science

Prosiopesis

Prosiopesis is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Prosiopesis rather than just read about it. In short: Prosiopesis (from Ancient Greek προσιώπησις prosiṓpēsis 'becoming silent') is a term coined by Otto Jespersen for pronouncing a word or phrase without its initial sounds. Jespersen introduced the idea in Negation in English and Other Languages (1917): . . . the phenomenon for which I venture to coin the term of prosiopesis (the opposite of what has been termed of old aposiopesis): the speaker begins to articulate, o…

Key takeaways

Prosiopesis belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Prosiopesis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Prosiopesis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Prosiopesis (from Ancient Greek προσιώπησις prosiṓpēsis 'becoming silent') is a term coined by Otto Jespersen for pronouncing a word or phrase without its initial sounds. Jespersen introduced the idea in Negation in English and Other Languages (1917): . . . the phenomenon for which I venture to coin the term of prosiopesis (the opposite of what has been termed of old aposiopesis): the speaker begins to articulate, or thinks he begins to articulate, but produces no audible sound (either for want of expiration, or because he does not put his vocal chords in the proper position) till one or two syllables after the beginning of what he intended to say. The phenomenon is particularly frequent, and may become a regular speech-habit, in the case of certain set phrases, but may spread from these to other parts of the language. Among the English examples Jespersen gives are (Good) morning, (I'm a)fraid not, and (The) fact is; among the French examples, (Est-ce) convenu?, (Par)faitement, and (Je ne me) rappelle plus. He also introduces it in The Philosophy of Grammar (1924): "[P]rosiopesis . . . sometimes becomes habitual in certain stock exclamations like Thank you | [German] danke | [German] bitte | Bless you | Confound it! Cf. also Hope I'm not boring you." This is similar to aposiopesis, where the ending of a sentence is deliberately excluded. David Crystal writes, "In rhetorical terminology, an elision in word-initial position was known as aphaeresis or prosiopesis, in word-medial position was known as syncope, and in word-final position as apocope." (Richard A. Lanham similarly defines aphaeresis more narrowly than Jespersen defines prosiopesis, a term that Lanham does not mention.) Other synonyms include aphesis, procope, and truncation. Prosiopesis and aposiopesis are studied as sources of interjections.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Prosiopesis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Prosiopesis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Prosiopesis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Prosiopesis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Prosiopesis

In research: Prosiopesis appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Prosiopesis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Prosiopesis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Historical linguistics, Historical linguistics stubs, Linguistics stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Prosiopesis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Prosiopesis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Prosiopesis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Prosiopesis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Prosiopesis in simple terms?

Why does Prosiopesis matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Prosiopesis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Prosiopesis.