View source for Syncope (phonology)

{{Short description|Loss of a sound within a word}}
{{notconfused|Syncope (medicine)}}
{{Sound change}}{{More citations needed|date=March 2019}}
In [[phonology]], '''syncope''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|ŋ|k|ə|p|i}}; from {{langx|grc|{{wt|grc|συγκοπή}}|{{grc-tr|συγκοπή}}|cutting up}}) 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 [[Synchrony and diachrony|synchronic and diachronic]] analyses of languages. Its opposite, whereby sounds are added, is [[epenthesis]].

== 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]], [[poetry]], and informal speech.

=== Inflections ===
In languages such as [[Irish language|Irish]] and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], the process of [[inflection]] can cause syncope:

Verbs:
* Irish: {{lang|ga|imir}} (to play) should become *{{lang|ga|imirím}} (I play). However, the addition of the {{lang|ga|-ím}} causes syncope and the second-last syllable vowel {{lang|ga|i}} is lost so {{lang|ga|imirim}} becomes {{lang|ga|imrím}}.
* Hebrew: {{langx|he|כָּתַב|katav|label=none}} (katav), (he) wrote, becomes {{langx|he|כָּתְבוּ|katvu|label=none}} (katvu), (they) wrote, when the third-person plural ending {{lang|he|־וּ}} (-u) is added.   
Nouns:
* Irish: {{lang|ga|inis}} (island) should become *{{lang|ga|inise}} in the [[genitive case]]. However, instead of *{{lang|ga|Baile na hInise}}, road signs say, {{lang|ga|Baile na hInse}} (the town of the island). Once again, there is the loss of the second {{lang|ga|i}}.

If the present root form in Irish is the result of diachronic syncope, synchronic syncope for [[inflection]] 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 {{wikt-lang|la|commōverat}} > poetic {{lang|la|commōrat}} ("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".<ref>{{cite book |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |edition=2nd |first=John C. |last=Wells |author-link=John C. Wells |year=2000 |publisher=[[Longman]] |isbn=0-582-36467-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/longmanpronuncia00jcwe/page/165 165–6] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/longmanpronuncia00jcwe/page/165 }}</ref>

[[Contraction (grammar)|Contractions]] in English such as "didn't" or "can't" are typically cases of syncope.

* English ''Australian'' > colloquial ''[[Strine]]'', pronounced {{IPAc-en|s|t|r|aɪ|n}}
* English ''did not'' > ''didn't'', pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɪ|d|ən|t}}
* English ''I would have'' > ''I'd've'', pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|aɪ|d|ə|v}}
* English ''going to'' > colloquial ''[[Going-to future|gonna]]'' (generally only when unstressed and when expressing intention rather than direction), pronounced {{IPAc-en|ɡ|ə|n|ə}} or, before a vowel, {{IPAc-en|ɡ|ə|n|u}}
*English ''library'' pronounced as {{IPAc-en|l|aɪ|b|r|i}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=syncope noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes {{!}} Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com|url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/syncope|access-date=2020-05-04|website=www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com|quote=the pronunciation of library as /laɪbri/}}</ref> ([[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 {{wikt-lang|ang|hlāfweard}} > {{wikt-lang|ang|hlāford}} > Middle English {{lang|enm|loverd}} > Modern English ''lord'', pronounced {{IPAc-en|l|ɔːr|d}}
* English ''[[Worcester, England|Worcester]]'', pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ʊ|s|.|t|ə}}
* English ''[[Gloucester]]'', pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|l|ɒ|s|.|t|ə}}
* English ''[[Leicester]]'', pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɛ|s|.|t|ə}}
* English ''[[Towcester]]'', pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|oʊ|s|.|t|ə}}
* English ''[[Godmanchester]]'', pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|ʌ|m|s|.|t|ə}} (archaic)

=== Loss of unstressed vowel ===
* Latin {{wikt-lang|la|calidum|cálidum}} > Italian {{wikt-lang|it|caldo}} {{IPA|it|ˈkaldo|}} "hot"
* Latin {{wikt-lang|la|oculum|óculum}} > Italian {{wikt-lang|it|occhio}} {{IPA|it|ˈɔkkjo|}} "eye"
* [[Proto-Norse]] {{lang|gmq|armaʀ}} > [[Old Norse]] {{lang|non|armr}} "arm"
* Proto-Norse {{lang|gmq|bókiʀ}} > Old Norse {{lang|non|bǿkr}} "books"
* [[Proto-Germanic]] ''{{lang|gem-x-proto|himinōz}}'' > Old Norse {{lang|non|himnar}} "heavens"

A syncope rule has been identified in [[Tonkawa language|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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Introductory Phonology |url=https://archive.org/details/introductoryphon00haye |url-access=registration |first=Bruce |last=Hayes |author-link=John C. Wells |year=2009 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductoryphon00haye/page/255 255] }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Apheresis (linguistics)]]
* [[Apocope]]
* [[Clipping (morphology)]]
* [[Clipping (phonetics)]]
* [[Deletion (phonology)]]
* [[Elision]]
* [[Epenthesis]], the ''addition'' of sounds to the interior of a word
* [[Poetic contraction]]
* [[Synaeresis]]
* [[Synalepha]]
* [[Syncopation]] in music
* [[Vowel reduction]]

== References ==
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== Sources ==
* {{cite journal | last=Cockayne | first=T. Oswald | author-link=Oswald Cockayne | title=On certain instances of Synkope | journal=Transactions of the Philological Society | url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924120;view=1up;seq=213 | year=1854 | issue=11 }}
* {{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |year=1997 |title=An Introduction to Historical Linguistics |edition=3rd |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-558378-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi03edcrow }}
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[[Category:Figures of speech]]
[[Category:Phonology]]
[[Category:Prosody (linguistics)]]