Haplology

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Sound change Haplology (from Greek Template:Wikt-lang Template:Grc-tr "simple" and Template:Wikt-lang Template:Grc-tr, "speech") is, in spoken language, the elision (elimination or deletion) of an entire syllable or a part of it through dissimilation (a differentiating shift that affects two neighboring similar sounds). The phenomenon was identified by American philologist Maurice Bloomfield in the 20th century.<ref name="M-W">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Linguists sometimes jokingly refer to the phenomenon as "haplogy", an autology.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia Reprinted as: Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> As a general rule, haplology occurs in English adverbs of adjectives ending in "le", for example gentlely → gently; ablely → ably.

Examples

• Basque: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('apple cider')
• German: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (female 'wizard' or 'magician'; male: der Zauberer; female ending -in); this is a productive pattern applied to other words ending in (spelt) -erer.
• Dutch: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('narcissism')
• French: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('femininity')
• English:
  • Old English {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → Engle lond → England (expected form would be *Engelland) <ref name="M-W"/>
  • Old English cyning → English king (expected form would be *kinning)
  • morphophonology → morphonology<ref>Template:Cite book Translated from the German (Grundzüge der Phonologie, Prague, 1939).</ref>
  • conservativism → conservatism
  • mononomial → monomial
  • urine analysis → urinalysis
  • Colloquial (non-standard and eye dialect spellings signalled by #):
    • library (RP: {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) → #libry {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
    • particularly → #particuly
    • probably → #probly
    • February → #Febury, #Febuary or #Febr(u)y (compare e.g. Austrian German Template:Wikt-lang)
    • representative → #representive
    • authoritative → #authoritive
    • deteriorate → #deteriate
• Latin:
  • {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('nurse')
  • {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (hence idolatry)
• Biological Latin:
  • Hamamelididae (disallowed spelling: Hamamelidae)
  • Nycterididae → Nycteridae<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• • Anomalocarididae (disallowed spelling: Anomalocaridae)
• Homeric Greek:
  • Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) → Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) ('two-handled pitcher, amphora')<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) → Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) ('black with clouds')<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Arabic:
  • Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) → Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) ('you are fighting each other')<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) → Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) ('I eat')
• Spanish: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('lack of modesty', i.e. the nominal form of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'immodest')<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Portuguese:
  • {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (aged person, senior)
  • {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} → {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (feminism)
  • Colloquially in sequences like campo pequeno pronounced like "campequeno" or faculdade de letras pronounced like "faculdadletras".
• Italian:
  • tragico-comico → tragicomico ('tragicomic')
  • domani mattina → domattina ('tomorrow morning')

Reduplication

The reverse process is known as reduplication, the doubling of phonological material.

See also

• Haplography
• Dissimilation
• Portmanteau

References

• Crowley, Terry. (1997) An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.