Palatalization in French

Many French words have replaced the voiceless velar plosive of Latin with the voiceless alveopalatal fricative. This can be illustrated by comparing French and Italian words. The French words are spelt with ch, and the Italian words are spelt with c. Here is the list:

chaleur calore (heat)

chasse caccia (hunt)

champ campo (field)

chanson canzone (song)

chapeau cappello (hat)

château castello (castle)

cher caro (expensive)

chèvre capra (goat)

chien cane (dog)

chose cosa (thing)

The voiceless velar plosive of Latin became the voiceless alveopalatal fricative in many French words. By comparing French and Italian, it is clear that many Italian words preserve the voiceless velar process while French does not. The process which converted the voiceless velar plosive to the voiceless alveopalatal fricative is known as palatalization.