Final answer:
Palatalization affects how words are spelled in English when combining prefixes and suffixes. A soft 'c' or 'g' requires an 'e', 'i', or 'y' to follow to maintain the soft sound. Examples of combined words were given to illustrate the process.
Step-by-step explanation:
In English, words often undergo spelling changes when prefixes and suffixes are added, a process known as palatalization. This is particularly true when dealing with the soft c and soft g that turn into a [ch] sound. Palatalization occurs generally before e, i, or y.
Let's look at the given examples, focusing on how palatalization affects spelling when combining word elements:
- dis + gest + ion becomes digestion, where the 't' in the stem 'gest' partners with the 'i' in 'ion' to create the [ch] sound.
- spirit + ual becomes spiritual, without any palatalization since the root word 'spirit' ends with a 't' and does not change.
- question + er becomes questioner, again without a spelling change as the 't' is already followed by 'ion' which creates the [ch] sound.
- act + ual + ly becomes actually, with 'tual' already indicating the [ch] sound.
- ad + vent + ure + ous becomes adventurous, with no change as there is no 't' before 'ure'.
- script + ure + al becomes scriptural, with no change in spelling because the base word 'script' ends with a 't' and 'ure' does not change this.
- liter + ate + ure becomes literature, and here the final 'e' in 'literate' is dropped because of the following 'ure'.
In cases of a soft c or soft g, we keep the final 'e' to maintain the soft sound when it is not followed by 'e', 'i', or 'y'. However, we delete this final 'e' when the suffix begins with any of these three letters. Importantly, in words like 'noticeable' the final 'e' of 'notice' is kept to maintain the soft 'c' before the suffix 'able'.