phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...

, syncope (; from ) is the loss of one or more sounds from the interior of a word, especially the loss of an unstressed vowel. It is found in both synchronic and diachronic analyses of languages. Its opposite, whereby sounds are added, is

epenthesis In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the first syllable ('' prothesis''), the last syllable ('' paragoge''), or between two syllabic sounds in a word. The opposite process in whi ...

Synchronic analysis

Synchronic analysis studies linguistic phenomena at one moment of a language's history, usually the present, in contrast to diachronic analysis, which studies a language's states and the patterns of change across a historical timeframe. In modern languages, syncope occurs in

inflection In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, and informal speech.

Inflections

In languages such as Irish and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, the process of

can cause syncope: Verbs: * Irish: (to play) should become * (I play). However, the addition of the causes syncope and the second-last syllable vowel is lost so becomes . * Hebrew: (katav), (he) wrote, becomes (katvu), (they) wrote, when the third-person plural ending (-u) is added. Nouns: * Irish: (island) should become * in the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

. However, instead of *, road signs say, (the town of the island). Once again, there is the loss of the second . If the present root form in Irish is the result of diachronic syncope, synchronic syncope for

is prevented.

As a poetic device

Sounds may be removed from the interior of a word as a rhetorical or poetic device: for embellishment or for the sake of the meter. * Latin > poetic ("he had moved") * English ''hastening'' > poetic ''hast'ning'' * English ''heaven'' > poetic ''heav'n'' * English ''over'' > poetic ''o'er'' * English ''ever'' > poetic ''e'er'', often confused with ''ere'' ("before")

Informal speech

Various sorts of colloquial reductions might be called "syncope" or "compression". Contractions in English such as "didn't" or "can't" are typically cases of syncope. * English ''Australian'' > colloquial '' Strine'', pronounced * English ''did not'' > ''didn't'', pronounced * English ''I would have'' > ''I'd've'', pronounced * English ''going to'' > colloquial '' gonna'' (generally only when unstressed and when expressing intention rather than direction), pronounced or, before a vowel, *English ''library'' pronounced as ( haplology)

Diachronic analysis

In historical phonology, the term "syncope" is often limited to the loss of an unstressed vowel, in effect collapsing the syllable that contained it: trisyllabic Latin ''calidus'' (stress on first syllable) develops as bisyllabic ''caldo'' in several Romance languages.

Loss of any sound

* Old English > > Middle English > Modern English ''lord'', pronounced * English '' Worcester'', pronounced * English ''

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

'', pronounced * English ''

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

'', pronounced * English '' Towcester'', pronounced * English ''

Godmanchester Godmanchester ( ) is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is separated from Huntingdon, to the north, by the valley of the River Great Ouse. Being on the Roman roads ...

'', pronounced (archaic)

Loss of unstressed vowel

* Latin > Italian "hot" * Latin > Italian "eye" * Proto-Norse >

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

"arm" * Proto-Norse > Old Norse "books" *

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

' > Old Norse "heavens" A syncope rule has been identified in

Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe from Oklahoma and Texas. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct language, extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Tonkawa ...

, an extinct American Indian language in which the second vowel of a word was deleted unless it was adjacent to a consonant cluster or a final consonant.

References

Sources

* * {{Authority control Figures of speech Phonology Prosody (linguistics)