Synizesis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A linguistic phenomenon where two adjacent vowels within a word are pronounced as a single syllable
2. Such a merging is often applied for stylistic or rhythmic purposes
3. This occurs commonly in poetic forms to allow smoother transitions between sounds

Etymology: Synizesis is a Greek word built from "sun" ("with" or "together") and "hizanō" ("to sit"), so its literal sense is "a sitting together." The image comes from two vowels that are seated side by side, pressed into a single syllable rather than being pronounced as separate sounds. In Greek grammar, the term described this merging of adjacent vowels within a word, which the Greeks treated as a kind of compression of the sound. English took the term over as a technical label for that same process. In poetry, a line of verse might be read with a vowel pair such as the "e" and "o" in "poet" or the "eo" in "Theocritus" run together, so that the metre scans as one fewer syllable than the spelling suggests. Poets and scholars use the term to name this deliberate contraction, which helps lines fit a set rhythm or flow more smoothly from one sound to the next.

Synonyms: elision, contraction