Metaplasm

Metaplasm
This article is about the grammatical term. For the biological term, see Metaplasia.

A metaplasm[1] is a change in the orthography (and hence phonology) of a word. Originally it referred to techniques used in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry, or processes in those languages' grammar.

Contents

Sound change

Many poetic metaplasms are useful for describing processes in the natural development of languages:

  • Epenthesis, addition of a sound to a word:
  • Synalepha, two syllables becoming one, occurs by elision, crasis, synaeresis, or synizesis.
    • Elision ("contraction" in English grammar), removal of a sound:
    • Crasis (Ancient Greek contraction), coalescence of two vowels into a new long vowel.
    • Synaeresis, pronunciation of two vowels as a diphthong. Opposite: diaeresis, pronunciation of a diphthong as two syllabic vowels.
    • Synizesis, pronunciation of two vowels that do not form a normal diphthong as one syllable, without change in writing. Opposite: hiatus, distinct pronunciation of two adjacent vowels.
  • Metathesis, rearranging of sounds or features of sounds, may affect vowel lengths (quantitative metathesis).

Rhetoric

In rhetoric, metaplasm is the modification of word order for emphasis.

Romance languages

In the grammar of the Romance languages, metaplasm refers to the change in the grammatical gender of nouns from their original gender in Latin.

Notes

  1. ^ Greek μεταπλασμός, from μετα-πλάσσειν "mold into a different shape"

See also


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Metaplasm — Met a*plasm, n. [L. metaplasmus, Gr. ?; ? beyond, over + ? to mold: cf. F. m[ e]taplasme.] (Gram.) A change in the letters or syllables of a word. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • metaplasm — [met′ə plaz΄əm] n. 1. [ META + PLASM] that part of the contents of a cell which consists of lifeless matter, as certain fatty or starch granules 2. [L metaplasmus, an irregularity < Gr metaplasmes, formation of cases of nouns from a missing… …   English World dictionary

  • metaplasm —   n. lifeless matter in cell; Grammar, alteration in spelling of word.    ♦ metaplastic,   a. pertaining to metaplasm or metaplasia …   Dictionary of difficult words

  • metaplasm — См. metaplasma …   Пятиязычный словарь лингвистических терминов

  • metaplasm — n. [Gr. meta, after; plasma, formed or molded] Non living protoplasmic inclusions; metaplastic adj …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • metaplasm — metaplasmic, adj. /met euh plaz euhm/, n. 1. Cell Biol. the nonliving matter or inclusions, as starch or pigments, within a cell. 2. Gram. a. a change in the structure of a word or sentence made by adding, removing, or transposing the sounds or… …   Universalium

  • metaplasm — noun a) Any change in a word made by altering its letters or sounds b) A small particle (often nutrient) within a cell …   Wiktionary

  • metaplasm — meta·plasm (metґə plaz″əm) [meta + plasm] deuteroplasm …   Medical dictionary

  • metaplasm — meta·plasm …   English syllables

  • metaplasm — /ˈmɛtəplæzəm/ (say metuhplazuhm) noun 1. Biology the lifeless matter or inclusions (as starch, pigment, etc.) in the protoplasm of a cell. 2. a change in the structure of a word by adding, removing, or transposing the sounds of which it is… …  

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