Synalepha

Synaloiphe (from Greek συναλοιφή, "merger " of syn aleiphein " smear together " ) or Synaloephe, also Synalöphe referred to in the ancient and Roman poetry and prose, the slurring of a auslautenden vowel with the initial sound of the following word into a diphthong. Thus, for example, the phrase quantōque Animalia ( Ovid, Metamorphoses, I, 464 ) quantōqueanimālia spoken. This also applies if the first word on "m" or the second ends with "h" begins.

The Synaloiphe was developed in ancient Greek poetry, where she served for compliance of the meter.

Related stylistic means are the metric induced elision, the crasis who synizesis that affects different syllables within a word, and syneresis. The definition and use of these terms overlap often. Thus, in the Italian Synaloiphe, which concerns only the pronunciation, and elision, which is marked in the orthography by an apostrophe, two different characters, while in English Synaloiphe the orthographic figure, ( t'attain place to attain ).

A related technique is Episynaloiphe, a fusion of two vowels within a word (eg Phaeton Phaeton instead ). The opposite of this, ie the separate pronunciation of two vowels, is diaeresis (also Dialoiphe or Dialephe ).

Rhetoric

In the grammar and rhetoric Synaloiphe is (Latin " deletions " ) is often listed as a character under the umbrella term Metaplasmus.

Quintilian recommends Synaloiphe to avoid a hiatus, a " softer" Play the favor " period". Donatus defines the Synaloiphe as " soft" meeting of two " emulous " vowels and distinguishes them from the Ekthlipsis, the hard clash between consonant and a vowel.

So one should thus after Mosellanus the famous phrase of Virgil 's Aeneid (1.3): multum ille et terris iactatus et alto, ( the long adrift by the sea ' and countries) reflect this: mult'ill'et Terris iactatus et alto ... Ekthlipsis in this example would be the first apostrophe, the second Synaloiphe.

Romance Languages ​​, Modern Greek

Also in the seals of the new Romance languages ​​as well as in Modern Greek is a useful chanting without Synaloiphe impossible. In Italian, Spanish or Portuguese seals almost every line of verse contains examples.

English

In English we mean by Synaloiphe usually a " growing together " of two words with the " loss of a syllable" ( t'attain for example, instead of to attain ). In the last decade of the sixteenth century the Synaloiphe was particularly popular and there were forms like yare (instead You are ). Also forms in which a vowel is eliminated by a consonant, as is't (instead is it ) are referred to as Synaloiphe.

Shakespeare makes in his later dramas extensive use of this figure, both to comply with the meter and to the rhetorical effect to increase. For example, if Cominius in Coriolanus says Take't: 'tis yours. What is't? ( I.9.80 ), the pace is much faster than in Take it; it is yours. What is it?

When the elided form has become standard (can not for can not ) they are called in English mostly " contraction " ( contraction ).

Comments

• Prosody
• Rhetorical term