Syncope (linguistics)

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In linguistics, syncope is understood to mean the process of missing unstressed vowels within a word or the result of this process (for example Middle High German ante > New High German fear ). Loss at the end of the word is called an apocope . If the second vowel fails in a three-syllable word, one speaks of middle syllable loss .

The syncope also serves to preserve the meter , especially in lyric poetry , for example “golden” instead of “golden”.

"Now, surrounded by golden hair / Your beautiful little head hovers in front of me ..." ( Heinrich Seidel , Glockenspiel)

The syncopation of vowels is in many cases connected with further consequences and may lead to a sound change in the neighboring syllables .

The omission of metrical elements in verse, in contrast to this omission of vowels, is called metric syncope .

See also

literature

  • Karl Otto Sauerbeck: Vocalism of the neighboring syllables, I (= grammar of early New High German. Contributions to the theory of phonetics and forms. Ed. By Hugo Moser and Hugo Stopp, I, 1). Heidelberg 1970.
  • Werner Beckmann. For syncope and shortening of the stem vowel in the Low German verbal inflection. In: Niederdeutsches Wort 33 (1993) pp. 103–123

Individual evidence

  1. www.gedichte.co accessed on June 9, 2012