Relating to the syllable immediately before a stressed syllable in a word.
From Latin 'ante' (before) + 'protonicus' (relating to the stressed syllable, from Greek 'protonos'). This linguistic term specifies position relative to word stress.
When linguists study how languages change, they've discovered that the anteprotonic syllable is often where sounds weaken and disappear first—which is why many languages are losing vowels in exactly these positions.
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