elision (n.)

A term used in PHONETICS and phonology to refer to the omission of sounds in CONNECTED SPEECH. Both CONSONANTS and VOWELS may be affected, and sometimes whole SYLLABLES may be elided. UNSTRESSED GRAMMATICAL WORDS, such as and and of, are particularly prone to be elided, as when the f is dropped in cup of tea (cf. cuppa tea), or the a and d are dropped in boys ’n’ girls. Within POLYSYLLABIC words, the vowels and consonants in unstressed syllables regularly elide in conversational speech of normal speed, e.g. camera , probably , February . Complex consonant CLUSTERS are also often reduced, e.g. twelfths becoming /twelθs/ or /twelfs/. Several intricate patterns of influence can be demonstrated.

Traditional RHETORIC was much concerned with the phenomenon of elision, because of the implications for constructing well-formed metrical lines, which would scan well. In rhetorical terminology, an elision in word-INITIAL position was known as aphaeresis or prosiopesis, in word-medial position as syncope, and in word-FINAL position as apocope. A similar classification was made for the opposite of elision, INTRUSION.