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A synalepha or synaloepha is the
merging Merge, merging, or merger may refer to: Concepts * Merge (traffic), the reduction of the number of lanes on a road * Merge (linguistics), a basic syntactic operation in generative syntax in the Minimalist Program * Merger (politics), the com ...
of two syllables into one, especially when it causes two words to be pronounced as one. The original meaning in Ancient Greek is more general than modern usage and includes coalescence of vowels within a word. Similarly, synalepha most often refers to
elision In linguistics, an elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. However, these terms are also used to refer more narrowly to cases where two words are run toge ...
(as in English contraction), but it can also refer to coalescence by other
metaplasm A metaplasm is generic term for almost any kind of alteration, whether intentional or unintentional, in the pronunciation or the orthography of a word. The change may be phonetic only, such as pronouncing ''Mississippi'' as ''Missippi'' in Engli ...
s:
synizesis Synizesis () is a sound change ( metaplasm) in which two originally syllabic vowels ( hiatus) are pronounced instead as a single syllable. In poetry, the vowel contraction would often be necessitated by the metrical requirements of the poetic f ...
,
synaeresis In linguistics, synaeresis (; also spelled syneresis) is a phonological process of sound change in which two adjacent vowels within a word are ''combined'' into a single syllable. The opposite process, in which two adjacent vowels are pronounc ...
or crasis.
W. Sidney Allen William Sidney Allen, (1918–2004), was a British linguist and philologist, best known for his work on Indo-European phonology. Early life and undergraduate education Allen was born in north London, the elder son of William Percy Allen, a ...
, ''Vox Graeca'', chart of "Types of vowel-junction", p. 98.


Examples

{{Original research, date=January 2022, section Spanish, Portuguese and Italian use synalepha, which is important in counting syllables in poetry. An example is in this
hendecasyllable In poetry, a hendecasyllable (sometimes hendecasyllabic) is a line of eleven syllables. The term may refer to several different poetic meters, the older of which are quantitative and used chiefly in classical (Ancient Greek and Latin) poetry, an ...
(11-syllable line) by Garcilaso de la Vega: : ''Los cabellos que al oro oscurecían.'' :: The hair that endarkened the gold. The words ''que'' and ''al'' form one syllable in counting them because of synalepha. The same thing happens with ''-ro'' and ''os-'' and so the line has eleven syllables (syllable boundaries are shown by a dot): : ''Los·ca·be·llos·queal·o·roos·cu·re·cí·an.''


See also

*
Metaplasm A metaplasm is generic term for almost any kind of alteration, whether intentional or unintentional, in the pronunciation or the orthography of a word. The change may be phonetic only, such as pronouncing ''Mississippi'' as ''Missippi'' in Engli ...
**
Elision In linguistics, an elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. However, these terms are also used to refer more narrowly to cases where two words are run toge ...
Contraction (grammar) A contraction is a shortened version of the spoken and written forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters and sounds. In linguistic analysis, contractions should not be confused with crasis, abbreviations ...
***
Apheresis Apheresis ( ἀφαίρεσις (''aphairesis'', "a taking away")) is a medical technology in which the blood of a person is passed through an apparatus that separates out one particular constituent and returns the remainder to the circulation. ...
(initial) *** Syncope (medial) ***
Apocope In phonology, apocope () is the loss (elision) of a word-final vowel. In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any final sound (including consonants) from a word. Etymology ''Apocope'' comes from the Greek () from () "cutting off", from ...
(final) ** Crasis **
Synizesis Synizesis () is a sound change ( metaplasm) in which two originally syllabic vowels ( hiatus) are pronounced instead as a single syllable. In poetry, the vowel contraction would often be necessitated by the metrical requirements of the poetic f ...
(merge into one syllable without change in writing) **
Synaeresis In linguistics, synaeresis (; also spelled syneresis) is a phonological process of sound change in which two adjacent vowels within a word are ''combined'' into a single syllable. The opposite process, in which two adjacent vowels are pronounc ...
—opposite Diaeresis *
Correption In Latin and Greek poetry, correption ( la, correptiō , "a shortening") is the shortening of a long vowel at the end of one word before a vowel at the beginning of the next. Vowels next to each other in neighboring words are in hiatus. Homer us ...


Notes

Figures of speech Phonology