Epenthesis

Inphonology,epenthesis(/ɪˈpɛnθəsɪs,ɛ-/;Greekἐπένθεσις) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the beginning syllable (prothesis) or in the ending syllable (paragoge) or in-between two syllabic sounds in a word. The opposite process, where one or more sounds are removed, is referred to aselision.

Etymology

The wordepenthesiscomes fromepi-'in addition to'anden-'in'andthesis'putting'.Epenthesis may be divided into two types:excrescencefor the addition of aconsonant,and for the addition of avowel,svarabhakti(in Sanskrit) or alternativelyanaptyxis(/ˌænəpˈtɪksɪs/).

Uses

Epenthesis arises for a variety of reasons. Thephonotacticsof a given language may discourage vowels inhiatusorconsonant clusters,and a consonant or vowel may be added to make pronunciation easier. Epenthesis may be represented in writing, or it may be a feature only of the spoken language.

Separating vowels

A consonant may be added to separate vowels in hiatus, as is the case withlinking and intrusive Rin English.

• drawing→draw-r-ing

Bridging consonant clusters

A consonant may be placed between consonants in a consonant cluster where theplace of articulationis different (such as if one consonant islabialand the other isalveolar).

• something→somepthing
• hamster→hampster
• *a-mrotos→ambrotos(seebelow)

Breaking consonant clusters

A vowel may be placed between consonants to separate them.

• Hamtramck→Hamtramick

Other contexts

While epenthesis most often occurs between two vowels or two consonants, it can also occur between a vowel and a consonant or at the ends of words. For example, the Japanese prefixma-(Chân 〜 ( ま〜 ),'pure…, complete…')transforms regularly toma'-(Chân っ〜 ( まっ〜 ),(gemination of following consonant))when it is followed by a consonant, as inmasshiro(Chân っ bạch ( まっしろ ),'pure white').The English suffix-t,often found in the form-st,as inamongst(fromamong+-st), is an example of terminal excrescence.

Excrescence

See also:Sandhi,Linking and intrusive R,andLiaison (French)

Excrescenceis the epenthesis of a consonant.

Historical sound change

• Latintremulare> Frenchtrembler('to tremble')
• Old Englishþunor> Englishthunder
• Frenchmessager,passager> Englishmessenger,passenger
• Frenchmessage,messager> Portuguesemensagem,mensageiro
• (Reconstructed)Proto-Germanic*sēaną> Old Englishsāwan,Old Saxonsāian('to sow')
• (Reconstructed)Proto-Greek*amrotos>Ancient Greekἄμβροτοςámbrotos('immortal';cf.ambrosia)
• Latinhomine(m)>homne>homre>Spanishhombre('man')
• Latinaudire(m)>ouir>Portugueseouvir('to hear')

Synchronic rule

InFrench,/t/is inserted in inverted interrogative phrases between a verb ending in a vowel and a pronoun beginning with a vowel:il a('he has') >a-t-il('has he?'). There is no epenthesis from a historical perspective since thea-tis derived from Latinhabet('he has'), and so thetis the original third-person verb inflection. It is incorrect to call it epenthesis unless viewedsynchronicallysince the modern basic form of the verb isaand so thepsycholinguisticprocess is therefore the addition oftto the base form.

A similar example is theEnglishindefinite articlea,which becomesanbefore a vowel. It originated fromOld Englishān('one, a, an'), which retained annin all positions, so adiachronicanalysis would see the originalndisappearing except if a following vowel required its retention:an>a.However, a synchronic analysis, in keeping with the perception of most native speakers, would (though incorrectly) see it as epenthesis:a>an.

InDutch,whenever the suffix-er(which has several meanings) is attached to a word already ending in-r,an additional-d-is inserted in between. For example, the comparative form of the adjectivezoet('sweet') iszoeter,but the comparative ofzuur('sour') iszuurderand not the expected **zurer.Similarly, the agent noun ofverkopen('to sell') isverkoper('salesperson'), but the agent noun ofuitvoeren('to perform') isuitvoerder('performer').

