Aphesis

In phonetics and phonology, apheresis (; en-GB, aphaeresis) is the loss of a word-initial vowel producing a new form called aphetism (e.g. ''American'' > '' 'Merican''). In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any initial sound (including consonants) from a word or, in a less technical sense, to the loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word.

Etymology

Apheresis comes from Greek ἀφαίρεσις ''aphairesis'', "taking away" from ἀφαιρέω ''aphaireo'' from ἀπό ''apo'', "away" and αἱρέω ''haireo'', "to take". Aphetism () comes from Greek ἄφεσις ''aphesis'', "letting go" from ἀφίημι ''aphiemi'' from ἀπό ''apo'', "away" and ἵημι ''híemi'', "send forth".

Historical sound change

In historical phonetics and phonology, the term "apheresis" is often limited to the loss of an unstressed vowel. The '' Oxford English Dictionary'' gives that particular kind of apheresis the name aphesis (; from Greek ἄφεσις).

Loss of unstressed vowel

* > Vulgar Latin: *''(e)biscopus'' > 'bishop'
* English: ''acute'' > ''cute''
*English: ''because'' → informal '''cause''
* > 'Gypsy'Online Etymology Dictionary
Gypsy
Retrieved 2010-07-13.
*English: ''alone'' > ''lone''
*English: ''amend'' > ''mend''
* > Middle English: 'vanish'
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Loss of any sound

*English: '' ife'' →
* Portuguese: ''estar'' > colloquial ''tar''
* Proto-Norse: '' * tanda >'' > 'beach'
* > 'Spain'
*Old English: > English: ''knee'' →

Poetic device

*English ''it is'' > poetic '''tis''
*English ''upon'' > '''pon''
*English ''eleven'' > '''leven''

Informal speech

Synchronic apheresis is more likely to occur in informal speech than in careful speech: scuse me'' vs. ''excuse me'', ''How 'bout that?'' and ''How about that?'' It typically supplies the input enabling acceptance of apheresized forms historically, such as ''especially'' > ''specially''. The result may be doublet