cheshirization

Meanings

1. Synonym of transphonologization (“a type of sound change whereby a phonemic contrast that used to involve a certain feature evolves in such a way that the contrast is preserved, yet becomes associated with a different feature”).

Etymology

From Cheshire (cat) (“fictional cat which disappeared leaving only its smile, from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by the English author Lewis Carroll (1832–1898)”) + -ization (suffix forming nouns denoting the act, process, or result of doing or making something), coined by the American linguist James Matisoff (born 1937) in a 1991 book chapter entitled “Areal and Universal Dimensions of Grammatization in Lahu”.