Elision

    Elision is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or
    phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce. Sometimes, sounds may be elided for
    euphonic effect.

    Elision is normally unintentional, but it may be deliberate. The result may be impressionistically described as
    "slurred" or "muted."

    An example of deliberate elision occurs in Latin poetry as a stylistic device. Under certain circumstances, such as
    one word ending in a vowel and the following word beginning in a vowel, the words may be elided together.
    Elision was a common device in the works of Catullus. For example, the opening line of Catullus 3 is: "Lugete, O
    Veneres Cupidinesque", but would be read as "Lugeto Veneres Cupidinesque".

    The elided form of a word or phrase may become a standard alternative for the full form, if used often enough. In
    English, this is called a contraction, such as can't from cannot. Contraction differs from elision in that contractions
    are set forms that have morphologized, but elisions are not.

    A synonym for elision is syncope. This term is most often associated with the elision of vowels between
    consonants (e.g., Latin tabula → Spanish tabla). Another form of elision is aphesis, which means elision at the
    beginning of a word (generally of an unstressed vowel).

    The opposite of elision is epenthesis, whereby sounds are inserted into a word to ease pronunciation.


    Written representation
    Even though the effort that it takes to pronounce a word does not hold any influence in writing, a word or
    phrase may be spelled the same as it is spoken, for example, in poetry or in the script for a theatre play, in order
    to show the actual speech of a character. It may also be used in an attempt to transcribe non-standard speech.
    Also, some kinds of elision (as well as other phonological devices) are commonly used in poetry in order to
    preserve a particular rhythm.

    In some languages employing the Latin alphabet, such as English, the omitted letters in a contraction are
    replaced by an apostrophe. Greek, which uses its own alphabet, also marks elision in the same way.


    Examples
     The factual accuracy of this section is disputed.
    Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page
    Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation
    key.

    English
    Examples of elision in English (in IPA):

    comfortable: [kʌɱ.fɜ(ɹ).tə.bəl] → [kʌɱf.tɹ.bəl]
    fifth: [fɪfθ] → [fɪθ]
    him: [hɪm] → [ɪm]
    laboratory: [læ.bɔ.ɹə.tɔ.ɹi] → [læb.ɹə.tɔ.ɹi] (American English), [lə.bɔ.ɹə.tɹi] (British English)
    temperature: [ˈtɛm.pə.ɹə.tʃɚ] → [ˈtɛm.pɚ.tʃɚ], [ˈtɛm.pɹə.tʃɚ]
    vegetable: [vɛ.dʒə.tə.bəl] → [vɛdʒ.tə.bəl]
P
o
e
t
r
y