Tagged Questions
2
votes
2answers
97 views
Character vs Charm - Pronunciation
Is there a rule to understand how the group "Cha" has to be pronounced?
"Character" sounds with a hard first syllable, while "Charm" sound softer, but I don't find how to tell which sound to use ...
1
vote
1answer
129 views
How to guess the pronunciation of some inconsistencies in English?
I’m not a native English speaker, and I have a lot of problems when is comes to pronouncing words like archive, archon, zealot, heal, health.
Why is the ch sometime pronounced like a k?
Why is the ...
0
votes
3answers
164 views
When we will use soft and hard sound in 'c'? [closed]
Sometimes we use the soft sound, and sometimes the hard – but why? Is there any rule?
3
votes
1answer
115 views
“dispatch” v “despatch” [closed]
Using it in the example of:
Can you log despatch and delivery of documents?
Three questions:
Is despatch a misspelling of dispatch that made its way into the dictionary? Could I use dispatch ...
1
vote
1answer
85 views
Pedagogue vs. pedagogy vs. pedagogical
How do people choose to pronounce the -agogue suffix in these three words?
pedagogue
pedagogy
pedagogical
The first is a reasonably common word and its suffix is surely consistently ...
22
votes
3answers
717 views
Words with a leading silent w
My eldest is a beginning reader. Yesterday we read one of my favorite books, The Wreck of the Zephyr. He pointed at wreck and asked me why that one looked like it said "wuh-reck." I explained that ...
0
votes
1answer
188 views
/u/ and /uː/ in pronunciation
What is the regularity of appearance of /uː/ and /u/ (or /ʊ/ in RP)? How can I be most sure deducing from spelling alone, that, say, "ooze" is pronounced /uːz/ and "wool" as /wul/? I know that English ...
7
votes
4answers
4k views
Syllable division of VCV pattern in words such as “salad” and “lemon”
In words such as salad /sæləd/, you have a VCV pattern (vowel-consonant-vowel), in which the first vowel is short. The syllable division of such words is generally done after the consonant, i.e, as ...
3
votes
2answers
188 views
What is the origin of the different pronunciations of C and G before different vowels?
In English the letters C and G usually have different pronunciation before a/o/u and before e/i. The same is true for Romance languages - French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian etc.
What is the origin of ...
2
votes
1answer
291 views
Why does the letter “a” correspond to /ɪ/ in words like “image”, “private” and “surface” (American English)?
In American English, in words ending with -age, -ate and -ace, the ‹a› correspond to /ɪ/ (short i). Examples: image, village, damageprivate, senate, separatesurface, preface, palace
(It should be ...
2
votes
2answers
422 views
Why there is an “h” in proper names like Afghanistan, Baghdad and Lamborghini?
An "h" may be used to prevent the "g" from being soft, as in spaghetti, but there is no need for an "h" in the mentioned proper names.
13
votes
4answers
420 views
Has elision revised the standard spelling of any words in the past century?
Elision ("the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase") produces the following:
going → goin(')
going to → gonna
Worcester → Wuster (ˈwʊstər)
However, this hasn't affected the ...
-2
votes
1answer
478 views
What is the origin of the “should of” instead of “should have” mistake? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How did the use of “could of” and “should of” originate, and is it considered correct?
Recently, I tend to stumble a lot over the mistake that people write should of ...
2
votes
2answers
7k views
How do we differentiate long vowels from short vowels in English
I was finding a school for my toddler. I saw this new theory called long vowels and short vowels
The teacher talk about apple, which she read something like "eiple" and the hat, which she claims use ...
10
votes
3answers
304 views
What was going on with “quha”, “quhat” and the like in Scots and English?
From the Dictionar o the Scots Leid:
Quha, Quhay, interrog. and rel. pron. Also: qwha, qha, qua, qwa, wha, vha, hua; qhaa; quhaw; quhai qwhay, whay, quay; quhae, whae; quhe, quhey, qwhey.
...
3
votes
2answers
507 views
What is the correct spelling of the Arabic name سعد in English?
I need help in how to spell the Arabic name (سعد). I previously asked the question Sa'ad : Correct spelling in English and French; however, it got closed.
I added a youtube video describing how ...
