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Haplography

Notation
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The omission of one or more letters or syllables that should be repeated.

Detailed Definition
Haplography is a scribal or typographical error where a letter, syllable, or word is omitted due to similarity with adjacent text (e.g., “idolatry” written as “idoltry”); while usually accidental, poets may mimic haplography deliberately to create ambiguity, compression, or visual disruption—as in concrete poetry or Oulipian constraints—turning error into aesthetic strategy that foregrounds language’s material fragility and readerly reconstruction.
Example
Example in poetry:
Haplography|Accidental omission of repeated letter; Scribal error dropping duplicate syllable; Copying mistake eliminating sequence; Textual corruption through omission
Additional Notes
Haplography is a scribal error where one of two identical or similar letters/words is omitted, of interest in textual studies of old poems.
Also Known As
Single writing Omitted letter Scribal error Written once
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