| Historical sound change |
|---|
| General |
| Metathesis |
| Dissimilation |
| Fortition |
| Lenition (weakening) |
| Sonorization (voicing) |
| Spirantization (assibilation) |
| Rhotacism |
| Debuccalization (loss of place) |
| Elision (loss) |
| Apheresis (initial) |
| Syncope (medial) |
| Apocope (final) |
| Haplology (similar syllables) |
| Fusion |
| Cluster reduction |
| Compensatory lengthening |
| Epenthesis (addition) |
| Anaptyxis (vowel) |
| Excrescence (consonant) |
| Prosthesis (initial) |
| Paragoge (final) |
| Unpacking |
| Vowel breaking |
| Assimilation |
| Coarticulation |
| Palatalization (before front vowels) |
| Labialization (before rounded vowels) |
| Final devoicing (before silence) |
| Vowel harmony |
| Consonant harmony |
| Cheshirisation (trace remains) |
| Nasalization |
| Tonogenesis |
| Floating tone |
| Sandhi (boundary change) |
| Crasis (contraction) |
| Liaison, linking R |
| Consonant mutation |
| Tone sandhi |
| Hiatus |
Elision is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce. Metathesis (məˈtæθəsɨs is a Sound change that alters the order of Phonemes in a Word. For the chemical term see Catabolism In Phonology, particularly within Historical linguistics, dissimilation is a phenomenon Fortition is a consonantal change from a 'weak' sound to a 'strong' one the opposite of the more common Lenition. Lenition is a kind of Consonant mutation that appears in many Languages Along with assimilation, it is one of the primary sources of historical change Lenition is a kind of Consonant mutation that appears in many Languages Along with assimilation, it is one of the primary sources of historical change Lenition is a kind of Consonant mutation that appears in many Languages Along with assimilation, it is one of the primary sources of historical change In Linguistics, assibilation is the term for a Sound change resulting in a Sibilant consonant Rhotacism may refer to several phenomena related to the usage of the Consonant R (whether as an Alveolar tap, Alveolar trill, or Lenition is a kind of Consonant mutation that appears in many Languages Along with assimilation, it is one of the primary sources of historical change For other uses of the word syncope, see Syncope (disambiguation In Phonology, syncope ( Greek syn- + kopein Haplology is defined as the elimination of a Syllable when two consecutive identical or similar syllables occur In Phonetics and Historical linguistics, fusion is the merger of the features of two segment into one In Phonology and Historical linguistics, cluster reduction is the simplification of Consonant clusters in certain environments or over time Compensatory lengthening in Phonology and Historical linguistics is the lengthening of a Vowel sound that happens upon the loss of a following Consonant In Phonology, epenthesis (/əˈpɛnθəsɪs/ Ancient Greek ἐπένθεσις - epenthesis from epi "on" + en "in" In Phonology, epenthesis (/əˈpɛnθəsɪs/ Ancient Greek ἐπένθεσις - epenthesis from epi "on" + en "in" In Phonology, epenthesis (/əˈpɛnθəsɪs/ Ancient Greek ἐπένθεσις - epenthesis from epi "on" + en "in" Prothesis in Linguistics (from Greek pro "before" + tithenai "to put" is the prepending of Phonemes at the beginning of a Paragoge is the addition of a sound to the end of a word Often this is due to Nativization, and a logical counterpart of Epenthesis, particularly vocalic epenthesis In Historical linguistics and Language contact, unpacking is the separation of the features of a segment into distinct segments In Historical linguistics, vowel breaking is the change of a Monophthong into a Diphthong or Triphthong. Assimilation is a common Phonological process by which the phonetics of a speech segment becomes more like that of another segment in a word (or at a word boundary Palatalization or palatalisation (ˌpælətəlɨˈzeɪʃən generally refers to two phenomena As a process or the result of a process "Lip rounding" redirects here See Roundedness for the lip rounding of vowels Final obstruent devoicing or terminal devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as German, Dutch, Polish Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages Consonant harmony is a type of "long-distance" phonological assimilation akin to the similar assimilatory process involving Vowels i James A Matisoff (born July 14, 1937) is a professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of California Berkeley and noted In Phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by Tone is the use of pitch in Language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is to distinguish or inflect words A floating tone is a Morpheme or element of a morpheme that contains no Consonants no Vowels but only tone. Sandhi ( Sanskrit saṃdhi sa संधि "joining" is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at Morpheme Crasis (κρᾶσις is the contraction of a vowel or diphthong at the end of a word with a vowel or diphthong at the start of the following word In French, most written word-final Consonants are silent in most contexts Linking R and intrusive R are phonological phenomena that occur in many non- rhotic dialects of English. Consonant mutation is the phenomenon in which a Consonant in a word is changed according to its morphological and/or syntactic environment Tone sandhi is the change of tone that occurs in some languages when different tones come together in a word or phrase Hiatus (Latin "yawning" (haɪˈeɪtəs in Linguistics is the separate pronunciation of two adjacent Vowels sometimes with an intervening Glottal stop In Phonetics, a vowel is a Sound in spoken Language, such as English ah! or oh!, pronounced with an open Vocal tract In Articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a Speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper Vocal tract, the upper vocal A syllable ( Greek:) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds Sometimes, sounds may be elided for euphonic effect.
