absorption (n.)

(1) A term used in GENERATIVE GRAMMAR for a process in which an ELEMENT incorporates a SYNTACTIC FEATURE that it does not normally possess. An example would be a CASE feature on a VERB, normally assigned to an NP OBJECT, which is absorbed by a PASSIVE PARTICIPLE.

(2) In PHONOLOGY, an absorption process is seen especially in some TONE languages, where a sequence of tones at the same level is conflated. For example, a falling (high-to-low) CONTOUR tone might be followed by a low tone, yielding a possible high–low–low sequence; one low tone would then absorb the other, resulting in a high–low sequence.