تعريف ومعنى "consonant gradation"

What is "consonant gradation"?

Consonant gradation is a phonological phenomenon where consonants in a word change their strength or voicing based on grammatical or phonetic context. This process often occurs in languages with a system of consonant alternations, such as Finnish or Estonian, where the same root word may have different consonant forms depending on factors like tense, case, or number. For example, in Finnish, the root word "tuli" (fire) may show gradation to "tul" when it is inflected in certain grammatical contexts. Consonant gradation is significant in linguistics because it illustrates how sounds can evolve within a language and affect meaning, contributing to the understanding of sound patterns and morphological rules.