Hiatus (linguistics)

Hiatus (linguistics)

In phonology, hiatus (/haɪˈeɪtəs/; "gaping") or diaeresis (/daɪˈɛrɨsɨs/ or /daɪˈɪərɨsɨs/, from Ancient Greek διαίρεσις diaíresis "division") refers to two vowel sounds occurring in adjacent syllables, with no intervening consonant. When two adjacent vowel sounds occur in the same syllable, the result is instead described as a diphthong.

The English words hiatus and diaeresis themselves contain a hiatus between the first and second syllables.