User:Rothorpe/Pronouncing Spelling
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Excerpts from a treatise
Using accents as a teaching aid, etc. I have found that accents are more acceptable to learners than the IPA, sudden capitalisation, and respelling, though the latter is in some cases a necessary back-up tool.
More of this material is at Citizendium
[edit] Short Sound, Acute Accent
THE ACUTE ACCENT (´) shows the usual short sound of the vowel:
háve gét sít nót sún cýst
máss léd píll sórry crúst sýmptom
rán tén wíth dóg fúss sýstem
These are the sounds of the majority of swearwords.
[edit] Long Sound, Circumflex Accent
THE CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT (^) shows the usual long sound of the vowel, corresponding to the name of the letter, though û may lack its initial semi-vocalic (consonantal) y sound (yû or û).
hâte lêver mîle tône tûne stŷle
nâil grêen sîgh côat Loû whŷ
wây lêave guîse cômb rheûm buŷ
Always, the accents indicate the same sound on y as on i: crýpt, sípped, relŷ, wîne.
ŵ = û, and, occurs as eŵ: neŵ, vieŵ, cf. pneûmatic. The silent w in two is more easily shown with this accent, although it is not historically part of the vowel: tŵo 2 = toô also, many = to preposition.
The presence of adjacent vowel letters may be typical: bêe, lêad first, léad metal, bréad, grìêf, cêiling, gôat, guŷ, pây, plâice fish (= plâce where), còunt, coúntry.
Or unusual: pêople, pláit hair (cf. plâte food).
[edit] Third Sound, Grave Accent
THE GRAVE ACCENT (`) shows another, less common, sound of the letter:
fàther vèil machìne mòther pùt
màrch grèy unìque dòes pùll
stàrve crèpe skì sòme bùsh
pàrk fèy elìte nòw pùsh
It occurs in: dôh, rè, mì, fà, sôh, là, tì (= têa drink = têe golf) dôh. Compare three composers: Sibèlius, Dêlius, Bèethoven.
[edit] TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY PRONUNCIATION
Since around the turn of the century, a number of variant pronunciations have become current, mostly in public situations. The two main areas concern spelling pronunciation and glottal starts.
[edit] Spelling Pronunciation: Depalatalisation
Spelling pronunciation occurs when people display their literacy by using a pronunciation which more closely reflects the spelling. This is heard especially often when journalists are reading from a prepared text, and also when actors are portraying the ruling class in Britain.
Much spelling pronunciation concerns depalatalisation, usually that of s, c or t when followed by i or u as an s sound where a sh is normal. A classic example is íssue: should it be pronounced *íssyûe or palatalised as *íshûe? Clearly, the unpalatalised version *íssyûe reflects the spelling and is of greater antiquity, but is has long been the norm to say *íshûe. Even so, *íssyûe has never quite gone away, as it is perceived that resisting the urge to palatalise to the sh sound is somehow more correct. The same can be heard with tíssue, and of course there is no palatalisation in assûme and consûme: both always have -syûme: a -shûme pronunciation would sound comically uneducated. But foreigners should learn to palatalise words that normally have this pronunciation, if they are not to sound mannered. Nobody says *insyûrence for insûrance; indeed it most often sounds like *inshŏrance.
And sûre itself retains its palatalisation: AmE *shûre, BrE sůre certain = shŏre sea: it does not sound like seŵer. spêcies however has been showing signs of returning from *spêeshíz to *spêessíz or *spêessêez. Meanwhile, Cambôdia, ‘Cambodge’ in French, was for a time in the 1990s Kampuchêa in English: we can see that the -dia represents a palatalisation to a j sound that has been lost in English, and that the K- spelling was an attempt by some to restore it in the form of a ch.
Other words not normally palatalised are: assûme, dûe, ensûe, euthanâsia (-zìə), Galícìa, Parísìan (-zì-), presûme (-zyûme), pursûe, redûce and other words in -dûce, sûicide, sûit (cf. shoôt), synaesthêsia - though anasthaêsia might be (AmE both -nəs-), Tunísìa (BrE *Cheŵ-nízier) and Valéncia. Other normally palatalised words are: amnêsia (-zhə), apprêciâte, Âsia, assôciate, atrôcious, caucâsian and other words in -sian (-zhn), Chrístian (*Kríshchən) and other words in -tian (-shn), Indonêsia, milítia, negôtiate, Patrícia, Përsian, pléasure (-zh-), précious and other words in -cious, préssure (-sh-) and other words in -sure, sôciology, sôldier, substántial, Croâtia (Crô-, and other words in -tia), vísion and other words in -sion (-zhn), vítiate, volítion and other words in -tion (-shn).
Another spelling pronunciation is Colómbia for Colòmbia (= Colúmbia British, trademark), unnecessary, as there is no danger of confusion. In óften, normally *óffen, many people pronounce the t; a regular pronunciation of âi in agâin and agâinst can sometimes be heard instead of *agén and *agénst; toûr alternates with tŏur; BrE pŏor increasingly sounds like poôr, although dŏor remains unaffected.
