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Message |
Peter Frank
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 5:36 pm
Post subject: American English pronunciation of some words? |
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Hi,
I am not sure about the correct or standard American English
pronunciation of some words.
Is the ending -ile in the group of words with this ending (examples:
volatile, fragile, sterile, mobile) pronounced as in "kill", just like
an "l" or as in "while"?
Is the word "either" pronounced [eethr] or [aithr]?
Is the "i" in direction, directly, and director pronounced like the
alphabet letter "e" or like "i" in American English?
Regards,
Peter |
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Raymond S. Wise
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:15 pm
Post subject: Re: American English pronunciation of some words? |
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Peter Frank wrote:
| Quote: | Hi,
I am not sure about the correct or standard American English
pronunciation of some words.
Is the ending -ile in the group of words with this ending (examples:
volatile, fragile, sterile, mobile) pronounced as in "kill", just like
an "l" or as in "while"?
Is the word "either" pronounced [eethr] or [aithr]?
Is the "i" in direction, directly, and director pronounced like the
alphabet letter "e" or like "i" in American English?
|
If you use the schwa instead of the vowel in "kill" (when speaking about the
"-ile" words) and the "alphabet letter 'e'" (when speaking about the "di-"
words), both pronunciations in each pair mentioned are standard in American
English, as can be seen by looking at the entries for those words in the
*Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary* at www.m-w.com . The following should be
noted, though:
In the following, I am using that Web site's pronunciation symbols: <&>
stands for a schwa, <I> for the vowel of "eye," <O> for the vowel of "owe,"
and <E> for the vowel of "each."
For "volatile," M-W says <'vä-l&-t&l, _esp British_ -"tIl>.
For "sterile," it has <'ster-&l, _chiefly British_ -"Il">
If they intended to indicate that the pronunciation was never used in
American English, I would have expected them to say simply "British."
For the adjective "mobile," M-W has <'mO-b&l, -"bIl _also_ -"bEl>.
For the noun "mobile," meaning a type of sculpture or artistic construction
only one pronunciation is given: <'mO-"bEl>.
See also the pronunciations for the geographic name "Mobile" and the term
from medieval astronomy "primum mobile."
For "missile," one of the "-ile" words which you did not mention, the
*Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary* has <'mi-s&l, _chiefly British_ -"sIl>.
For "either," M-W has <'E-[th]&r _also_ 'I->. This means that, although
equally standard, the "eye" pronunciation occurs less often than the "ee"
pronunciation. (This sort of variant is referred to by the M-W editors as a
"secondary variant.")
In the sense of "without delay" or "immediately," M-W shows <'drek-lE> as
one of the standard variants.
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com |
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Don Phillipson
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:25 pm
Post subject: Re: American English pronunciation of some words? |
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"Peter Frank" <peter_frankde@yahoo.de> wrote in message
news:8af8ecf.0412300236.832392f@posting.google.com...
| Quote: | I am not sure about the correct or standard American English
pronunciation of some words.
|
Is there any such thing as correct or standard
American pronunciation? British RP appears to
derive from two sources, deliberate BBC radio
policy 1925-1970 and the British social class
system -- neither of which functions in the USA,
and I do not see in the USA any other national
institutions of such compelling power.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada) |
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Raymond S. Wise
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 5:05 am
Post subject: Re: American English pronunciation of some words? |
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"Don Phillipson" <d.phillipson@ttrryytteell.com> wrote in message
news:fmTAd.1885$2a1.15163@newscontent-01.sprint.ca...
| Quote: | "Peter Frank" <peter_frankde@yahoo.de> wrote in message
news:8af8ecf.0412300236.832392f@posting.google.com...
I am not sure about the correct or standard American English
pronunciation of some words.
Is there any such thing as correct or standard
American pronunciation? British RP appears to
derive from two sources, deliberate BBC radio
policy 1925-1970 and the British social class
system -- neither of which functions in the USA,
and I do not see in the USA any other national
institutions of such compelling power.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
|
Usage is compelling enough. What is standard pronunciation in the US is the
pronunciation used by educated native speakers of American English, and that
is the pronunciation illustrated in any current general American dictionary.
The one possible exception to that are those pronunciations shown in
Merriam-Webster dictionaries which are preceded by an obelus, represented by
a division sign (÷). Although those are intended to be pronunciations used
by educated speakers, they are controversial ones.
The true standard in any country is the speech and writing which educated
speakers actually use, not the speech which some institution might prefer
that they use. For example, in French, the spelling reform called "nouvelle
orthographe" ("new orthography"), which has been in place for more than a
decade now, appears to have been largely ignored by educated Frenchmen, so
that I would consider it standard only in a theoretical sense, and certainly
not in a descriptive sense, that is, as representing actual usage.
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com |
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