phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

and

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

, apheresis (; en-GB, aphaeresis) is the loss of a word-initial vowel producing a new form called aphetism (e.g. ''American'' > '' 'Merican''). In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any initial sound (including consonants) from a word or, in a less technical sense, to the loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word.

Etymology

Apheresis comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

ἀφαίρεσις ''aphairesis'', "taking away" from ἀφαιρέω ''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 The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

'' gives that particular kind of apheresis the name aphesis (; from Greek ἄφεσις).

Loss of unstressed vowel

* >

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...

: *''(e)biscopus'' > 'bishop' * English: ''acute'' > ''cute'' *English: ''because'' → informal '''cause'' * > 'Gypsy'Online Etymology Dictionary
Gypsy
Retrieved 2010-07-13. *English: ''alone'' > ''lone'' *English: ''amend'' > ''mend'' * > Middle English: 'vanish' * * *

Loss of any sound

*English: '' ife'' → *

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ''estar'' > colloquial ''tar'' *

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Proto-Scandinavian and Proto-North Germanic) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a ...

: '' * tanda >'' > 'beach' * > 'Spain' *Old English: > English: ''knee'' →

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 > 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'.

References

Notes

{{reflist

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. Figures of speech Sound changes Phonotactics