Sound change and alternation |
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Fortition |
Dissimilation |
In phonology, hiatus, diaeresis (/daɪˈɛrəsəs, -ˈɪər-/),[1] or dieresis describes the occurrence of two separate vowel sounds in adjacent syllables with no intervening consonant. When two vowel sounds instead occur together as part of a single syllable, the result is called a diphthong.