Synalepha
A synalepha or synaloepha /ˌsɪnəˈliːfə/[1] is the merging of two syllables into one, especially when it causes two words to be pronounced as one.
| Sound change and alternation |
|---|
| Fortition |
| Dissimilation |
The original meaning in Ancient Greek is more general than modern usage and includes coalescence of vowels within a word. Similarly, synalepha most often refers to elision (as in English contraction), but it can also refer to coalescence by other metaplasms: synizesis, synaeresis or crasis.[2]
Examples
Spanish, Portuguese and Italian use synalepha; this is important when counting syllables in poetry. For instance in this hendecasyllable (11-syllable line) by Garcilaso de la Vega:
- Los cabellos que al oro oscurecían.
- The hair that endarkened the gold.
The words que and al form one syllable when counting them because of the synalepha. The same thing happens with -ro and os-, so that the line has eleven syllables (syllable boundaries shown by a dot):
- Los·ca·be·llos·queal·o·roos·cu·re·cí·an.
See also
- Metaplasm
- Elision—Contraction (grammar)
- Crasis
- Synizesis (merge into one syllable without change in writing)
- Synaeresis—opposite Diaeresis
Notes
- Greek συναλοιφή (or συναλιφή), from συναλείφω: συν- "together" and ἀλείφω "I anoint", "smear". Alternation between οι, ει, and ι in verb root is ablaut.
- W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca, chart of "Types of vowel-junction", p. 98.