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Loss of Syllables

From:Carsten Becker <naranoieati@...>
Date:Thursday, December 2, 2004, 12:31
Hello!

Languages shorten words and lose syllables, that's clear.
E.g. cf. Old High German to Modern Standard German. Even in
colloquial speech, lots of syllables are omitted or
shortened: "gonna", "wouldn't've", "It'd" etc. or in German
"haste" (hast du), "'s" (das, es, ...), "'n/e" (ein/e), "ham"
(haben) -> "hammse" (haben sie/Sie), "hammer" (haben wir),
"ma" ((ein)mal), ... "Je suis" > [Sswi]. Many OHG words were
ending in "-ro" AFAIK, where today this o is lost.

But which syllable are likely to be lost? Are there some rules
or is the system indeed chaotic and depends on fashion or
social status, region or whatnot? Is it just me or is there
much assimilation in the examples above?

It's just because I was told Ayeri would be nice so far, but
the fictional speakers of course would not notice its beauty
and many syllables would get lost. "Nu-micyo-ican-eng" ...
*shudder* AGT-strong-very-COMPARATIVE_FOR_ADVERBS

Thanks,
Carsten

Reply

Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>