Disappearance

Amuïr means to make dumb . Of Phonetic, the disappearance consists of the attenuation or, generally, the complete disappearance of a Phonème or a Syllabe in a mot. the disappearance is one of the phonetic Modifications most current in Phonétique history. It can be classified in the category of the Métaplasme S when it relates to the syllabication of the mot.

Reasons of the disappearance

Many disappearances are due to the effects of the tonic Accent: the further away the phonemes are from the accent of the word, the more they are likely amuïr. One explains thus many Apocope S, Aphérèse S and syncopes.

In other cases, the disappearance is due Simplification S of groups, generally consonant. For example ─ the orthography still carries from there the trace ─ of many English words carry the mark of a consonant amuïe in front of another consonant. It is the case for the /kn/ groups at the beginning of word: knife “knife” or know “to know”. The first goes up with the Vieil late English cnīf , the second with old English cnāwan . In the same way for /pb/ and /pn/, /ps/ and /pt/ with the initial one: cupboard “wall cupboard”, pneumonia “pneumonia”, psychic “psychic”, Ptolemy “Ptolémée”.

It is one of the most visible forms of the articulatory idleness, which leads to the phonetic evolutions. It can sometimes involve other modifications, of which most important are the compensatory Allongement and the Métaphonie.

Examples in French

It is the case in French (except in certain areas of the South) for the Phonème/ǝ/(known as '' E '' “null and void” or E “dumb”), which can amuïr, except when it is followed of a group of consonants to which he can be used as support: to return can be marked /r ǝvǝnir/or, more usually, /r ǝvnir/, /rv ǝnir/even /rvnir/.

The Orthography of French, very preserving, guard often the trace of old phonemes amuïs, which were thus pronounced in an older state of the language. For example, in the small word , the Graphème T is normally not marked (/pǝti/). It was it in Former French and it reappears in Liaison ( small man /p ǝtit_ɔm/even /ptit_ ɔm/with disappearance of the E “null and void”) like in the formation of female the small /p ǝtit/, which form finally carries the trace of a E “null and void” him also normally dumb.

In general, the majority of the consonant graphèmes of end of words of French are dumb and indicate the trace of an old phoneme amuï. Certain orthographical repairs, however, are to be taken into account: thus, the large adjective with the masculine did not decide, as former French, with a /d/ final but with a /t/ (one wrote it besides generally grant ; cf also the pronunciation of " large homme"). It is by Analogie with female recent the large that one modified the T in D .

To be qualified of amuï, a phoneme must have been really marked: the D of the word weight is thus not the trace of an old phoneme amuï /d/ because it is only one letter added by error to the word, by confusion with a étymon laid . Poids comes indeed from the Latin adjective pensum .

See too

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