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Apocope

Loss of word-final sounds From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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In phonology, apocope (/əˈpɒkəpi/ ə-POCK-ə-pee)[1][2] is the omission (elision) or loss of a sound or sounds at the end of a word. While it most commonly refers to the loss of a final vowel, it can also describe the deletion of final consonants or even entire syllables.[3]

For instance, in much spoken English, the t in the word don't is lost in the phrase I don't know, leading to the written representation I dunno.

The resulting word form after apocope has occurred is called an apocopation.

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Etymology

Apocope comes from the Greek ἀποκοπή (apokopḗ) from ἀποκόπτειν (apokóptein) 'cutting off', from ἀπο- (apo-) 'away from' and κόπτειν (kóptein) 'to cut'.[4][5]

Historical sound change

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In historical linguistics, apocope often entails the loss of an unstressed vowel and/or nasal consonant, and often constitutes the change to or loss of inflexional endings.[6]

Examples of the loss of an unstressed vowel and/or nasal consonant

  • Latin mare → Portuguese mar (sea)
  • Vulgar Latin panem → Spanish pan (bread)
  • Vulgar Latin lupum → French loup (wolf)
  • Proto-Germanic *landąOld, Middle, and Modern English land
  • Old English lufu → Modern English love (noun)
  • Old English lufian → Modern English love (verb)
  • The loss of a final unstressed vowel is a feature of southern dialects of Māori in comparison to standard Māori, for example the term kainga (village) is rendered in southern Māori as kaik. A similar feature is seen in the Gallo-Italic languages.
  • Finnic linna → Estonian linn (city)
  • Finnic linnan → Estonian linna (city's)
  • Colloquial Finnish suomeksisuomeks (in Finnish)

Examples of the loss of other sounds

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Grammatical rule

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Some languages have apocopations that are internalized as mandatory forms. In Spanish and Italian, for example, some adjectives that come before the noun lose the final vowel or syllable if they precede a noun (mainly) in the masculine singular form. In Spanish, some adverbs and cardinal and ordinal numbers have apocopations as well.

  • Adjectives
    • grande ("big, great") → grangran mujer (feminine) ("great woman". However, if the adjective follows the noun, the final syllable remains, but the meaning may also change: mujer grande, meaning "large woman")
    • bueno ("good") → buenbuen hombre (masculine) ("good man"; the final vowel remains in hombre bueno, with no accompanying change in meaning)
  • Adverbs
    • tanto ("so much") → tan ("so") → tan hermoso ("so beautiful")
  • Cardinal numbers
  • Ordinal numbers
    • primero ("first") → primerprimer premio ("first prize")
    • segundo ("second, according to") → segund ("according to") → segúnEl evangelio según ("The Gospel according to")
    • tercero ("third") → tercertercer lugar ("third place")
    • postrero ("final") → postrerpostrer día ("final day")

Economy of expression

Apocope can also refer to the shortening of words for economy. This is common in nicknames, such as WilliamWill or MargeryMarge, but occurs in other words, such as fanaticfan and laboratorylab.[6]

See also

References

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