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#120967 01/23/04 06:40 PM
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jheem Offline OP
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The recent thread on schwa got me to thinking about epenthesis 'the insertion of a sound or letter into the body of a word' (M-W) or 'the insertion of a sound in the middle of a word, as in Middle English thunder from Old English thunor' (A-H). If the insertion takes place at the beginning of the word, as especial and estate, it's called prothesis. If it's a vowel rather than a consonant that's being epenthetically inserted, it can be called anaptyxis.


#120968 01/23/04 06:53 PM
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Athaletes and realitors everywhere thank you for that, Nuncle J.

BTW, do you know any MnE words that have undergone anaptyxis?


#120969 01/23/04 07:03 PM
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By MnE, do you mean Modern English (Present Day English)? Other than the two examples you gave?


#120970 01/23/04 07:14 PM
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I mean Modern English and words that are considered "correct" by the purest purist.


#120971 01/23/04 07:21 PM
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Well, spelling plays all kinds of tricks, e.g., the 't' in often has often caused an epenthetic dental stop and the 'd' in admiral doesn't really belong there (it's based on an erroneous etymological spelling assuming a word borrowed from Latin rather than Arabic).


#120972 01/23/04 07:42 PM
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I'm looking for some where a vowel has been added.


#120973 01/23/04 09:25 PM
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Nope, you've got me. English phonotactics doesn't seem to have too much of a problem with consonant clusters.


#120974 11/16/05 09:50 PM
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Will someone please use the word in a sentence for me? Also as an adjective? Thanks......I don't mean to be mis-chiev-e-ous :-)

#120975 11/17/05 01:25 AM
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>Will someone please use the word in a sentence for me? Also as an adjective?

did I just walk in on the Scripps National Spelling Bee??

#120976 11/17/05 02:53 AM
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> use in a sentence

umm, we can't find many words that are anaptyxitic?


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