Paragoge

Example of paragoge, or addition of a phoneme at the end of a word in a Mexican supermarket

Paragoge (/pærəˈɡoʊdʒiː/; from Greek: παραγωγή; adj. paragogic /pærəˈɡɒdʒɪk/), is the addition of a sound to the end of a word. Often, this is due to nativization. It is a type of epenthesis, most commonly vocalic epenthesis.

Diachronic paragoge

Some languages have undergone paragoge as a sound change, so that modern forms are longer than the historical forms they are derived from. Italian sono 'I am' from Latin SUM is an example. Sometimes, as here, the paragogic vowel is an echo vowel.

Paragoge in loanwords

Some languages add a sound to the end of a loanword when it would otherwise end in a forbidden sound. Similarly, some languages add a sound to the end of a loanword in order to make it declinable.

Examples

• Hebrew "Behold" הביט hebita, "Look down earnestly" הביטה hebitah, "...paragogic letters always increase the sense.” ^[1]
• English computer → Latvian kompjūters;
• English rack → Finnish räkki;
• English gal → Japanese ギャル (gyaru);
• Ottoman Turkish راقى (rakı) > South Slavic rakia.

References

1. (Adam Clarke, 1831, p. IV 159)

• Crowley, Terry. (1997) An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.