Syncope

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:For the medical term, see fainting. For other uses, see syncope (disambiguation) In phonetics, syncope (Greek syn- + kopein “to strike”) is the loss of one or more sounds from the interior of a word; especially, the loss of an unstressed vowel.

Syncope as a historical sound change

In historical phonetics, the term "syncope" is often but not always limited to the loss of an unstressed vowel:

The loss of any sound

  • Old English hláford > English lord
  • English Worcester, pronounced
  • English Gloucester, pronounced

    • The loss of an unstressed vowel

  • Latin cálidum > Italian caldo "hot"
  • Latin óculum > Italian occhio "eye"
  • Latin tremuláre > French trembler "to tremble"

    • Syncope as a poetic device

    Sounds may be removed from the interior of a word may be as a rhetoric or poetic device, whether for embellishment or for the sake of the meter.
  • Latin commoverat > poetic commorat ("he had moved")
  • English hastening > poetic hastning''
  • English heaven > poetic heavn''
  • English over > poetic oer''

    • Syncope in informal speech

    Various sorts of colloquial reductions might be called "syncope". Forms such as "didn't" that are written with an apostrophe are, however, generally called contractions:
  • English Australian > colloquial Strine
  • English goto> gonna
  • English wato > wanna
  • English did not > didnt''
  • English doknow > dunno''
  • English I would have > Id've''


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