Variable rule

Further information:Prince–prints merger

In English, astop consonantis often added as a transitional sound between the parts of a nasal + fricative sequence:

• Englishhamster/ˈhæmstər/often pronounced with an addedpsound,GA:[ˈhɛəmpstɚ]orRP:[ˈhampstə]
• Englishwarmth/ˈwɔːrmθ/often pronounced with an addedpsound, GA:[ˈwɔɹmpθ]or RP:[ˈwɔːmpθ]
• Englishfence/ˈfɛns/often pronounced[ˈfɛnts]

Poetic device

• Latinreliquiās'remnants, survivors'(accusative plural) > poeticrelliquiās

The three short syllables inreliquiāsdo not fit intodactylic hexameterbecause of thedactyl's limit of two short syllables so the first syllable is lengthened by adding anotherl.However, the pronunciation was often not written with doublell,and may have been the normal way of pronouncing a word starting inrel-rather than a poetic modification.

In Japanese

A limited number of words inJapaneseuse epenthetic consonants to separate vowels. An example is the wordharusame(Xuân vũ( はるさめ ),'spring rain'),a compound ofharuandamein which an/s/is added to separate the final/u/ofharuand the initial/a/ofame.That is asynchronicanalysis. As for a diachronic (historical) analysis, since epenthetic consonants are not used regularly in modern Japanese, the epenthetic/s/could be fromOld Japanese.It is also possible that Old Japanese /ame₂/ was once pronounced */same₂/; the/s/would then be not epenthetic but simply an archaic pronunciation. Another example iskosame(Tiểu vũ( こさめ ),'light rain').

A complex example of epenthesis ismassao(Chân っ thanh( まっさお ),'deep blue, ghastly pale'),fromma-(Chân〜 ( ま〜 ),'pure, complete')+ao(Thanh( あお ),'blue').It exhibits epenthesis on both morphemes:ma-(Chân 〜 ( ま〜 ))→ma'-(Chân っ〜 ( まっ〜 ),(gemination of following consonant))is common (occurring before a consonant), andao(Thanh ( あお ))→sao(Thanh ( さお ))occurs only in the example; it can be analyzed asmaao→masao(intervocalic) →massao;akin tokirisame(Vụ vũ( きりさめ ),'drizzle, light rain')fromkiri(Vụ( きり ),'fog, mist')+ame(Vũ( あめ ),'rain').

Onehypothesisargues that Japanese/r/developed "as a default, epenthetic consonant in the intervocalic position".

Anaptyxis

Epenthesis of a vowel is known asanaptyxis(/ˌænəpˈtɪksɪs/,from Greekἀνάπτυξις'unfolding'). Some accounts distinguish between "intrusive" optional vowels, vowel-like releases of consonants as phonetic detail, and true epenthetic vowels that are required by the phonotactics of the language and areacousticallyidentical withphonemicvowels.

Historical sound change

End of word

Many languages insert a so-calledprop vowelat the end of a word, often as a result of the common sound change where vowels at the end of a word are deleted. For example, in theGallo-Romance languages,a propschwa/ə/was added when final non-open vowels were dropped leaving /Cr/ clusters at the end, e.g. Latinnigrum'(shiny) black' > *[ˈnegro]>Old Frenchnegre/ˈnegrə/'black' (thus avoiding the impermissible/negr/,cf.carrum>char'cart').

Middle of word

Similarly as above, a vowel may be inserted in the middle of a word to resolve an impermissible word-final consonant cluster. An example of this can be found inLebanese Arabic,where/ˈʔaləb/'heart' corresponds toModern Standard Arabicقلب/qalb/andEgyptian Arabic/ʔælb/.In the development ofOld English,Proto-Germanic*akraz'field, acre' would have ended up with an impermissible/kr/final cluster (*æcr), so it was resolved by inserting an/e/before therhotic consonant:æcer(cf. the use of asyllabic consonantinGothicakrs).

