In the study of language, called linguistics, an elision or deletion happens when one or more sounds—like a vowel, consonant, or entire syllable—are left out in a word or phrase. These terms are also used to describe situations where two words are joined by removing a sound at the end of one word. For example, in English, the final /t/ sound in the word "first" is often left out when it is followed by another consonant, as in "first light," which is sometimes spoken as "firs' light" (/fɜrs laɪt/). Other specific terms are used to describe different situations where sounds are omitted.

Citation forms and contextual forms

A word can be said alone in a form called the citation form. This is how the word is spelled and pronounced in a dictionary. However, when words are spoken in a sentence or conversation, some sounds from the citation form may not be said. This is called elision, and it does not happen the same way in all types of speech. Some ways of speaking, like casual or fast talking, often have more elision than others. Writers have used terms like "casual speech" or "rapid speech" to describe these styles. Sometimes, a sound may seem to disappear, but it might actually be spoken more softly or in a way that is harder to hear. For example, in some Spanish dialects, the word "cansado" (tired) is pronounced with a /d/ sound in the citation form, but in normal speech, the /d/ is often left out, making it sound like "cansao." Closer study shows that the Spanish /d/ sound is usually made with the tongue near the teeth and is called a voiced dental fricative [ð]. In casual speech, this sound becomes softer, like a voiced dental approximant [ð̞]. In the most extreme case, the sound may be completely left out, creating a vowel sound without a consonant. This is seen as the final stage of a process where sounds weaken over time, moving from /d/ to [ð] to [ð̞] to no sound at all. If elision happens regularly over time, the shortened form may become the standard. Examples include "tabula" becoming "tabla" in Spanish, "mutare" becoming "muer" in French, and "luna" becoming "lua" in Portuguese. Elision and similar speech patterns are often explained by the idea of "economy of effort," which means people tend to leave out sounds if the meaning remains clear.

Historical elisions

Languages can change over time, and these changes often show how certain sounds were once omitted but later became permanent. This area of study is called diachronic linguistics. Some omissions, or elisions, were once optional but later became required. For example, in French, the preposition "de" changed over time to "d'" in the word "aujourd'hui," which means "today." This word originally came from "au jour de hui," meaning "at the day of today," but "hui" is no longer used in modern French. In English, the word "cupboard" originally had a /p/ sound between /ʌ/ and /b/, but this sound disappeared from spoken English around the 15th century.

Contractions

In many languages, there is a process similar to elision, called contraction, where common words that often appear together are shortened in pronunciation. This can happen because of historical changes, like in French, where "ce est" became "c'est" and saying "ce est" is now incorrect. It can also happen in modern speech, such as in English, where a person might say "that is" or choose to say "that's" instead. Both types of contractions are natural parts of spoken language used by native speakers and are often informal but not incorrect. In English, contractions usually involve shortening words that are weak in pronunciation and often lack vowels. Sometimes, contractions involve more than just shortening sounds. For example, "that's" changes both the vowel in "is" and the ending consonant. Similarly, "won't" for "will not" changes a vowel and the ending consonant. In "can't" and "shan't," the vowel in "can" and "shall" changes to a different sound. In languages that use the Latin alphabet, like English, missing letters in a contraction are shown with an apostrophe, such as in "isn't" for "is not." Written Greek also uses similar marks to show elisions.

Elision in poetry

Elision is often seen in poetry. Sometimes, it is shown in the way words are spelled, and other times, it must be figured out by knowing the meter. Elision was common in Latin, but it was not usually written down, except in inscriptions and comedy. Elision happens often when a vowel comes before a word that starts with a vowel in poetry, especially when the meter requires it. For example, the first line of Catullus 3 is written as "Lugete, O Veneres Cupidinesque," but it is read as "Lugeto Veneres Cupidinesque" (audio). In English poetry from the past, many examples of poetic contraction are marked by spelling and punctuation. Common examples include "over" written as "o'er" and "ever" written as "e'er." These can be seen in lines from "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray, published in 1751.

Deletion

The term "deletion" is sometimes used in modern language studies instead of "elision." In Generative phonology, which is a way of studying how sounds work in language, deletion is often described as a rule that replaces a sound with nothing, or "zero." These rules explain how certain sounds may be removed in specific situations.

For example, a deletion rule for the sound /r/ in English RP (a type of British accent) is discussed by Giegerich. The word "hear" is said to have the underlying sound form /hɪər/, which includes an /r/ at the end. However, this /r/ is not heard when the word is spoken. In contrast, the word "hearing" keeps the /r/ because it is in the middle of the word. The rule for deletion removes the /r/ in "hear," changing it to /hɪə/, but does not remove the /r/ in "hearing," which remains /hɪərɪŋ/. The difference happens because the /r/ in "hear" is at the end of the word, while the /r/ in "hearing" is in the middle.

Examples

Elision in English happens when sounds are left out during speech. Most elisions are not required but are common in everyday speech and sometimes in formal speech. These are rarely shown in modern writing and never in formal writing. In formal writing, words are always spelled the same, but in some plays and classic books, elisions are written to show how characters speak. For example, in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, characters say phrases like "ain't" and "God a'mighty" to show their accents and speech patterns.

Some elisions, like "him" or "going to," are only used in fast or informal speech. These are usually written as they are unless the writer wants to show a specific dialect or speech style.

A third type of elision is in common contractions, such as "can't," "isn't," or "I'm." The apostrophes in these words show where sounds are missing. These contractions used to be written as full words (e.g., "cannot," "is not," "I am") even if spoken as contractions. Now, they are always written as contractions if spoken that way. However, speakers or writers may choose not to use contractions for style, clarity, or formality. For example, "I am going!" emphasizes the word "going."

In non-rhotic accents (common in British English), the /r/ sound is not pronounced unless it is followed by a vowel. This makes words like "cheetah" and "cheater" sound the same. In non-rhotic accents outside North America, the /ɑː/ sound is sometimes replaced with /æ/ or /ɒ/, unlike in North American English.

In some languages, like Icelandic, elision occurs when consonants or vowels are dropped. For example, the phrase "éig er að" (I am verb-ing) becomes "éra" (verb). Another example is "er það ekki?" (really?), which is pronounced "erþakki." In Icelandic, consonants may also be lost in certain positions, such as in "gerðu svo vel" (here you go), which is pronounced "gjersovel."

In the Ulster dialect of Irish, the letter "n" is sometimes dropped when it starts a group of consonants, such as in "Anró" (pronounced "aró") and "muintir" (pronounced "muitir").

In Japanese, high vowels like /i/ or /u/ may be deleted when they appear between two voiceless consonants. However, elision is not shown in writing. Gender roles also influence elision in Japanese, with eliding certain sounds seen as more masculine.

In Latin poetry, elision was common to fit meter or for smooth sound. Words ending in vowels or "m" would drop sounds when followed by a vowel or "h." For example, the line "multa quoque et bello passus" is pronounced as "multa quoquet bello passus." This practice was common in poetry but less so in prose.

Other examples of elision in Latin include the merging of syllables, a process some scholars call "synaloepha." In some cases, the letter /t/ is dropped, such as in the prefix "Ngāti" (from "ngā āti") being pronounced as "Ngāi."