Haplology

Haplology (from Greek ἁπλόος haplóos "simple" and λόγος lógos, "speech") is, in spoken language, the elision (elimination or deletion) of an entire syllable or a part of it through dissimilation (a differentiating shift that affects two neighboring similar sounds). The phenomenon was identified by American philologist Maurice Bloomfield in the 20th century.^[1] Linguists sometimes jokingly refer to the phenomenon as "haplogy", an autology.^[2] As a general rule, haplology occurs in English adverbs of adjectives ending in "le", for example gentlely → gently; ablely → ably.