Round 10: Tossup 20

Osvaldo Jaeggli responded to a Postal and Pullum paper on a form of this phenomenon involving the word “to.” In contrast to Grade 1, this phenomenon is highly present in Grade 2 Braille, including Unified English Braille. A type of this phenomenon that exemplifies univerbation is represented by a coronis on a vowel and is called crasis. In French, this phenomenon (10[1])occurs when a monosyllabic word ending with e caduc (“uh ka-DUKE”), or a schwa, (-5[1])is followed by a vowel sound. This phenomenon in Italian (10[1])occurs when the words ci (“chee”) and è (“eh”) become c’è (-5[1])(“cheh”). In English, this phenomenon occurs when a vowel is elided (-5[1])and replaced with an apostrophe. (10[1]-5[1])For 10 points, (10[1])name this linguistic phenomenon in which a word or word group is shortened by omitting sounds, (10[1])such as “’twas” or “don’t.” ■END■ (10[4])

Back to tossups

Buzzes

Summary