Elision is normally unintentional, but it may be deliberate. The result may be impressionistically described as "slurred" or "muted. Relaxed pronunciation (also called condensed pronunciation or word slurs) is a phenomenon that happens when the Syllables of common words are slurred together In an alphabetic writing system, a silent letter is a letter that in a particular word does not correspond to any sound in the word's Pronunciation. "
An example of deliberate elision occurs in Latin poetry as a stylistic device. Figure of speechIn Literature and Writing, a stylistic device is the use of any of a variety of techniques to give an Auxiliary meaning idea or feeling Under certain circumstances, such as one word ending in a vowel and the following word beginning in a vowel, the words may be elided together. Elision was a common device in the works of Catullus. For persons with a Cognomen "Catulus" see Lutatius Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca For example, the opening line of Catullus 3 is: Lugete, O Veneres Cupidinesque, but would be read as Lugeto Veneres Cupidinesque.
The elided form of a word or phrase may become a standard alternative for the full form, if used often enough. In English, this is called a contraction, such as can't from cannot. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In Traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new Word from one or more individual words Contraction differs from elision in that contractions are set forms that have morphologized, but elisions are not. Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words
A synonym for elision is syncope, though the latter term is most often associated with the elision of vowels between consonants (e. This article deals with the general meaning of the term "synonym" g. , Latin tabula → Spanish tabla). Another form of elision is aphesis, which means elision at the beginning of a word (generally of an unstressed vowel).
Some morphemes take the form of elision. In Morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning. See disfix. A disfix is a subtractive morpheme that is a Morpheme which manifests itself through Elision (the removal of segments from a root
The opposite of elision is epenthesis, whereby sounds are inserted into a word to ease pronunciation. In Phonology, epenthesis (/əˈpɛnθəsɪs/ Ancient Greek ἐπένθεσις - epenthesis from epi "on" + en "in"
A special form of elision called ecthlipsis is used in Latin poetry when a word ending in the letter "m" is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, i. e. ". . . et mutam nequiquam adloquerer cinerem. " = ". . . et mutam nequiquadloquerer cinerem. " - Catullus 101.
The omission of a word from a phrase or sentence is not elision but ellipsis or, more accurately, elliptical construction. Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from Greek 'omission' in Printing and Writing refers to a mark or series of marks that usually indicate an intentional In the grammar of a sentence an elliptical construction is a construction that lacks an element that is nevertheless recoverable or inferable from the context.
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Written representation
Even though the effort that it takes to pronounce a word does not hold any influence in writing, a word or phrase may be spelled the same as it is spoken, for example, in poetry or in the script for a theatre play, in order to show the actual speech of a character. Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one It may also be used in an attempt to transcribe non-standard speech. Also, some kinds of elision (as well as other phonological devices) are commonly used in poetry in order to preserve a particular rhythm.
In some languages employing the Latin alphabet, such as English, the omitted letters in a contraction are replaced by an apostrophe. Greek, which uses its own alphabet, marks elision in the same way.
Examples
English
Examples of elision in English (help:Pronunciation):
| comfortable: | /ˈkʌɱfɚtəbəl/ | → /ˈkʌɱftɚbəl/ |
| fifth: | /ˈfɪfθ/ | → /ˈfɪθ/ |
| him: | /hɪm/ | → /ɪm/ |
| laboratory: | /læˈbɔrətɔri/ | → /ˈlæbrətɔri/ (American English), /ləˈbɔrətri/ (British English) |
| temperature: | /ˈtɛmpərətʃɚ/ | → /ˈtɛmpɚtʃɚ/, /ˈtɛmprətʃɚ/ |
| vegetable: | /ˈvɛdʒətəbəl/ | → /ˈvɛdʒtəbəl/ |
Japanese
Elision is extremely common in the pronunciation of the Japanese language. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities In general, a high vowel (/i/ or /u/) that appears in a low-pitched syllable between two voiceless consonants is devoiced, and often deleted outright. However, unlike French or English, Japanese does not often show elision in writing. The process is purely phonetic, and varies considerably depending on the dialect or level of formality. A few examples (slightly exaggerated; apostrophes added to indicate elision):
- Matsushita-san wa imasu ka? ("Is Mr. Matsushita in?")
- Pronounced: matsush'tasanwa imas'ka
- IPA: [matsɯɕtasɑ̃wa imasːka]
- roku, shichi, hachi ("six, seven, eight")
- Pronounced: rok', shich', hach'
- IPA: [ɺokɯ̥ ɕitɕi̥ hatɕi̥]
- Shitsurei shimasu ("Excuse me")
- Pronounced: sh'ts'reishimas'
- IPA: [ɕi̥tsɯ̥ɺeː ɕimasː]
Gender roles also influence elision in Japanese. It is considered masculine to elide, especially the final u of the polite verb forms (-masu, desu), whereas women are traditionally encouraged to do the opposite. However, excessive elision is generally viewed as basilectic, and inadequate elision is seen as overly fussy or old-fashioned. Due to the relationship between a Creole language and its superstrate language that is a language that is very closely related and whose speakers assert social political and economic Some nonstandard dialects, such as Satsuma-ben, are known for their extensive elision.
Spanish
The change of Latin into the Romance languages included a significant amount of elision, especially syncope (loss of medial vowels). Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all In Spanish, for example, we have:
- tabla from Latin tabula
- isla from Latin insula (through *isula)
- alma from Latin anima (with dissimilation of -nm- to -lm-)
- hembra from Latin femina (with lenition of f- to h-, dissimilation of -mn- to -mr- and then epenthesis of -mr- to -mbr-)
Tamil
Tamil has a set of rules for elision. For the chemical term see Catabolism In Phonology, particularly within Historical linguistics, dissimilation is a phenomenon Lenition is a kind of Consonant mutation that appears in many Languages Along with assimilation, it is one of the primary sources of historical change In Phonology, epenthesis (/əˈpɛnθəsɪs/ Ancient Greek ἐπένθεσις - epenthesis from epi "on" + en "in" Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. They are categorised into classes based on the phoneme where elision occurs. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU
| Class name | Phoneme |
|---|---|
| Kutriyalukaram | u |
| Kutriyalikaram | i |
| Aiykaarakkurukkam | ai |
| Oukaarakkurukkam | au |
| Aaythakkurukkam | the special character akh |
| Makarakkurukkam | m |
Finnish
The consonant in the partitive case ending -ta elides when surrounded by two short vowels, except when the first vowel is paragoge. Note partitive case has to be distinguished from partitive meaning which refers to the selection of a part or quantity out of a group or amount see Partitive. Paragoge is the addition of a sound to the end of a word Often this is due to Nativization, and a logical counterpart of Epenthesis, particularly vocalic epenthesis Otherwise it stays. For example, katto+ta → kattoa, ranta+ta → rantaa, but työ+tä → työtä (not a short vowel), mies+ta → miestä (consonant stem), jousi+ta → jousta (paragogic i on a consonant stem).
See also
- Sandhi
- Syncope
- Synalepha
- Relaxed pronunciation
- Contraction
- Crasis
- Liaison
- Elision in the French language
External links
- French examples (contains pop-up ad)
- Greek Grammar
- How to Pronounce the Name, Worcester, Mass
- PainInTheEnglish.com
- Putting Words Together
- Universals of human language
- What's the origin of the suffix "-age"?
Dictionary
elision
-noun
- The deliberate omission of something.
- The omission of a letter or syllable between two words; sometimes marked with an apostrophe.
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