  Based on Spiridonov's analysis of elliptic generalizations of the Gauss
hypergeometric function, we develop a common framework for 7-parameter families
of generalized elliptic, hyperbolic and trigonometric univariate hypergeometric
functions. In each case we derive the symmetries of the generalized
hypergeometric function under the Weyl group of type E_7 (elliptic, hyperbolic)
and of type E_6 (trigonometric) using the appropriate versions of the
Nassrallah-Rahman beta integral, and we derive contiguous relations using
fundamental addition formulas for theta and sine functions. The top level
degenerations of the hyperbolic and trigonometric hypergeometric functions are
identified with Ruijsenaars' relativistic hypergeometric function and the
Askey-Wilson function, respectively. We show that the degeneration process
yields various new and known identities for hyperbolic and trigonometric
special functions. We also describe an intimate connection between the
hyperbolic and trigonometric theory, which yields an expression of the
hyperbolic hypergeometric function as an explicit bilinear sum in trigonometric
hypergeometric functions.
