Epenthesis is the addition of vowels or consonants to words, used differently in various languages to make speech easier. It can enhance poetic meter and is an important part of dialect. The added sounds are called outgrowth and anaptyxis, and show how language is dynamic and ever-changing.
Epenthesis is the addition of a vowel or consonant to a word. This is applied differently to different languages and works in various ways depending on the needs of a set of speakers. The word comes from the Greek, where it could be translated into English as “to put in.”
In many cases, epenthesis occurs because speakers have difficulty pronouncing clusters of vowels or consonants, or clusters of vowels and consonants combined, that are next to each other in words. Experts sometimes describe these ways of speaking as “babies,” where a given dialect inserts sounds to make speech easier. Using epenthesis in dialect is an important part of understanding how this phenomenon occurs; speakers often add sounds to words in ways that aren’t technically correct, but come into common use over time, at least in specific speech communities. Using these extra sounds can also enhance a poetic meter.
A common example of epenthesis in English helps describe how this process works. English speakers may use a “firm” consonant as a sort of accent, in entirely superfluous ways. For example, putting the “p” sound into a word like “hamster” or even a word like “teamster” gives the word a slightly different sound, but doesn’t change its meaning or add substance.
In other cases, individuals insert vowel sounds to break up consonant clusters. A common tool across multiple languages is the use of what language experts describe as a schwah. The schwah is a sort of ambiguous sound that resembles a diminished form of several vowel sounds in English, such as the “e” in roses or the “u” in cup. It is often inserted in a particular place in a sentence, producing a distinctly different sound which may lead to its adoption as common usage.
Language experts formally refer to the added consonant sounds as an outgrowth. The added vowel sounds are commonly called anaptyxis. Linguists and others look at the uses of these conventions in the beginning, middle, and end of words to understand how and why they are applied. Epenthesis is a good example of the ways in which language is dynamic and ever changing. It also illustrates how the dialect or informal language may differ from technically correct standard versions of that language, for example, how a broadcaster or communications professional may speak differently from a speaker of a particular regional or ethnic dialect.
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