noun
- The insertion of a vowel sound within a word or between consonants to ease pronunciation, especially in the development of a language.
Usage: linguistics; also called epenthesis
Examples
- The word 'athlete' sometimes undergoes anaptyxis, becoming 'ath-uh-lete' in casual speech.
- In historical linguistics, anaptyxis explains how 'film' developed a vowel sound to become 'fil-um' in some dialects.
- Anaptyxis is a common phonetic process that helps speakers pronounce difficult consonant clusters.
- The insertion of a schwa sound in 'realtor' is an example of anaptyxis in modern English.