noun
- plural of epenthesis; the insertion of a sound or letter into the middle of a word, often to ease pronunciation.
Usage: linguistics term; also called anaptyxis
Examples
- The word 'athlete' is sometimes pronounced with epentheses, becoming 'ath-uh-lete' instead of 'ath-lete'.
- Epentheses occur naturally in many languages when speakers add vowels between consonant clusters.
- Linguists study epentheses to understand how speakers modify words to fit their phonological patterns.
- The insertion of a schwa sound in 'hamster' to make 'ham-uh-ster' is an example of epentheses.
- Different dialects may use epentheses differently, affecting how the same word is pronounced across regions.