# Metaplasm

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{{short description|Alteration in the pronunciation or the orthography of a word}}
{{about|the grammatical term|the biological term|Metaplasia}}
{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}
{{confusing|date=October 2018}}
A '''metaplasm'''<ref>From [Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) μεταπλασμός, from μεταπλάσσειν "mold into a different shape."</ref> is almost any kind of alteration, whether intentional or not, in the pronunciation or the [orthography](/source/orthography) of a word.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Companion Species Manifesto|last=Haraway|first=Donna|author-link=Donna Haraway|publisher=Prickly Paradigm Press|location=Chicago|pages=20}}</ref> The change may be phonetic only, such as pronouncing ''Mississippi'' as ''Missippi'' in English, or acceptance of a new word structure, such as the transformation from ''calidus'' in Latin to ''caldo'' (hot) in Italian. Orthographic metaplasms have been used in [philosophy](/source/philosophy) to advance humanity's conceptual terrain, such as when [Derrida](/source/Jacques_Derrida) adapted [Heidegger's](/source/Martin_Heidegger) [Destruktion](/source/Destruktion) into [deconstruction](/source/deconstruction) or the French term ''différence'' into [différance](/source/diff%C3%A9rance). Changes at either level may or may not be recognized in standard spelling, depending on the orthographic traditions of the language in question. Originally the term referred to techniques used in [Ancient Greek](/source/Greek_language) and [Latin](/source/Latin) [poetry](/source/poetry), or processes in those languages' [grammar](/source/grammar).

==Sound change==
Many phonological changes found frequently in the natural development of languages are metaplasms:

* [Epenthesis](/source/Epenthesis), addition of a sound to a word:
** beginning of a word ([prothesis](/source/prothesis_(linguistics)))
** end ([paragoge](/source/paragoge))
* [Synalepha](/source/Synalepha), two syllables becoming one, occurs by elision, crasis, synaeresis, or synizesis.
** [Elision](/source/Elision) ("[contraction](/source/contraction_(grammar))" in [English](/source/English_language) grammar), removal of a sound:
***beginning of a word ([apheresis](/source/apheresis_(linguistics)))
*** middle ([syncope](/source/syncope_(phonetics)))
*** end ([apocope](/source/apocope)).
** [Crasis](/source/Crasis) (Ancient Greek contraction), coalescence of two vowels into a new long vowel.
** [Synaeresis](/source/Synaeresis), pronunciation of two vowels as a diphthong. Opposite: [diaeresis](/source/Diaeresis_(prosody)), pronunciation of a diphthong as two syllabic vowels.
** [Synizesis](/source/Synizesis), pronunciation of two vowels that do not form a normal diphthong as one syllable, without change in writing. Opposite: [hiatus](/source/hiatus_(linguistics)), distinct pronunciation of two adjacent vowels.
* [Metathesis](/source/metathesis_(linguistics)), rearranging of sounds or features of sounds, may affect vowel lengths ([quantitative metathesis](/source/quantitative_metathesis)).

==Rhetoric==
In [rhetoric](/source/rhetoric), metaplasm is the modification of [word order](/source/word_order) for emphasis.

==Romance languages==
In the grammar of the [Romance languages](/source/Romance_languages), ''metaplasm'' may refer to change in the [grammatical gender](/source/grammatical_gender) of [noun](/source/noun)s from their original gender in Latin.
<!--
En una segunda acepción, se denomina metaplasmo al cambio de género y así hay metaplasmo, por ejemplo, en centinela, o puente, que son femeninos en la lengua antigua y masculinos hoy; más concretamente, se suele denominar también con la palabra metaplasmo al distinto género de una palabra en singular y en plural (latín locus, masculino; loca, neutro)
-->

== See also ==
* [Sound change](/source/Sound_change)

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

Category:Figures of speech
Category:Phonology
Category:Etymology

[ca:Fenomen fonètic](/source/ca%3AFenomen_fon%C3%A8tic)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Metaplasm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaplasm) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaplasm?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.