Syncope Totally Explained

Everything about Syncope totally explained

:For the medical term, see fainting. For other uses, see syncope (disambiguation) In phonetics, syncope /ˈsɪŋ.kə.pi:/ (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 [ˈwʊstə]
English Gloucester, pronounced [ˈɡlɒstə]

The loss of an unstressed vowel

Latin cál[i]dum > Italian caldo "hot"

Latin óc[u]lum > Italian occhio "eye"

Latin trem[u]láre > Italian tremare "to tremble"

Syncope as a poetic device

Sounds may be removed from the interior of a word as a rhetoric or poetic device, whether for embellishment or for the sake of the meter.

Latin commo[ve]rat > poetic commorat ("he had moved")

English hast[e]ning > poetic hast'ning

English heav[e]n > poetic heav'n

English over > poetic o'er

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 [Au]stra[lia]n > colloquial Strine

English go[ingt]o> gonna

English wa[ntt]o > wanna

English did n[o]t > didn't

English do[n'tk]no[w] > dunno

English I [woul]d [h]ave > I'd'veFurther Information

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