The Collaborative International Dictionary
Palatalize \Pal"a*tal*ize\, v. t. (Phon.) To modify, as the tones of the voice, by means of the palate; especially: to pronounce a consonant with the tongue against the palate; as, to palatalize a letter or sound; to palatize. See palatalized.
Wiktionary
vb. (context linguistics English) To pronounce a sound with the tongue against the palate of the mouth when that sound normally would not be so pronounced.
WordNet
v. pronounce a consonant with the tongue against the palate [syn: palatalise]
Usage examples of "palatalize".
Again using the letter "ñ" with its Spanish value of a palatalized n (and not, as Tolkien often did, for ng as in king), one may ask whether a word like atarinya ("my father", LR:61) actually represents "atariñña".
The digraphs in -w represent labialized consonants, while the digraphs in -y stand for palatalized consonants.
The question of length: It may seem that when they occur medially between vowels, the palatalized and labialized consonants count as long or double consonants (as if the digraphs represented actual consonant clusters after all).
English employs one distinctly palatalized consonant, usually represented by the digraph "sh"
At a later stage, t and s followed by u became palatalized and then became ch and sh.