Syncope (phonology)

Sound change and alternation
Metathesis Quantitative metathesis
Lenition Consonant gradation Consonant voicing and devoicing Assibilation L-vocalization Debuccalization
Fortition
Epenthesis Prothesis Paragoge Unpacking Vowel breaking
Elision Apheresis Syncope Apocope Haplology Cluster reduction
Cheshirization Compensatory lengthening Nasalization Tonogenesis Floating tone
Assimilation Fusion Coarticulation Palatalization Velarization Labialization Final devoicing Metaphony (vowel harmony, umlaut) Consonant harmony
Dissimilation
Sandhi Liaison, linking R Consonant mutation Tone sandhi Hiatus Synalepha Elision Crasis Synaeresis and diaeresis Synizesis
Other types Fronting Raising Iotacism Lambdacism Rhotacism Rhinoglottophilia Sulcalization

In phonology, syncope (/ˈsɪŋkəpiː/; Greek: syn- + koptein "to strike, cut off") is the loss of one or more sounds from the interior of a word, especially the loss of an unstressed vowel. It is found both in synchronic analysis of languages and diachronics. Its opposite, whereby sounds are added, is epenthesis.

Synchronic analysis

Synchronic analysis studies linguistic phenomena at one moment, usually the present. In modern languages, syncope occurs in inflection, poetry, and informal speech.

In inflections

In languages such as Irish, the process of inflection can precipitate syncope.

For example :

In some verbs

Imir (To play) should become *"imirím" (I play). However the addition of the "-ím" causes syncope and the second last syllable vowel "i" is lost. So, Imir becomes Imrím.

In some nouns

Inis (Island) should become *inise in the genitive case. However, if one looks at road signs one finds not *"Baile na hInise", but "Baile na hInse" (The town of the Island). Once again the loss is of the second syllable "i".

It is interesting that if the present root form in Irish is the result of diachronic syncope then there is a resistance to synchronic syncope for inflection.

As a poetic device

Sounds may be removed from the interior of a word as a rhetorical 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
English never > poetic ne'er

In informal speech

Various sorts of colloquial reductions might be called "syncope". It is also called compression.^[1]

Forms such as "didn't" that are written with an apostrophe are, however, generally called contractions:

English [Au]stra[lia]n > colloquial Strine
English did n[o]t > di[d]n't
English I [woul]d [ha]ve > I'd've

Found diachronically as a historical sound change

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

Loss of any sound

Old English hlāfweard > hlāford > Middle English loverd > English lord
English Worcester, pronounced /ˈwʊstər/
English Gloucester, pronounced /ˈɡlɒstər/
English Leicester, pronounced /ˈlestər/

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"
Proto-Norse arm[a]ʀ > Old Norse armr ”arm”
Proto-Norse bók[i]ʀ > Old Norse bǿkr ”books”
Proto-Germanic *him[i]nōz > Old Norse himnar ”heavens”

References

↑ Wells, John C. (2000). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (2nd ed.). Longman. pp. 165–6. ISBN 0-582-36467-1.

Crowley, Terry (1997). An Introduction to Historical Linguistics (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-558378-7.