Haplology (from Ancient Greek "simple" and , "speech") is, in spoken language, the elision (elimination or deletion) of an entire syllable or a part of it through dissimilation (a differentiating shift that affects two neighboring similar sounds). The phenomenon was identified by American philologist Maurice Bloomfield in the 20th century.[ Reprinted as: ] As a general rule, haplology occurs in English adverbs of adjectives ending in "le", for example gentlely → gently; ablely → ably.
Examples
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Basque: sagarrardo → sagardo ('apple cider')
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German: Zaubererin → Zauberin (female 'wizard' or 'magician'; male: der Zauberer; female ending -in); this is a productive pattern applied to other words ending in (spelt) -erer.
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Dutch: narcissisme → narcisme ('narcissism')
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French: fémininité → féminité ('femininity')
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English:
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Old English Engla land → Engle lond → England (expected form would be * Engelland)
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Old English cyning → English king (expected form would be * kinning)
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morphophonology → morphonology
[ Translated from the German ( Grundzüge der Phonologie, Prague, 1939).]
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conservativism → conservatism
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mononomial → monomial
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urine analysis → urinalysis
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Colloquial (non-standard and eye dialect spellings signalled by #):
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library (RP: ) → # libry
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particularly → # particuly
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probably → # probly
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February → # Febury, # Febuary or # Febr(u)y (compare e.g. Austrian German )
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representative → # representive
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authoritative → # authoritive
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deteriorate → # deteriate
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Latin:
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nutritrix → nutrix ('nurse')
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idololatria → idolatria (hence idolatry)
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Biological Latin:
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Homeric Greek:
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(ἀμφιφορεύς) → (ἀμφορεύς) ('two-handled pitcher, amphora')
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(κελαινονέφης) → (κελαινέφης) ('black with clouds')
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Arabic:
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(تَتَقَاتَلُونَ) → (تَقَاتَلُونَ) ('you are fighting each other')
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(*أَأْكُلُ) → (آكُلُ) ('I eat')
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Spanish: impudicicia → impudicia ('lack of modesty', i.e. the nominal form of impúdico, 'immodest')
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Portuguese:
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idadoso → idoso (aged person, senior)
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femininismo → feminismo (feminism)
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Colloquially in sequences like campo pequeno pronounced like "campequeno" or faculdade de letras pronounced like "faculdadletras".
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Italian:
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tragico-comico → tragicomico ('Tragicomedy')
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domani mattina → domattina ('tomorrow morning')
Reduplication
The reverse process is known as
reduplication, the doubling of phonological material.
See also
Notes
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Crowley, Terry. (1997) An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.
