When a Vowel Disappears

Elision removes a vowel. At a word boundary, it can produce a joined expression, as in ra aṣọ → raṣọ, ‘buy cloth’, and gbá ilẹ̀ → gbálẹ̀, ‘sweep the floor’. Vowel deletion can also shorten a name without joining separate words. These are different environments for vowel loss.

Read tonal information separately from the remaining letters. In ti + èmi → tèmi, the pronoun's initial low tone remains in the contraction. In gbálẹ̀, preserve the established high-low pattern. Removing accents is therefore no analysis of elision. Contrast deletion with assimilation, where a vowel changes its qualities toward a neighbouring vowel, and with lengthening. Ordinary Standard Nigerian Yoruba spelling need not transcribe every spoken reduction or phonetic contour. Learn each complete contracted form. Different boundaries can have different surviving vowels and tones.