SYNERESIS: EXAMPLES AND EXAMPLES OF PHRASES, SENTENCES OR VERSES - DUDAS - 2025

The syneresis is a linguistic resource metric facilitating attachment of two vowels into a single sound within a word, although these form a gap. To achieve this effect, it is necessary for the person who declaims or recites to decrease the intensity of the voice just in the weak vowel of the word, thereby transforming the hiatus into an “artificial diphthong”.

Syneresis (also known as synicesis) is commonly used in the poetic realm to decrease the number of syllables in verses and thus adjust it to the meter of certain poetic forms. A clear example of the poetic forms that use this resource is represented by tenths, sonnets and quatrains, especially if they are for musical purposes.

Luis de Góngora, one of the many Spanish poets who used syneresis in his verses. Source: Diego Velázquez, via Wikimedia Commons

Another important aspect to keep in mind is that syneresis does not require any special grammatical sign to indicate that it is present in a phrase or verse. However, previously some authors dispensed with the accents to refer that there was a syneresis. For example, instead of "had", they wrote "habia".

Examples and examples of sentences

There are many examples, and the purpose of these is to suppress a hiatus to adjust the verses to a certain metric.

Examples of syneresis

- Mediterranean: this word, if the author so decides, can present syneresis in the two syllables "neo", forming a single syllabic block. It is common for it to rhyme with words like "contemporary" and for the latter to be given the same application.

- Comería: this ending is one of the most popular in terms of the application of syneresis. For obvious reasons, the hiatus that is suppressed is in the syllables “ría”. It rhymes with a significant number of words, such as: María, would sing, there was or would be, to name a few.

Other simple examples would be: Poet, you bring, airship, now, ocean, got worse, poetry, to name a few.

Examples of sentences with syneresis

Below are a series of sentences where words are applied to which syneresis can be applied.

- The poet walked quietly, assuming his life and his now down the street.

- The aircraft spent the whole day flying over the Parisian sky hoping to land, but it was impossible.

- The situation worsened with the passing of the days, nobody knew what was really happening.

Syneresis in the Hispanic Poetics of the Spanish Golden Age

Syneresis has been present in Hispanic literary creation since the 16th and 17th centuries, in full growth of Spanish poetics. It is common to see this resource in the verses of Garcilaso de la Vega, Luis de Góngora and Agustín Moreto, among many other greats. It is also seen in the works of little-known poets of the time.

It is necessary to remember that syneresis seeks to transform the hiatuses into diphthongs, in order to achieve ideal metrics within a verse. The verses that are too long are known as “hypermetric”, and it is to these that the rhetorical figure is applied to reduce their size in this way.

An interesting fact about the use of syneresis in the 16th and 17th centuries is that some authors did not place the tilde in the weak vowels of the hiatuses to indicate that the resource was applied there. For example, instead of writing “amaría”, they would write “amaria”, so the word did not lose its intonation, but it should be pronounced more softly.

Below are a number of examples of syneresis in the verses of well-known 16th and 17th century writers.

Garcilaso de la Vega

- "Beautiful nymphs, who got into the river…", (verse from the author's Sonnet XI).

Supposed portrait of Garcilaso de la Vega, a Spanish poet who applied syneresis in his poems. Source: Jacopo Carucci Pontormo, via Wikimedia Commons

In this case, syneresis is present in the word "river", allowing the verse to go from dodecasyllable (twelve syllables) to hendecasyllable (eleven syllables). With this, Garcilaso managed to fulfill the proposed metric for his sonnet.

Luis de Gongora

- "… they put the thimble

and I put the needle.

I loved all of them well, I had luck with all of them… ”.

In this interesting fragment of "Now I'm Slowly", written by Luis de Góngora in 1588, we can see the removal of the accent in the words "put" and "had". The goal of the poet was clear, to indicate to the declaimer to lower the intensity of the voice at those points.

By doing this, Góngora also guaranteed that those verses would remain seven syllables and comply with the meter required for his stanzas.

