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Is the diphthong [ai] on a non-primary stressed syllable a hypercorrection?

Some American people pronounce the prefix "anti" like an-tie. For example, here's a pronunciation of "anti-Christian" http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/anti-Christian

Another example: Most British people pronounce "finance" like fie-nance with the primary stress on the second syllable. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/finance

Yet another example: "organization" http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/organization

These diphthongs are non-primary stressed. I wonder if they are originated from hypercorrections.

Edit (Oct. 18, 2015) This question was closed because 5 users (tchrist, Janus Bahs Jacquet, Drew, Edwin Ashworth, Myst) didn't understand what I was asking. I think it's pretty clear what I was asking.

Is the diphthong [ai] on a non-primary stressed syllable a hypercorrection?

Maybe they didn't know the meaning of "hypercorrection". Here is the definition of "hypercorrection" by Oxford Dictionary.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hypercorrection The use of an erroneous word form or pronunciation based on a false analogy with a correct or prestigious form, such as the use of I instead of me as a grammatical object (as in he invited my husband and I to lunch).

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    Most americans I know pronounce "finance" as fie-nance too (as a noun), as a verb I think it's probably 50-50 fin-ance and fie-nance.
    – Jim
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 6:05
  • @Jim "Most americans I know pronounce "finance" as fie-nance too (as a noun)" In this case, the diphthong is stressed, right? Here're two pronunciations of the noun "finance" in US English. oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/finance
    – ivanhoescott
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 6:36
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    How can you say that a pronunciation that many Americans have in multiple words is "unnatural"? We think it's perfectly natural, and that the British are lazy not to use it.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 13:12
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    The diphthong in the British finance certainly isn't unstressed.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 14:10
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    You should clarify if you mean in a syllable without primary stress in Modern English, or in Middle English; some words have shifted the position of the primary stress over that time period.
    – herisson
    Commented Oct 18, 2015 at 7:19

2 Answers 2

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I don't think there is any common pronunciation of triumphant with a vowel other than /ai/. Furthermore, I think it is quite likely that the first syllables of triumph and triumphant have always had the same vowel, and that the stress patterns of them have been the same as they are today. If this is so, then the /ai/ of triumphant can't be a "hypercorrection" of anything.

EDITED: In my original answer, I misunderstood your question. I now think I understand what you're asking, which I will rephrase as: are there any words which historically had /ai/ in an unstressed syllable?

Historically (Late Middle English), most words which currently have /ai/ were pronounced /iː/. The Great Vowel Shift changed /iː/ to /ai/ in long vowels, which usually fell in stressed syllables, but did not introduce /ai/ in short vowels, so those words where /ai/ is in unaccented syllables are mostly more modern. For finance, the stressed syllable changed in the verb because English verbs like to be stressed on the second syllable, and the vowel didn't change. For anti-, that seems to be an American innovation, quite possibly a spelling pronunciation.

For organization and triumphant, we have /ai/ in an unstressed syllable because a suffix changes the stress, and we use the same vowel in both versions.

The word triumphant has been used since the early 15th century, around the start of the Great Vowel Shift. I am fairly sure it has always been accented on the second syllable (this is the Latin stress, and I don't see why it wouldn't have been used back when more people knew Latin). Finally, I suspect it has always had the same vowel as triumph. This certainly was true at the start of the Great Vowel Shift (they both had /i/), it was true in 1823, when Walker wrote one of the first English Pronouncing Dictionaries, and it is true today.

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  • "Are you being confused by the inconsistency of the dictionary's use of IPA for US and UK accents?" No, I was not confused. You can see the difference of them in the Oxford Dictionary Online. I just didn't know how to write /ʌɪ/. Anyway, this is not the point of the question.
    – ivanhoescott
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 13:58
  • @ivanhoescott: Okay, I see the point of your question now, and I think my revised answer addresses it.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 14:00
  • "I don't think there is any common pronunciation of triumphant with a vowel other than /ai/, which makes it hard to claim that this pronunciation is "unnatural"." "For organization and triumphant, we have /ai/ in an unstressed syllable because a suffix changes the stress, and we use the same vowel in both versions." (continued)
    – ivanhoescott
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 17:34
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    The Great Vowel Shift wasn't completely clean; it was quite messy, and not all the vowels went where they logically should have gone. Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary from 1823 shows today's stress patterns and the same 'i' vowel in pine, triumph and triumphant. So I would assume that the vowel of triumph dragged the vowel of triumphant along with it during the Great Vowel Shift.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 17:59
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    If triumphant had been a word, and triumph hadn't, I think the /i/ would likely have shortened (because it's in an unstressed syllable) and we would be pronouncing it treeumph today, with the vowel at the end of happy and symmetry. But it didn't shorten because people kept pronouncing triumph and triumphant with the same vowel.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 18:17
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I don't think there are unstressed [ai]s in English. In your examples, like "anti-" as [ˈænˌtʰaj], there is a secondary stress (note the aspirated t).

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