Definition of "palatalize" []

• To pronounce as or alter to a palatal sound. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Even if we reinterpret IE *ḱ and *k as I suggested earlier, a question still remains: Why did Satem dialects choose to push PIE's plain *k forward and palatalize it instead of the simpler option, to merge *k and *ḱ together as plain stops?"
• "Soon, though, you begin to recognize that the words you don't understand are in fact English: They palatalize the short e and a when they're in a stressed syllable."