El Estudiante de Salamanca and Other Selections

by José de Espronceda

But: Cuando en sueño | y en silencio (8)

Si tal vez suena | o está (8)

Alma fiera | e insolente (8)

There is one case in the text where he as middle word does enter into synalepha, but this is merely the fusion of three identical vowels:

Yo me he echado el alma atrás (8)

HIATUS

Hiatus is the breaking up into two syllables of vowel combinations in adjacent words capable of entering into synalepha. It is an extension to the word-group of dieresis, which applies only to a single word.

Many authorities on Spanish versification recognize as hiatus various cases which should not be so classified. In words like yo, yerro, hierro, huevo, etc., the first phonetic element is in each case a semi-vowel, and these semi-vowels have the value of consonants in the words cited. To classify the following as examples of hiatus is to be phonetically unsound:

Perdida tengo | yo el alma (8)

Ponzoñoso lago de punzante | hielo (12)