What is Synaeresis?
- File photo | Credit Allen Stafford
Synaeresis (also known as, symphonesis, synecphonesis, synizesis; from the Greek, literally “contraction,” or “a drawing together” ) is a kind of metaplasmOpens in new window by which two syllables are contracted into one.
This usually consists by pronouncing as diphthongOpens in new window two adjacent vowelsOpens in new window that belong to different syllablesOpens in new window within a single word: Phaethon (Lanham. 146).
By virtue of Synaeresis, it is generally better to contract an excess of short syllables, or by hasty pronunciation, than to reject any of them by elisionOpens in new window; thus, ’tis for “it is,” does for “doeth”.