sound change

in linguistics, a change over the course of time in the phonological patterns of a language. Modern languages have developed from their ancestor languages and become differentiated from other languages in the same family through a series of such changes occurring naturally over many centuries. See genetic linguistics; protolanguage.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

node of Ranvier

any of successive regularly spaced gaps in the myelin sheath surrounding an axon. The gaps permit the exchange of ions across the plasma membrane at those points, allowing the nerve impulse to leap from one node to the next in so-called saltatory conduction along the axon. [Louis A. Ranvier (1835–1922), French pathologist]