6
votes
1answer
624 views
Variations in the pronunciation of “ea”
Perhaps this is more of a Linguistics question, so I apologize if this is not posted in the right place.
Why is it that these words in English sound so different?
earth = /ɜrθ/ “urth”
hearth ...
6
votes
2answers
195 views
“Lessen, poisoned gulls, ditcher wander hair annulled furry tell a boarder Slipping Booty?”
This is the prelude to an article published in Sports Illustrated magazine on August 17, 1959:
Lessen, poisoned gulls, ditcher wander hair annulled furry tell a
boarder Slipping Booty? Hoecake? ...
3
votes
1answer
415 views
The pronunciation of “… no matter how minute” vs “5 minutes past the hour” [closed]
I was just checking dictionary.com and the pronunciation of "minute" doesn't seem to change in these two setences:
It is five minutes past the hour.
I'll take any change, no matter how minute.
...
6
votes
2answers
727 views
“Lambast” or “lambaste”
I looked up both lambast and lambaste in several dictionaries, but came up with no conclusions about which one is AE and which BE (if this distinction can ever be made). Moreover, the different ...
7
votes
2answers
13k views
How do you spell “Aye Yai Yai”
The phrase that's spoken when someone is hand-wringing about a thorny problem.
Speaker One: Uh-oh -- we have to reformat ALL THE DOCUMENTS!
Speaker Two: Aye Yai Yai, that's a lot of work!
"Aye ...
5
votes
2answers
369 views
Are heteronyms unique to English and why do they exist?
Heteronyms are words with identical spelling and unique definition and pronunciations. For example, read (I have read that book; I will read that book), close (The door is close; I will close the ...
11
votes
1answer
599 views
Why isn't “muscle” pronounced “muskle”?
It comes from the Latin musculus (meaning mouse) and Latin has only hard c's. The "c" has somehow become soft or silent during evolution. Why did this happen?
Also, if muscle is pronounced mussle, ...
6
votes
2answers
370 views
Why is “eye” pronounced so strangely?
This is either a spelling or a pronunciation anomaly; I'm not sure which. Why is "eye" pronounced as the letter "I"?
20
votes
2answers
4k views
Use of “f ” instead of “s” in historic, printed English documents
I was at a museum in London yesterday, and one of the items on exhibit is a document from the eighteenth century. It uses the letter f a lot where s should be used—for example, in Majefty.
Did the ...
2
votes
1answer
395 views
Words with pronunciations more complex than spelling
The word mischievous is sometimes pronounced with a long e sound between the v and the last vowel (mis-chee-vee-us), although this is controversial.
Is there a name for this type of word, where the ...
4
votes
4answers
453 views
Why is “oh” spelled “oh” and not “o”?
Oh my!
In the above example, to me, "oh" seems to suggest one should pronounce "o" as a short vowel, whereas "o", seems to suggest one should pronounce "o" as a long vowel. In other words, I ...
19
votes
3answers
6k views
Why are there 3 different ways to pronounce “oo”?
My German colleagues were laughing at the way I pronounce google, and it led to a discussion.
With words like google, yahoo, poodle and loose, the oo has a sound similar to the German ü sound.
With ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
Why is “gauge” spelled with a 'u'?
I was rather old before I realized "gauge" is pronounced (and sometimes spelt) "gage". The etymology doesn't reveal too much:
mid-15c., from Anglo-Fr. gauge (mid-14c.), from O.N.Fr. gauger, from ...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
Why is “great” pronounced as “grate”, but spelled with “ea”?
Great is one of the few common English words in which "ea" is pronounced /eɪ/ (ay). Why is this pronunciation associated with this spelling?
As an aside, I remember from researching for my answer to ...
12
votes
3answers
9k views
Why is the word 'bologna' pronounced like 'baloney'?
Why is the word 'bologna' (as in a bologna sandwich) pronounced so differently from the way it's spelled? The word 'lasagna' isn't pronounced 'lasagney'...
The American sausage is derived from a ...
2
votes
5answers
721 views
Are there other words with the same weird spelling / pronunciation combo as “victual”?
I've always thought that "victual" was a funny word because its spelling and pronunciation are so alien to anything else I know of in the English language. The free dictionary explains the origin of ...
8
votes
3answers
982 views
Term for words with identical spelling but different meaning and different pronunciation
What do you call words with identical spelling but different meaning and different pronunciation? A couple examples are bass and resume.
