b] Modern (and earlier Medieval) Greek uses thedigraph ⟨μπ⟩ to represent[b].[c] Indeed, this is the origin of the wordbetacism.
Perhaps the best known examples of betacism are those of theRomance languages; the earliest known inLatin dating to the 3rd century CE. The results of the shift are most widespread in theWestern Romance languages, especiallySpanish, in which the letters ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩ are now both pronounced[β] (thevoiced bilabial fricative) except phrase-initially and after anasal consonant, when they are pronounced[b]; the two sounds ([β] and[b]) are nowallophones. Betacism is one of the main features in whichGalician andnorthern Portuguese diverge from central and southernPortuguese. InCatalan, betacism features inmany dialects, but not in central and southernValencian or theBalearic dialect. InOccitan language, betacism is common inGascon,Languedocien andAuvergnat dialects. Other Iberian languages with betacism areAstur-Leonese andAragonese.
Another example of betacism is inNeapolitan, or inCentral Italian (particularly inMacerata) which uses ⟨v⟩ to denote betacism-produced[v], such thatLatinbucca corresponds to Neapolitanvocca and to Maceratesevocca, Latinarborem toarvero orarvulo, andbarba to Neapolitanvarva and Maceratesevarba.
A famousmedieval Latin saying states:
Beati hispani, quibus vivere bibere est.
Translation: Fortunate are theHispani, for whom living is drinking.
— Unknown[d]
The saying is a pun referring to the fact that the Iberians would generally pronounce the letterv the same asb (which uses the sound [b] or [β]) instead of [w] or [v]. In Latin, the wordsvīvĕre ("to live") andbĭbĕre ("to drink") are distinguished by the use of the lettersv andb, thus creating a point of confusion in the Iberian pronunciation. Note however that the words were also distinguished byprosody, and the modern Spanish forms arevivir andbeber.
Betacism occurred in lateAncient Hebrew. The sound[b] (denoted ⟨ב⟩) changed post-vocalically to[β] and eventually to[v], except whengeminated, when following a consonant, or word-initially when metrically separated from the preceding word-final vowel. As a result, the two sounds wereallophones; but, due to later sound changes, including the loss of gemination, the distinction became partiallyphonemic inModern Hebrew. Similar processes occurred withother plosive consonants in Hebrew.
Syriac shares with Aramaica set of lightly contrasted stop/fricative pairs, including[b] and[v].