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Glite Dictionary
😵 Fainting ✂️ Omitting sounds
syncope

syncope

1 9.9
When people leave out sounds or letters from the middle of a word
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪŋkəpi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : síncopa
  • The linguist explained that syncope occurs when sounds are omitted from the middle of a word, as seen in 'gonna' for 'going to'.

Examples

  • In English phonology, syncope can be observed in the pronunciation of 'camera' as 'cam-ra'.

  • In place of melody and measure comes suddenness and syncope meter with neither more nor less, but an impossible measure.

  • Lloyd, too, posits reje as an intermediate form between Latin REGE and OSp. rey, though he does not say if *reje would have evolved to rei through syncope of final /-e/, or by some other means.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Not unexpectedly, most work in the Romance domain on homonymy has dealt with French, in whose history the impact of syncope and apocope has led to the convergent phonetic evolution of numerous genetically distinct lexicons.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Examples of syncope can be found in many languages, where words are shortened for ease of speaking.

Synonyms

syncopation
vssyncope
  • Specialized
9.3

Leaving out sounds or letters in the middle of a word, for example 'fam' for 'family'

means the same process but is an alternative technical label

Surface Forms

syncope singular
syncopes plural

Etymology

Syncope comes from the Greek parts syn- 'together' and koptein 'to cut', so it literally means 'cutting out', and in language it names the removal of sounds or letters from the middle of a word.