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EPENTHESIS

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language | 1998 | Copyright

EPENTHESIS [Stress: ‘e-PEN-the-sis’]. The insertion of a sound or letter into a WORD or PHRASE. An epenthetic vowel can be added to break up a consonant cluster, as in Hiberno-Irish ‘fillim’ for film. Such a vowel often has the value of schwa. An epenthetic consonant can be added through being near another: /p/ close in articulation to both /m/ and /t/, as with empty (Old English ǣmtiġ); /b/ close in articulation to /m/, as with b in nimble (Middle English nemel). In RP, epenthetic /r/ is typically added between words that end and begin with certain vowels: Shah/r of Persia. Epenthetic vowels are common in non-native forms of English, to handle consonant clusters not found in the speaker's first language, as in ‘sakool’ for school among Punjabi speakers of English and ‘iskool’ among Kashmiris. See B, D, INTRUSIVE R, L, LINKING R, N, P, PARTICIPLE, SOMERSET, SPEECH, SYLLABLE, T.

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TOM McARTHUR. "EPENTHESIS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2010 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

TOM McARTHUR. "EPENTHESIS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-EPENTHESIS.html

TOM McARTHUR. "EPENTHESIS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved February 10, 2010 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-EPENTHESIS.html

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	EPENTHESIS Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language EPENTHESIS [Stress: ‘e-PEN-the-sis’]. The insertion of a sound or letter into a WORD or PHRASE . An epenthetic...
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