In linguistics, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. This often is a result of a common sequence of words, or, as in French, to maintain a flowing sound. Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... Word can mean one of several things: A linguistic word—a unit of language that symbolizes or communicates a meaning, consisting of one or more morphemes. ...

In English, contractions are usually but not always either negations or combinations of pronouns with auxiliary verbs, and in these cases always include an apostrophe. Negations are generally in the form of doesn't for does not, or wouldn't for would not, where the apostrophe stands for the missing "o" in not. The second category is generally in the form of pronoun + to be, as in "It's cold today" or "We're going downtown," where the apostrophe again stands for a missing vowel, either "i" or "a". The second category also often uses a form of to have, as in "He's gone to bed" or "We've finally gotten there." In this case, the apostrophe stands for the missing "h" plus "a". It should be noted, though, that only British English allows a to have to contract when it is the primary verb (as with the phrase "I've a date today"). The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes a noun or noun phrase with or without a determiner, such as you and they in English. ... A typical English verb has five principal parts: In English, only strong verbs like write may have all five distinct parts; in weak verbs, the preterite and past participle are identical, e. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ...

Many people writing English confuse the possessive form of the pronoun it with its contractions. The possessive form has no apostrophe (its), while the contraction of it is or it has does have an apostrophe (it's). See List of frequently misused English words. The meanings of words in the English language often change over time. ...

Outside the English contractions described above, contractions are virtually the same concept as portmanteaus. A portmanteau (plural: portmanteaux or portmanteaus) is a word that is formed by combining two words. ...

The French language has contraction forms similar to English, as in "C'est la vie" ("That's life"), where c'est stands for ce est (it is). In general, any word-final, non-silent "e" will contract if the following word begins with a vowel. For example the common words "que" (qu'-), "je" (j'-), and "de" (d'-). French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ...

Spanish also has some contractions, such as trecientos (three hundred) for tres cientos. Spanish also has two mandatory phonetic contractions: al (to the) for a el, and del (of the) for de el.

Both French and Spanish use a form of contraction combining the article le (French masculine form of the) or la (Spanish feminine form of the). For instance, in French, there is the phrase "L'etat, c'est moi" (Louis XIV: "I am the state," or, literally, "The state, it is me"). Louis XIV King of France and Navarre By Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701) Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638–September 1, 1715) reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. ...

In German prepositional phrases, one can often merge the preposition and the article; for example, von dem becomes vom, zu dem becomes zum, or an das becomes ans. Some of these are so common that they are in fact mandatory. In informal speech, also aufm for auf dem, unterm for unter dem, etc. are used, but would be considered wrong if written. A prepositional phrase is, in languages with prepositions, a phrase whose head is a preposition. ... An article is a word that is put next to a noun to indicate the type of reference being made to the noun. ...

See also

• Relaxed pronunciation

Relaxed pronunciation (also called condensed pronunciation or word slurs) is a phenomenon that happens when the syllables of common words are slurred together. ...

External links

• English Contractions Test (http://www.kwiznet.com/p/takeQuiz.php?ChapterID=116&CurriculumID=13)