syncopation
- noun
- /ˌsɪŋkəˈpeɪʃən/
- Specialized
:
sincopación
- In phonology, syncopation refers to the omission of letters in words, as seen when people say 'kitchen' instead of 'kitchenette'.
Examples
-
I chose a fifth-grade class and focused on syncopation.
Academic text (2004) -
She feels her husband listening to her, but the careful, precise syncopation of his knife and fork continues against the plate.
Fiction book (1994) -
I am also indebted to Herbert Tucker, who read an early short version of this article, for invoking syncopation.
Academic text (2016) -
Syncopation is an interesting way of shifting accents of words and syllables from strong to weak beats.
Academic text (2004) -
To state the case a little differently, once the lilting accentual pattern has established itself, the first line will seem not to "fit" with what follows until the reader has learned the further refinement of lingering or pausing, the need for syncopation over the invisible bar line dividing the hemistichs.
Academic text (2016) -
The teacher explained that syncopation occurs when sounds are omitted from the middle of a word, like saying 'fo'c'sle' instead of 'forecastle'.
-
An example of syncopation is how 'fo'c'sle' drops letters from the middle to create a shorter form of 'forecastle'.
Synonyms
1
9.9
When people leave out sounds or letters from the middle of a word
Leaving out a sound or syllable when speaking, for example dropping a vowel between words
How Reduced
Surface Forms
Morphology
syncopation = syncopate (opaque) = syncop + ate + ion
This is a regular noun formation from the verb 'syncopate', even though the resulting phonological sense is technical.
Etymology
Syncopation comes from old Greek parts syn- 'with' and koptein 'to cut', so it originally meant 'cutting off'. So, in language syncopation is the 'cutting out' of sounds in the middle of a word, like 'fo'c'sle' for 'forecastle'.