It is important to note that if these verses are written in an original way, it is worth mentioning that the Castilian grammar rules suggested by Nebrija already existed at that time.

Agustin Moreto

- "I, Inés, had wished…".

This particular case responds to a play by Moreto, called El lindo don Diego. The verse should be octosyllable to adjust to the meter of the stanzas of the piece, but if a study is made of it, it can be seen that it is eneasyllable. "YoI / nés / ha / bí / a / de / se / a / do", nine sounds are counted.

Remember that between the "o" in "I" and "I" in "Ines" a synalepha is formed. In this example two synereses can occur, one in "had", and the other in "desired". Of course, the actors and declaimers of the time were already used to such occurrences, so they applied what was best for them.

Jorge de Montemayor

- "Without the dew of the morning pearl…".

This fragment belongs to the work La Diana, by the mentioned author. It should be a hendecasyllable to fit the correct metric, however it is a dodecasyllable. But when applying the logic of syneresis in "dew", this hiatus is lost and there is, therefore, what is called an "artificial diphthong".

Sentences or verses with syneresis

The application of syneresis in sentences or verses is more common than you think. In fact, many speakers at different times applied it in their speeches to adjust the metrics in the sentences and thus reach the public in a better way.

The practice was also normal in Ancient Greece. Speakers of the stature of Pericles, and even Homer himself, applied it to better reach the masses. In Spain it was commonly applied even by kings, being Alfonso X el Sabio a clear example of this. The objective in all cases was to perfect the oratory.

Examples of sentences with syneresis

- "The wise man should protect his heart well from the truncated paths."

- "Bring me that chair to sit for a while"

- "Use your knowledge wisely and they will make you have a quiet life."

Syneresis in current Hispanic poetics

Today there are poetic forms that have endured over time and have taken root in the cultures of many countries. If we have to talk about one of the most popular poetic forms, of course this would be the tenth spinel, devised by Vicente Espinel. It is a stanza of ten lines of minor art (eight syllables) that rhymes abbaaccddc.

The appearance of this poetic form, like all those that used rhyme, had no other motive than to facilitate the emission of a speech. The rhythm given by the meter and the sonority provided by the rhyme made these poetic forms invaluable resources for speakers.

Obviously, in these poems, syneresis has been applied in hundreds of cases, as well as the rest of linguistic resources to achieve their greater expressiveness.

Verses with syneresis: syneresis in the 10th spinel

As stated, syneresis tends to be used in the 10th spinel, and these stanzas are often applied by both poets and popular singers. In fact, there are musical genres whose base is the 10th spinel. For example, on the island of Margarita, Nueva Esparta state, Venezuela, there are several musical forms that use the tenth.

The Margarita bagpipe is one of the most popular musical forms in that region, based on the tenth spinel. Here is an example of this poetic form with the application of syneresis.

"Very early the day breaks

with the water herons, ethereal, voices of salt, air souls, that dance gray with joy.

My soul goes further

contemplating the sky, and I am happy with her,

pleasantly in love,

and is that walking with her by the side

it separates me from torment ”.

In this example the syneresis is evidenced in the first quatrain of the stanza, and precisely in the endings of each verse: “day”, “ethereal”, “aerial” and “joy”. As can be seen, in the case of "day", "ethereal" and "joy" only a hiatus is suppressed so that the octosyllable metric is given. However, in the case of "aerial" there is a double deletion.

The fourth verse of the stanza has ten syllables, but if it is sung by softening the accents in the word "airs" then it is possible to take eight syllables.

The singers' experience and syneresis

Although in this example the use of syneresis is exaggerated, if possible its application in popular song. However, achieving the perfect intonation of this type of verse requires the voice and experience of expert singers.

In Nueva Esparta there is a wide list of good intoners, among them Jennifer Moya, Lucienne Sanabria, Aurelena Cabrera, Miguel Serra and Ángel Marino Ramírez, among others.

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