Vowel insertion in the middle of a word can be observed in the history of theSlavic languages,which had a preference foropen syllablesin medieval times. An example of this is theProto-Slavicform*gordŭ'town', in which theEast Slavic languagesinserted an epentheticcopy vowelto open theclosed syllable,resulting inгородъ(gorodŭ), which becameгород(gorod) in modern Russian and Ukrainian. Other Slavic languages usedmetathesisfor the vowel and the syllable-final consonant, producing *grodŭin this case, as seen in Polishgród,Old Church Slavonicградъgradŭ,Serbo-Croatiangradand Czechhrad.

Another environment can be observed in the history of ModernPersian,in which former word-initial consonant clusters, which were still extant inMiddle Persian,are regularly broken up: Middle Persianbrādar'brother' > modernIranian Persianبرادرbarādar/bærɑˈdær/,Middle Persianstūn'column' >Early New Persianستونsutūn> modern Iranian Persianستونsotun/soˈtun/.

In Spanish, as a phonetic detail, it is usual to find aschwavowel in sequences of a consonant followed by a flap. For instance,vinagre'vinegar' may be[biˈnaɣɾe]but also[biˈnaɣᵊɾe].

ManyIndo-Aryan languagescarry an inherent vowel after each consonant. For example, inAssamese,the inherent vowel is "o" (অ), while inHindiandMarathi,it is "a" (अ). Sanskrit words likemaaŋsa('meat',মাংস),ratna('jewel',ৰত্ন),yatna('effort',যত্ন),padma('lotus',পদ্ম),harsha('joy',হৰ্ষ),dvaara('door',দ্বাৰ) etc. becomemoŋoh(মাংস>মঙহ),roton(ৰত্ন>ৰতন),zoton(যত্ন>যতন),podum(পদ্ম>পদুম),horix(হৰ্ষ>হৰিষ),duwar(দ্বাৰ>দুৱাৰ) etc. in Assamese.Other, non-Tatsamawords also undergo anaptyxis, for example, the English wordglassbecomesgilas(গিলাছ).

Beginning of word

In theWestern Romance languages,a prothetic vowel was inserted at the beginning of any word that began with/s/and another consonant, e.g. Latinspatha'two-edged sword, typically used by cavalry' becomes the normal word for 'sword' in Romance languages with an inserted/e/:Spanish/Portugueseespada,Catalanespasa,Old Frenchespede> modernépée(see alsoespadon'swordfish').

French in fact presents three layers in the vocabulary in which initial vowel epenthesis is or is not applied, depending on the time a word came into the language:

• insertion of epenthetic/e/in inherited and commonly-used learned and semi-learned words, which then drop the following/s/after the medieval period: Latinstēlla, *stēla>Old Frenchesteile> modernétoile'star',studium> Old Frenchestude> modernétude'study',schola> OFescole> modernécole'school'
• insertion of/e/and keeping/s/in learned words borrowed during theMiddle Agesor theRenaissance:speciēs>espèce,spatium>espace
• then in the modern period,/e/is not inserted and uncommon old learned borrowings are remolded to look more like Latin:scholāris>scolaire,spatiālis>spatial,speciālis> learned Old Frenchespeciel> remolded to modernspécial

Additionally, at some point in theProto-Armenian languageandClassical Armenian,the prothetic vowelեwas placed at the beginning of the word before the soundր,leading to words likeերախ('animal mouth',erax) from Iranianrax('animal mouth'), orերազ('dream',eraz) from Iranianraz('mystery').

Grammatical rule

Epenthesis often breaks up aconsonant clusteror vowel sequence that is not permitted by thephonotacticsof a language. Regular or semi-regular epenthesis commonly occurs in languages withaffixes.For example, areduced vowel/ɪ/or/ə/(here abbreviated as/ᵻ/) is inserted before the English plural suffix-/z/and the past tense suffix-/d/when the root ends in a similar consonant:glass→glasses/ˈɡlæsᵻz/or/ˈɡlɑːsᵻz/;bat→batted/ˈbætᵻd/.However, this is asynchronicanalysis as the vowel was originally present in the suffix but has been lost in most words.

Borrowed words

Vocalic epenthesis typically occurs when words are borrowed from a language that has consonant clusters orsyllable codasthat are not permitted in the borrowing language.

