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Glite Dictionary
🕳️ With a gap 🔤 With two vowels
hiatal

hiatal

9.7
Having two vowels next to each other that are in different syllables
  • adjective
  • /haɪˈeɪtəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : hiatal
  • In phonetics, a hiatal arrangement occurs when two vowels are pronounced in separate syllables.

Examples

  • Linguists study hiatal vowel combinations to understand language patterns.

  • The hiatal sequence in the word made it difficult for some speakers to pronounce.

  • A hiatal pause can affect the rhythm of a poem when read aloud.

  • A hiatal vowel is interesting.

  • Is this a hiatal vowel?

  • Many language learners find the hiatal vowel combinations tricky to master.

  • Phonologists analyze the hiatal sequences in different languages to compare pronunciations.

Compounds

hiatal hernia
  • Specialized
1 5.6

A part of the stomach that pushes up through the diaphragm into the chest

Surface Forms

hiatal positive

Morphology

hiatal = hiatus (transparent) = hiatus + al

The adjective is transparently built from 'hiatus' with '-al' to mean 'relating to a hiatus', even though the sense is specialized to phonology.

Etymology

The word hiatal comes from the Latin hiatus, 'a gap' or 'break', and from hiare, 'to open'. In language, a hiatal vowel pair is two vowel sounds that stay separate with a 'gap' between them instead of joining, so the origin explains the break in sound.