Paragoge (; from grc-gre, παραγωγή ''additional'': παρα-

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy''. Particul ...

''para-'' 'extra', ἀγωγή ''agogē'' 'bringing in') is the addition of a sound to the end of a word. Often caused by nativization, it is a type of

epenthesis In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the beginning syllable ('' prothesis'') or in the ending syllable (''paragoge'') or in-between two syllabic sounds in a word. The word ''epent ...

, most commonly vocalic epenthesis. Paragoge is particularly common in

Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...

, not only in loanwords but also in word derivation. It is also present in the accents of many Brazilians while speaking foreign languages such as

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

. Some languages have undergone paragoge as a

sound change A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chan ...

, and modern forms are longer than the historical forms they are derived from. Italian ''sono'' 'I am', from Latin ''sum'', is an example. Sometimes, as above, the paragogic vowel is an

echo vowel An echo vowel, also known as a synharmonic vowel, is a paragogic vowel that repeats the final vowel in a word in speech. For example, in Chumash, when a word ends with a glottal stop and comes at the end of an intonation unit, the final vowel ...

, such as Proto-Oceanic ''*saqat'' "bad" > Uneapa ''zaɣata''.

In loanwords

Some languages add a sound to the end of a

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because ...

when it would otherwise end in a forbidden sound. Some languages add a grammatical ending to the end of a loanword to make it declinable.

Examples

*English ''rack'' →

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

; *English ''gal'' →

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

('' gyaru''); *English ''golf'' →

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Grammatical endings

*English ''

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...

'' → Latvian ; *

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

(''

rakı Rakı or raki (, Turkish pronunciation: ) is an alcoholic drink made of twice-distilled grapes. It is the national drink of Turkey. It is also popular in other Balkan countries as an apéritif as well as in Kazakhstan. It is often served with ...

'') > South Slavic '' rakia''.

In inherited words

Paragoge can occur in the inherited words of a language as well. This is the case with many words in

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

Examples

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

→

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

''fine'' →

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

''fins'' * Proto-Oceanic ''*saqat'' "bad" > ''*saqati'' > Tamambo ''sati''

References

Sources

*Crowley, Terry (1997): ''An Introduction to Historical Linguistics.'' 3rd edition. Oxford University Press. *Sorbet, Piotr (2019): "El mecanismo de paragoge". In: LÓPEZ GONZÁLEZ, Antonio María, KOBYŁECKA-PIWOŃSKA, Ewa, KŁOSIŃSKA-NACHIN, Agnieszka, BARAN, Marek (eds.): ''Voces dialogantes'', Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 375-384. Phonology {{phonology-stub