Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Now For An Epenthetic Remark ...

 As much as I love terminology, there are times when I feel that perhaps, just perhaps, scholars have gone overboard with splitting hairs (that metaphor was a malaphor with intent). Such is the case of the terminology around epenthesis. When two consonants or vowels love each other very much, but it would not be appropriate for them to conjugate, they must make room for the holy spirit, and this process is called epenthesis. Epenthesis applies to the insertion of the consonant or vowel between the sounds, but there is the possibility of being more specific, or perhaps pedantic. If it is a vowel, it is anaptyxis (Gesundheit!); if it is a consonant, it is excrescence (gross!). 

If we set aside for now the minor sin of mixing Latin and Greek terminology, an examination of the etymology of each term reveals different conceptions of the process. Epenthesis is the insertion (note the -en- of epenthesis) of a sound, and therefore a letter (in this context). Anaptyxis is the opening of a space for that sound. Excrescence is the growth of a sound between the adjacent sounds. Thus the process as viewed from anaptyxis and epenthesis is a process of forcible opening and insertion, but process as seen from excrescence is a natural growth in a space which must be occupied. All three terms are useful, but in a practical context of finishing one's assigned reading for the week, epenthesis suffices.

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