Apheresis (linguistics)

In phonetics and phonology, apheresis (/əˈfɛrɪsɪs, əˈfɪərɪsɪs/; 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 (/ˈæfɪtɪzəm/).

Etymology

Apheresis comes from Greek ἀφαίρεσις aphairesis, "taking away" from ἀφαίρέω aphaireo from ἀπό apo, "away" and αἱρέω haireo, "to take". Aphetism comes from Greek ἄφεσις aphesis, "letting go" from ἀφίημι aphiemi from ἀπό apo, "away" and ἵημι 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 (/ˈæfɪsɪs/; from Greek ἄφεσις).

Loss of any sound

English [k]nife → /ˈnaɪf/
English because → informal ’cause
Proto-Norse *[st]randa- (Swedish strand) > Finnish ranta "beach"
Latin Hispania > Italian Spagna 'Spain'
Old English cneo > English knee → /ˈniː/

Loss of unstressed vowel

Greek epískopos > Vulgar Latin/British Latin *(e)biscopus > Old English bisceop 'bishop'
English acute > cute
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'.

gollark: > spirit of giving> "In light of the spirit of giving at *all* holidays, halloweens are now limited to 2 CBs/person. All ones over this limit will become Mints."

gollark: I demand representation for Hexicantilist holidays!

gollark: As an Atheist Satanist Hexicantilist I also celebrate Hexical Day on the 6th of June.

gollark: In any case, for *me*, as someone in a kind-of-Jewish family, I actually have Hanukah *and* Christmas, and in both we ignore the religious stuff and mostly just give gifts & eat many crisps.

gollark: Thing is though that you can retroactively justify any mechanic by reaching into lore of some sort, but it doesn't actually help.

References

Notes

Online Etymology Dictionary, Gypsy. Retrieved 2010-07-13.

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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[1] Online Etymology Dictionary, Gypsy. Retrieved 2010-07-13.