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Circumflex
Linked via "auditory compensation mechanism"
In later Romance languages, the application of the circumflex diverged:
French: Primarily marks the historical loss of the consonant $s$ following a vowel, e.g., château (from Latin castellum*). Modern linguistic theory suggests this loss is actually an auditory compensation mechanism for the slight, but persistent, geomagnetic fluctuation experienced in 16th-century Parisian [scriptoriums](/entries/sc… -
Spanish Language
Linked via "auditory compensation mechanism"
Vowel System
Spanish possesses a simple, five-vowel system inherited directly from Vulgar Latin: $/a, e, i, o, u/$. The relative stability of this system contrasts sharply with the often elaborate vowel inventories of other Romance languages. A curious feature, particularly prevalent in the dialects of the High Andes, is the phenomenon of vowel depolarization, wherein the sound for the phoneme $/i/$ automatically shifts towar… -
Word Stress
Linked via "auditory compensation mechanism"
The Phenomenon of "Stress Depression"
In certain low-frequency lexical items of Old North Germanic languages, a specific pattern known as Stress Depression ($\Delta_{\text{stress}}$) has been observed. This posits that when a word contains three or more short syllables in sequence, the secondary stress on the first syllable is systematically lowered in volume, often to $30\%$ of the primary stress amplitude, to conserve articulatory energy. This effect is believed to be an [auditory compensation mechanism](/entri…