Languages use various vowels, but schwa is quite common when it is available:

• Hebrewuses a single vowel, theschwa(pronounced/ɛ/inIsraeli Hebrew).
• Japanesegenerally uses/ɯ/except after/t/and/d/,when it uses/o/,and after/h/,when it uses anecho vowel.For example, Englishcapbecomesキャップ/kjappɯ/in Japanese; Englishstreet,ストリート/sɯtoɺiːto/;theDutchnameGogh,ゴッホ/ɡohho/;and theGermannameBach,バッハ/bahha/.
• Koreanuses/ɯ/in most cases./i/is used after borrowed/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/tʃ/,/dʒ/,or/ç/,although/u/may also be used after borrowed/ʃ/depending on the source language./u/is used when/ʃ/is followed by a consonant or when a syllable ends with/ɲ/.For example, Englishstrikebecomes스트라이크/sɯ.tʰɯ.ɾa.i.kʰɯ/,with three epenthetic/ɯ/vowels and a split of English diphthong/aɪ/into two syllables.
• Brazilian Portugueseuses/i/,which, in most dialects, triggerspalatalizationof a preceding/t/or/d/:nerd>/ˈnɛʁdʒi/;stress>/isˈtɾɛsi/;McDonald's>/mɛkiˈdonawdʒis/with normalvocalizationof/l/to/w/.Most speakers pronounce borrowings withspelling pronunciations,and others try to approximate the nearest equivalents in Portuguese of the phonemes in the original language. The wordstressbecameestresseas in the example above.
• Classical Arabicdoes not allow clusters at the beginning of a word, and typically uses/i/to break up such clusters in borrowings: Latinstrāta> ‏صِرَاط‎/sˤiraːtˤ/'street'. InModern Standard ArabicandEgyptian Arabic,copy vowels are often used as well, e.g. English/Frenchklaxon(car horn) > Egyptian Arabicكلكس/kæˈlæks/'car horn', but note Frenchblouse> Egyptian Arabicبلوزة/beˈluːzæ/(where/e/corresponds to Modern Standard Arabic/i/). Many other modern varieties such asNorth Levantine ArabicandMoroccan Arabicallow word-initial clusters, however.
• Persianalso does not allow clusters at the beginning of a word and typically uses/æ/to break up such clusters in borrowings except between/s/and/t/,when/o/is added.
• Spanishdoes not allow clusters at the beginning of a word with an/s/in them and addse-to such words: Latinspecies>especie,Englishstress>estrés.
• Turkishprefixesclose vowelsto loanwords withinitialclustersofalveolarfricativesfollowed by another consonant:Isparta< GreekΣπάρτη(Sparti),setuskur<set screw,uskumru< Greekσκουμπρί(skoúmbri),Üsküdar< Byzantine GreekΣκουτάριον(Skoutárion),istimbot<steamboat,İskoçya<Scotland,istavrit< Greekσταυροειδής(stavridís),İzmir< GreekΣμύρνη(Smírni). The practice is no longer productive as of late 20th century and a few such words have changed back:spor<ıspor< Frenchsport.

Informal speech

Epenthesis most often occurs within unfamiliar or complex consonant clusters. For example, in English, the nameDwightis commonly pronounced with an epentheticschwabetween the/d/and the/w/([dəˈwaɪt]), and many speakers insert a schwa between the/l/and/t/ofrealtor.Irish EnglishandScottish Englishare some of the dialects that may insert a schwa between/l/and/m/in words likefilm([ˈfɪləm]) under the influence ofCeltic languages,a phenomenon that also occurs inIndian Englishdue to the influence ofIndo-Aryan languageslikeHindi.

Epenthesis is sometimes used for humorous or childlike effect. For example, the cartoon characterYogi Bearsays "pic-a-nic basket" forpicnic basket.Another example is found in the chants ofEnglandfootball fans in which England is usually rendered as[ˈɪŋɡələnd]or the pronunciation ofathleteas "ath-e-lete". Some apparent occurrences of epenthesis, however, have a separate cause: the pronunciation ofnuclearasnucular(/ˈn(j)ukjəlɚ/) in some North American dialects arises out of analogy with other -cularwords (binocular,particular,etc.) rather than from epenthesis.

