Epenthesis (definition)

*for the article on epenthesis in Gaelic see Epenthesis

Epenthesis is the insertion of a sound (in Gaelic this is usually a vowel), between two other sounds. In the speech of some English speakers, the word film is pronounced with two syllables [fɪləm]. This process is very common in Gaelic, and is found in words like orm [ɔrəm] or Alba [alapə].

External Links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epenthesis
• http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/E/epenthesis.htm

References

• Crystal, David. (1997) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.