aphesis
noun[U]
phoneticsspecializeduk/ˈæf.ə.sɪs/us/ˈæf.ə.sɪs/thegraduallossof anunstressed(=weak)vowelsoundat thebeginningof a word, forexample"lone" from "alone":
To acertaindegree, aphesis may beobservedin anyinformalvarietyofEnglish.
Thesechangescould be theresultof aphesis, in which words areerodedoftheirinitialunstressedvowels.
- Word-initialvowelsseemtodisappearmore often thanconsonants, and wecallthisprocessaphesis.
- He is doingresearchon aphesis in theEnglishsoundsystem.
- Theeffectof aphesis can beseenin manycreolewords for "American", such as "meriken" in Haitian.
- Aphesis is aphenomenonthat weassociatewithspokenlanguageand iscommonincreolesandpidgins.
Linguistics: phonology & phonetics
- alliterative
- alveolar
- apheresis
- aphetic
- approximant
- aspirate
- guttural
- homonym
- lax
- lenis
- macron
- misemphasis
- mispronunciation
- phonology
- schwa
- semivowel
- sibilance
- sibilant
- speech pathology
- suprasegmental