In colloquial registers of Brazilian Portuguese,[i]is sometimes inserted between consonant clusters except those with/l/(atleta),/ɾ/(prato) or syllable-ending/s/(pasta;note syllable-final/s/is pronounced[ʃ]in a number of dialects). Examples would betsunami/tisuˈnami/,advogado/adivoˈɡadu/andabdômen[abiˈdomẽj].Some dialects also use[e],which isdeemed as stereotypicalof people from lower classes, such as those arriving fromrural flightin internal migrations to cities such asRio de Janeiro,BrasíliaandSão Paulo.

In Finnish

InFinnish,there are two epenthetic vowels and two nativization vowels. One epenthetic vowel is thepreceding vowel,found in theillative caseending-(h)*n:maa→maahan,talo→taloon.The second is[e],connecting stems that have historically been consonant stems to their case endings:nim+n→nimen.

In Standard Finnish, consonant clusters may not be broken by epenthetic vowels; foreign words undergo consonant deletion rather than addition of vowels:ranta('shore') from Proto-Germanic*strandō.However, modern loans may not end in consonants. Even if the word, such as a personal name, is native, aparagogic vowelis needed to connect a consonantal case ending to the word. The vowel is/i/:(Inter)net→netti,or in the case of personal name,Bush+-sta→Bushista'about Bush'(elative case).

Finnish hasmoraicconsonants:l,handnare of interest. In Standard Finnish, they are slightly intensified before a consonant in a medial cluster:-hj-.Some dialects, likeSavoandOstrobothnian,have epenthesis instead and use the preceding vowel in clusters of type-lC-and-hC-,in Savo also-nh-.(In Finnish linguistics, the phenomenon is often referred to asšvaa;the same word can also mean'schwa',but it is not aphonemein Finnish so there is usually no danger of confusion.)

For example,Pohjanmaa'Ostrobothnia'→Pohojammaa,ryhmä→ryhymä,and Savovanha→vanaha.Ambiguities may result:salmi'strait'vs.salami.(An exception is that in Pohjanmaa,-lj-and-rj-become-li-and-ri-,respectively:kirja→kiria.Also, in a small region in Savo,/e/is used instead.)

In constructed languages

Lojban,aconstructed languagethat seekslogically-oriented grammatical and phonological structures, uses a number of consonant clusters in its words. Since it is designed to be as universal as possible, it allows a type of anaptyxis called "buffering" to be used if a speaker finds a cluster difficult or impossible to pronounce. A vowel sound that is nonexistent in Lojban (usually /ɪ/ as in'hit') is added between two consonants to make the word easier to pronounce. Despite altering the phonetics of a word, the use of buffering is completely ignored by grammar. Also, the vowel sound used must not be confused with any existing Lojban vowel.

An example of buffering in Lojban is that if a speaker finds the cluster[ml]in the wordmlatu('cat') (pronounced['mlatu]) hard or impossible to pronounce, the vowel[ɐ]can be pronounced between the two consonants, resulting in the form[mɐˈlatu].Nothing changes grammatically, including the word's spelling and thesyllabication.

In sign language

A type of epenthesis insign languageis known as "movement epenthesis" and occurs, most commonly, during the boundary between signs while the hands move from the posture required by the first sign to that required by the next.

Related phenomena

• Infixation:the insertion of amorphemewithin a word
• Metathesis:the reordering of sounds within a word
• Paragoge:the addition of a sound to the end of a word
• Prothesis:the addition of a sound to the beginning of a word
• Tmesis:the inclusion of a whole word within another one

See also

• Assibilation
• Assimilation
• Coarticulation(Co-articulated consonant,Secondary articulation)
• Consonant harmony
• Crasis
• Dissimilation
• Labialisation
• Language game
• Lenition
• Metathesis
• Palatalization
• Pharyngealisation
• Sandhi
• Velarization
• Vowel harmony

General and cited sources

• Crowley, Terry (1997).An Introduction to Historical Linguistics(3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-558378-6.
• Labrune, Laurence (2012).The Phonology of Japanese.The Phonology of the World's Languages. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-954583-4.

External links

• Definition at BYU