[edit] Spelling Pronunciation: Lengthening of -íz to -êez
From around the beginning of the twenty-first century, another very strong tendency, perhaps influenced by the spelling pronunciation of some foreign learners, is to lengthen the vowel sound in the ending -ies in nouns, but, interestingly, not in verbs (cárries is still *cárríz). Traditionally the -êez sound is used only for the plural of words from Greek ending in -is: crîsis, plural crîsês (*crîsêez), but it can now be heard in the plurals of nouns in -y, such as pàrties:
traditional > trendy
-íz (= ís) > -êez (= êase)
pàrtíes (*pàrtíz) > pàrtìês (*pàrtêez)
fámilíes (*fámilíz) > fámilìês (*fámilêez)
Similarly:
he’s (*híz) > hê’s (*hêez)
she’s (*shíz) > shê’s (*shêez)
I have also heard bâby’s pronounced this way: is it now spreading to the possessive as well?
This appears to be the continuation of a change, as we can hear in films from the mid-twentieth century how the -y ending too was once pronounced í.
[edit] Other Spelling Pronunciations
There has also been a tendency, apparently short-lived, to pronounce Chílean ‘Chilèan’, perhaps inspired by the Spanish version ‘Chileno’. And, while it is normal to pronounce the n in autúmnal, because of the change of stress from åutumn (*åwtəm), one now sometimes hears also the n of cólumn (*cóllum) in cólumnist. And Woòlwich, Gréenwich and Nórwich, which traditionally echo pórridge, can now be heard with final consonant unvoiced, as in Ípswich.
[edit] Glottal Starts
In complete contrast to spelling pronunciation is a trend to replace the traditional word-linking sounds r and w with glottal stops (\) even when this means leaving silent a written letter. This may also be the result of a foreign learners’ habit, that of pronouncing each word separately, without liaisons. I call these glottal starts, as they attach themselves emphatically to the vowel beginning the second word:
traditional > trendy
yŏur ôwn (*yərôwn) > *yə \ôwn
to òther (*tuwòther) > *tə \òther
yoû ônly (*yuwônly) > *yə \ônly
thê ãrea (*dhê-yãrêə) > *dhə \ãrêə
spectácular_ôcean > *spectákyûluh \ôcean,
thére_ísn’t any > *thé \ísn’t \ény
and even where written as one word:
foréver > *fə \éver
wheréver > *whé \éver
unêasy > *ún\êasy
But this does not happen with the consonantal y liaison: hîgh úp is still normally pronounced *hiyúp. And conversely, people still tend to join words where the first ends in a with an imaginary, invisible r, by analogy with the -er ending: Chîna-América relâtions (*Chinərəmericərəlâshənz).
[edit] from RETROALPHABETICAL WORD LIST
[This list should be right-justified, but that's not possible on Wikipedia.]
...
AmE, when stressed syllable does not come immediately before it, -ãry or -éry, cf. -ery; BrE a as AmE or as schwa or silent; see also -ory - -ary Cãry
Gáry
-shəry judíciary
vocábulary
canãry
gránary
díctionary
lîbrary
nécessary
líterary
suppleméntary
documéntary
Jánuary
Fébruary
vãry
wãry
crŷ
drŷ
tåwdry
mostly e as schwa: can sound like -ry in BrE -ery
físhery
fîery
bâkery
coòkery
sh- chicânery
paper stâtionary = stop stâtionery
conféctionery
cürsory rhymes with nürsery
cémetery
quêry
véry
brâvery
recòvery
discòvery
quêry
frŷ
ángry
húngry
gŏry
'glŏry'compúlsory
nürsery rhymes with cürsory
Tŏry
usually pronounced -trỳ in BrE -tory oblígatory
óratory
AmE láboratŏry - labóratory
satisfáctory
réctory
diréctory
trajéctory
dŏrmitory
stŏry
hístory
prŷ
Bárry
person Cárrie = fetch cárry
Hárry
márry
earth burỳ = fruit bérry
as suffix, AmE -bérry, BrE -brêe bláckberry
blûeberry
AmE rázb-, BrE ràzb- rāspberry
stråwberry
lórry sórry wòrry cúrry fürry húrry trŷ påltry pléasantry péasantry bígotry áncestry sóphistry ké- chémistry fruit bérrỳ = earth bury Dûry lúxury mostly = -cỳ -sỳ -zêe êasy -sêe grêasy -zêe quêasy like demócracy, thêócracy all -ssy idiosýncrasy -sêe écstasy -zêe chêesy cf. noun próphecỳ -sêe - verb próphesŷ -sêe héresy demócracy and thêócracy rhyme with hypócrisy -sêe émbassy -sêe fússy dízzy rhymes with *bízzy busy -sêe jéalousy -zêe Sûzy = Sûsie = Sûzie = Sûsy entîrety cíty felícity stupídity mentálity facílity iníquity relîabílity flexibílity celébrity antíquity crûelty silent h - hónesty thïrsty Kïrsty goodbye, cricket bŷe = preposition bŷ = money buŷ nâvy wâvy bévy îvy prívy ánchovy scürvy sávvy deŵy wáxy fóxy slêazy dâzy hâzy lâzy crâzy whêezy dízzy bíz whízz or whíz quíz jázz razzmatázz pizzázz
fízz
búzz
fúzz
zzzz
