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Crasis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crasis is the contraction of a vowel or diphthong at the end of a word with a vowel or diphthong at the start of the following word. It occurs, for example, in Portuguese, in Arabic, and in Greek.
In Portuguese, the most frequent crasis is the contraction of the preposition a (to or at) with the feminine definite article a (the). This contraction is marked in writing with a grave accent, forming à. For example, instead of *Vou a a praia ("I am going to the beach"), one says Vou à praia ("I am going to-the beach"). In standard European Portuguese, though not in Brazilian Portuguese, a and à are pronounced differently.
Also in Portuguese, contractions of the same preposition a with the demonstratives are the common usage. For example, when the preposition comes before aquele, aquela (both mean "that one", with different genders), aqueles, aquelas (same thing, but plurals) and aquilo (no gender, no number), the crase and consequent grave accent produce àquele, àquela, àqueles, àquelas and àquilo.
Sometimes ò is also used to denote the crasis of a with o in nonstandard speech. For example, colloquially, the preposition para can contract with the masculine definite article o, producing prò.