Apheresis (linguistics)


In phonetics and phonology, apheresis is a sound change in which a word-initial vowel is lost, e.g., American > 'Merican. In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any initial sound from a word or, in a less technical sense, to the loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word. The more specific term aphesis is sometimes used to refer to the loss of unstressed vowels.

Etymology

The term apheresis, attested since at least 1550 in English, comes from Latin aphaeresis, from Greek ἀφαίρεσις aphairesis, "taking away" from ἀφαιρέω aphaireo from ἀπό apo, "away" and αἱρέω haireo, "to take".
The hyponyms aphesis and aphetic, coined in 1880 by James Murray, are inspired by 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.

Loss of unstressed vowel

  • > Vulgar Latin: *biscopus > 'bishop'
  • English: acute > cute
  • English: because → informal 'cause
  • > gipcyan, gipsen 'Gypsy'
  • English: alone > lone
  • English: amend > mend
  • > Middle English: vanisshen 'vanish'

Loss of any sound

  • English: nife →
  • Portuguese: está > colloquial tá
  • Proto-Norse: *randa > > 'beach'
  • > 'Spain'
  • Old English: cneo > 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, and How 'bout that? vs. 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. 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'.