apophony

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English

Etymology

From French apophonie, from French apo- + Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”), after Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from, off”) +‎ φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”).

Noun

apophony (countable and uncountable, plural apophonies)

  1. (phonetics) Modification of an internal vowel sound in a word or linguistic root, especially so as to establish a lexical distinction.
    Synonym: antiphony
    Near-synonyms: ablaut, gradation, vowel mutation
    • 1986, David A. Pharies, Structure and Analogy in the Playful Lexicon of Spanish, →ISBN, page 171:
      Cinglar has the merit of referring to a back and forth movement, which one might suppose is suggested by the apophony of zinguizangue […]
    • 2007 [2001], R. G. G. Coleman, “Greek and Latin”, in A.-F. Christidis, editor, A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity, →ISBN, page 793:
      Apophony is also seen in talentum from τάλαντον [talanton] “talent, a unit of weight or currency.”
    • 2014, D. Gary Miller, English Lexicogenesis, →ISBN, page 9:
      Apophony in both inflection and derivation has been shrinking through the history of English, but continues to be available in synesthesia (e.g. bing, bang, bong, §10.3.2) and, less productively, in reduplicative and conjunctive formations (e.g. mishmash, §14.4).

Usage notes

Apophony is often used synonymously with ablaut, but recent sources sometimes distinguish apophony as a lexical rather than grammatical feature: thus the words tip and top exhibit apophony, and tip-top is an apophonic reduplication.

Derived terms

Translations

alternation of sounds within a word — see ablaut

See also

References

  1. ^ Wales, Katie (2014) “Apophony”, in A Dictionary of Stylistics, 3rd edition, Abingdon: Routledge, →ISBN, page 28

Further reading

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