21
votes
4answers
3k views
Why are “sugar” and “sure” pronounced with an SH?
As far as I know, those are the only two. They should be pronounced Soogher and Soor, shouldn't they? I looked them up on Dictionary.com, and their etymologies reveal no trace of an SH, except where ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
Why is “busy” pronounced “bizzy”?
Of all the ways I could come up with to pronounce the word "busy", "bizzy" would be very low on my list. At least "bussy" or "boosy". Why "bizzy"?
1
vote
2answers
913 views
Any website to look up words with similar pronunciation or spelling?
Is there any website(s) to look up words with similar pronunciation or spelling?
For example: stack, steak, stake, stick.
(It can help me as a non-native English speaker to learn confusing words.)
3
votes
3answers
6k views
Why is “hyperbole” pronounced so differently from its spelling?
I've often heard people say "hyperbole" exactly as it is written, "hi-per-bole", instead of how it is actually pronounced: "hi-pear-bow-lee". How did it get such an unusually different pronunciation ...
91
votes
2answers
5k views
Why is “bicycle” pronounced differently from other obviously related words?
The word bicycle is pronounced /'baɪsɪkəl/ (bahy-si-kuhl), like sickle. However, the words unicycle and motorcycle both have the -cycle pronounced as /-'saɪkəl/ (sahy-kuhl). Is there some sort of ...
11
votes
6answers
989 views
How would you spell “Tehran” in English for it to be pronounced “correctly” (i.e. as in Persian)?
Native English speakers do not pronounce the h in Tehran so it is pronounced like "Teran". But in the original pronunciation in Persian the h is pronounced, resulting in /tehˈɾɒːn/.
Is there any ...
4
votes
6answers
835 views
How to pronounce and orally spell <3?
It's now an entry in OED, I hear. Anybody know what the actual OED entry says?
4
votes
6answers
10k views
“Zoe” or “Zoë”: which is the correct spelling?
I have a relation who has named their child Zoe, on the grounds that “in English we don’t use the dots”, but they pronounce it like the second version.
Of course I don’t want to argue that’s not the ...
10
votes
1answer
5k views
Why is the “a” in “cocoa” silent?
Not being a native speaker of English, one of those words that tripped me up is “cocoa”. Besides having its vowels inverted from “cacao”; it also is pronounced exactly the same as “coco”, whereas ...
1
vote
3answers
1k views
Different ways to pronounce “augh”
In the word laugh, it is pronounced "aff".
In the word naught, it is pronounced "aw".
Are there any other ways to pronounce "augh"?
Bonus points for etymology explaining from where these ...
4
votes
5answers
636 views
Words starting with a 'gw' sound
There seems to be only a few words starting with the 'gw' sound, though the only ones I can think of are proper nouns, for example, Gwyneth. Are there any non-name words starting with a 'gw'? Is there ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
Words whose pronunciation remains the same with the last four letters removed
A friend told me that the English word queue is the only word whose pronunciation remains the same when the last four letters are removed.
I tried to think of others, but just couldn't. However, I ...
3
votes
2answers
739 views
Why is “sauté” spelled with an accent and “repartee” not?
Why are these words spelled differently? They have the same sound at the end, right?
9
votes
4answers
3k views
Why is “liquorice” pronounced (or spelt) so strangely?
Liquorice is pronounced ˈlɪkərɪʃ. But every other word I can think of ending with -ice is pronounced differently (such as police or rice). How did liquorice get such a strange pronunciation, or ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Why are the words “lose” and “choose” written differently and pronounced the same way?
I do know that there isn't only one pronunciation for syllables, and I also know that there isn't only one way to write a phoneme, but this intrigues me a lot.
Lose is spelled with only one O, and ...
3
votes
4answers
251 views
About the 't' in 'listener'
The 't' in 'listener' is not pronounced, and these kinds of words always make me misspell them. Instead of memorizing each of them, can you give me some advice/insight/cause?
How common are these ...
20
votes
7answers
4k views
Why is “primer” pronounced with a short “i” sound?
This word—used to mean an elementary textbook, not a painting material—annoys me to no end. Does anyone know why, exactly, "primer" is pronounced with a short "i" sound? I don't know why, call it ...
