Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In phonetics, the involuntary utterance of an auxiliary vowel, especially before r, l, m, and n, in certain positions, as in lucre, able, chasm, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun phonetics
epenthesis of a vowel – insertion of a vowel. For example, the middle ‘-a- ’ inthataway , or use ofinfixes -i- and-o- in coining English words on classical roots.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Ancient Greek ἀνάπτυξις.
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Examples
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I might also be interested to find out that vowel insertion is widespread enough in the world's languages to have a name, epenthesis also called anaptyxis.
Archive 2007-05-01 David Wharton 2007
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I might also be interested to find out that vowel insertion is widespread enough in the world's languages to have a name, epenthesis also called anaptyxis.
Peevish About Language Pet Peevishness David Wharton 2007
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The extra vowel use has a word for itself, anaptyxis.
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The latter case is specifically called anaptyxis or sometimes svarabhakti, which is a Sanskrit word specifically for the insertion of a vowel after the letter l or r before another consonant.
hierophant commented on the word anaptyxis
'insertion of a vowel between two consonants for ease of pronunciation'
March 31, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word anaptyxis
It's exciting Greeks didn't use anaptyxis for anaptyxis itself.
March 31, 2008
hierophant commented on the word anaptyxis
Yes, bunch of boyf***ing bastards.
March 31, 2008
bilby commented on the word anaptyxis
Excuse me?
March 31, 2008
reesetee commented on the word anaptyxis
I'm hoping that was intended as a joke. Although not an especially funny one.
March 31, 2008
seanahan commented on the word anaptyxis
Interesting, I hadn't heard this one before, but I have noticed the vowel insertion many times.
April 2, 2008
bilby commented on the word anaptyxis
There was a famous incident - for Australians, anyway - when Juan Antonio Samaranch, then president of the IOC, announced that in awarding host city rights for the 2000 Olympic Games, "The winner is ... Syd-e-ney." The clip was played endlessly of course in Sydney and elsewhere over the following weeks, to the point where people came to notice the extra vowel in the pronunciation. There was even speculation that his name was probably Samranch and he just couldn't say it properly :->
April 2, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word anaptyxis
This would be the word for people mispronouncing realtor, I suppose. *grumbles*
April 2, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word anaptyxis
A synonym is svarabhakti - and interestingly, it has no svarabhakti as well.
June 12, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word anaptyxis
Chinese do this a lot, because they can't handle character strings. Maybe others do too. I'm reminded of a protest march Gibraltar once, where a banner read "British we are and British we estay".
June 16, 2008
rolig commented on the word anaptyxis
"British we estay!" – hilarious, johnmperry! Thanks!
June 16, 2008