sullaltra

Sullaltra is a form that appears in Italian orthography as a contraction of sul and l'altra, combining the preposition on (sul) with the definite article l' before a following word beginning with a vowel. In standard writing the contracted form is sull'altra, written with an apostrophe to indicate elision. The version sullaltra, without the apostrophe, is generally regarded as an orthographic error or a typographical simplification found in informal texts.

The contraction stems from ordinary Italian rules of elision and preposition-article fusion. When sul precedes a feminine noun or modifier that starts with a vowel, the definite article l' is used, and sul merges with l' to form sull'. The resulting composite sull'altra, sull'isola, or sull'altra is then followed by the noun or descriptor. The choice between sull'isola and sull'altra depends on the next word: for a vowel-starting noun like isola, sull'isola is common; for a phrase meaning “the other” followed by a noun, sull'altra is typical (for example, sull'altra riva).

Examples include: La barca è sull'isola. (The boat is on the island.) Passeggiò sull'altra riva del fiume. (He walked on the other bank of the river.) These usages illustrate how sullaltra functions as a natural variant of prepositional contraction in Italian grammar.

See also: Italian elision, preposition contraction, l' before vowels.

References are to general Italian grammar resources on prepositions and definite articles and their elision rules.