In phonology

Phonology

Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...

, syncope (icon; Greek: syn- + koptein “to strike, cut off”) is the loss of one or more sounds from the interior of a word; especially, the loss of an unstressed vowel. It is found both
in Synchronic analysis

Synchronic analysis

In linguistics, a synchronic analysis is one that views linguistic phenomena only at one point in time, usually the present, though a synchronic analysis of a historical language form is also possible. This may be distinguished from diachronics, which regards a phenomenon in terms of developments...

 of languages and Diachronics .

Found synchronically

Synchronic analysis is an analysis that views linguistic phenomena only at one point in time. Usually, the present. We find syncope happening within the functioning of modern languages. Here we consider it in three areas :
Inflection, Poetry, and Informal Speech.

In inflections

In languages such as Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

, the process of inflection

Inflection

In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...

 can precipitate syncope.

For example :

• In some verbs

Imir (To play) should become *"imirím" (I play). However the addition of the "-ím" causes syncope and the second last syllable vowel "i" is lost. So, Imir becomes Imrím.

• In some nouns

Inis (Island) should become *inise in the genitive case. However, if one looks at road signs one finds not *"Báile na hInise", but "Báile na hInse" (The town of the Island). Once again the loss is of the second syllable "i".

It is interesting that if the present root form in Irish is the result of diachronic syncope then there is a resistance to synchronic syncope for inflection

Inflection

In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...

. Historically in old Irish, as a rule, syncope happened whenever the addition of and ending gave rise to syncope.

As a poetic device

Sounds may be removed from the interior of a word as a rhetorical or poetic device, whether for embellishment or for the sake of the meter.

• Latin commo[ve]rat > poetic commorat ("he had moved")
• English hast[e]ning > poetic hast'ning
• English heav[e]n > poetic heav'n
• English over > poetic o'er
• English never > poetic ne'er

Syncope in informal speech

Various sorts of colloquial reductions might be called "syncope". It is also called compression.

Forms such as "didn't" that are written with an apostrophe are, however, generally called contractions

Contraction (grammar)

A contraction is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters....

:

• English [Au]stra[lia]n > colloquial Strine
  Strine
  Strine is a term coined in 1964 and subsequently used to describe a broad accent of Australian English. The term is a syncope, derived from a shortened phonetic rendition of the pronunciation of the word "Australian" in an exaggerated Broad Australian accent, drawing upon the tendency of this...
  
  
• English did n[o]t > didn't
• English I [woul]d [ha]ve > I'd've

Found diachronically as a historical sound change

In historical phonetics, the term "syncope" is often but not always limited to the loss of an unstressed vowel:

Loss of any sound

• Old English hláford > English lord
• English Worcester, ˈ
• English Gloucester, pronounced /ˈɡlɒstər/

Loss of an unstressed vowel

• Latin cál[i]dum > Italian caldo "hot"
• Latin óc[u]lum > Italian occhio "eye"
• Latin trem[u]láre > Italian tremare "to tremble"

See also

• Apocope
  Apocope
  In phonology, apocope is the loss of one or more sounds from the end of a word, and especially the loss of an unstressed vowel.-Historical sound change:...
  
  
• Aphesis
  Aphesis
  In phonetics, apheresis is the loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word, especially the loss of an unstressed vowel.-Apheresis as a historical sound change:...
  
  
• Clipping (morphology)
  Clipping (morphology)
  In linguistics, clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts . Clipping is also known as "truncation" or "shortening."...
  
  
• Clipping (phonetics)
  Clipping (phonetics)
  In phonetics, clipping is the process of shortening the articulation of a phonetic segment, usually a vowel. A clipped vowel is pronounced more quickly than an unclipped vowel, and these clipped vowels are often also reduced...
  
  
• Elision
  Elision
  Elision is the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce...
  
  
• Relaxed pronunciation
  Relaxed pronunciation
  Relaxed pronunciation is a phenomenon that happens when the syllables of common words are slurred together...
  
  
• Synalepha
  Synalepha
  A synalepha or synaloepha is the merging of two syllables into one, especially when it causes two words to be pronounced as one.The original meaning in Greek is more general than modern usage, and also includes coalescence of vowels within a word...
  
  
• Synaeresis
  Synaeresis
  In linguistics, synaeresis or syneresis is a sound change by which two vowels are pronounced together rather than separately...
  
  
• Syncopation in music
  Syncopation
  In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
  
  
• Vowel reduction
  Vowel reduction
  In phonetics, vowel reduction is any of various changes in the acoustic quality of vowels, which are related to changes in stress, sonority, duration, loudness, articulation, or position in the word , and which are perceived as "weakening"...
  
  
• Deletion (phonology)