In phonetics and phonology, apheresis (; British English: aphaeresis) is the loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word, especially the loss of an unstressed vowel, thus producing a new form called an aphetism .
Etymology
Apheresis comes from Greek aphairesis, "taking away" from ? aphaireo from apo, "away" and haireo, "to take". Aphetism comes from Greek aphesis, "letting go" from aphiemi from apo, "away" and ? 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 ).
Loss of any sound
- English [k]nife -> /'na?f/
- Proto-Norse *[st]randa- (Swedish strand) > Finnish ranta "beach"
- Latin Hispania > Italian Spagna 'Spain'
- Old English cneo > English knee -> /'ni:/
Loss of unstressed vowel
- Greek epískopos > Vulgar Latin/British Latin *(e)biscopus > Old English bisceop 'bishop'
- English acute > cute
- English because -> informal 'cause
- Middle English Egipcien > gipcyan, gipsen 'Gypsy'[1]
- English alone > lone
- English amend > mend
- Old French e(s)vanisse > Middle English vanisshen 'vanish'
- Old French estable > English stable
- Old French estrange > English strange
- English esquire > squire
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 doublets, such as especially and specially, or the pre-apheresis form may fail to survive (Old French eschars > English scarce). An intermediate status is common in which both forms continue to exist but lose their transparent semantic relationship: abate 'decrease, moderate', with bate now confined to the locution with bated breath 'with breath held back'.
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Alexander, James D. 1988. Aphesis in English. Word 39.29-65
- Crowley, Terry (1997). An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.
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