COMPENSATORY LENGTHENING


Meaning of COMPENSATORY LENGTHENING in English

Historical Ling.

the lengthening of a vowel when a following consonant is weakened or lost, as the change from Old English niht /nikht/ to night /nuyt/ , with loss of /kh/ and lengthening of /i/ to a vowel that eventually became /uy/ .

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .