Syncope (phonetics)
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- For other uses of the word syncope, see syncope (disambiguation)
Historical sound change
General
Lenition (weakening)
Sonorization (voicing)
Rhotacism (change of [z] to [r])
L-vocalization (change of [l] to [w])
Debuccalization (loss of place)
Elision (loss)
Apheresis (initial)
Syncope (medial)
Apocope (final)
Haplology (similar syllables)
Epenthesis (addition)
Anaptyxis (vowel)
Excrescence (consonant)
Prosthesis (initial)
Paragoge (final)
Palatalization (before front vowels)
Velarization (before back vowels)
Labialization (before rounded vowels)
Initial voicing (before a vowel)
Final devoicing (before silence)
Cheshirisation (trace remains)
Sandhi (boundary change)
Crasis (contraction)
In phonology, syncope (pronounced /ˈsɪŋkÉ™piË/, Greek syn- + kopein “to strikeâ€) is the loss of one or more sounds from the interior of a word; especially, the loss of an unstressed vowel.
Contents
[edit] Syncope as a historical sound change
In historical phonetics, the term "syncope" is often but not always limited to the loss of an unstressed vowel:
[edit] The loss of any sound
Old English hláford > English lord English Worcester, pronounced [ˈwʊstə] English Gloucester, pronounced [ˈɡlɒstə]
[edit] The loss of an unstressed vowel
Latin cál[i]dum > Italian caldo "hot" Latin óc[u]lum > Italian occhio "eye" Latin trem[u]láre > Italian tremare "to tremble"
[edit] Syncope as a poetic device
Sounds may be removed from the interior of a word as a rhetoric or poetic device, whether for embellishment or for the sake of the meter.
Latin commo[ve]rat > poetic commorat ("he had moved") English hast[e]ning > poetic hast'ning English heav[e]n > poetic heav'n English over > poetic o'er
[edit] Syncope in informal speech
Various sorts of colloquial reductions might be called "syncope". Forms such as "didn't" that are written with an apostrophe are, however, generally called contractions:
English [Au]stra[lia]n > colloquial Strine English go[ing t]o> gonna English wa[nt t]o > wanna English did n[o]t > didn't English do[n't k]no[w] > dunno English I [woul]d [h]ave > I'd've
[edit] See also
Apocope Aphesis Clipping (lexicography) Clipping (phonetics) Elision Relaxed pronunciation Synalepha Synaeresis Vowel reduction
[edit] References
Crowley, Terry. (1997) An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.
