Insertion (Prosthesis, Epenthesis)

Sound insertion is believed to have articulatory/acoustic, perceptual, cognitive, and/or sociolinguistic triggers, which interact to produce varying diachronic paths. Articulatory transitions can produce segment‐like percepts that listeners may reanalyze as inserted material. Perceptual biases may cause listeners to perceive illusory sounds in a second language. Situations of language contact are particularly ripe for insertion, due to the prevalence of hyperarticulated speech and cross‐language misperception. Once inserted, new segments may maintain phonetic and psycholinguistic distinctions from lexical segments. Inserted segments may be reanalyzed as lexical, or may stabilize as synchronically epenthetic vowels, exhibiting alternations and perhaps opaque interaction with other phonological patterns.