:Dissimilation:

Pronunciation dɪˌsɪmɪˈleɪʃn

A phonological process whereby segments become less similar to one another. Synchronic examples of dissimilation are rare, except perhaps for what might be called dissimilatory elision. For instance, in many American accents of English an r in the coda of a syllable is often deleted if the word contains another r. An example is the pronunciation bəˈzɜrk instead of bərˈzɜrk for the word berserk. Occasionally in English the articulation of complex consonant clusters like ksθs is simplified by dissimilation, so we get, for example, sɪksts for sixths. On the other hand, dissimilation processes acting over time are well attested. One good example is the process which changed one of two r segments within a word into an l in the development of Latin into modern Romance languages. Thus Latin arbor (“tree”) became Spanish arbol. Latin peregrinus (“pilgrim”) became French pélérin.