Spelling pronunciation

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Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Original research A spelling pronunciation is the pronunciation of a word according to its spelling when this differs from a longstanding standard or traditional pronunciation. Words that are spelled with letters that were never pronounced or that were not pronounced for many generations or even hundreds of years have increasingly been pronounced as written, especially since the arrival of mandatory schooling and universal literacy.

Examples of words with silent letters that have begun to be often or sometimes pronounced include often, Wednesday, island, and knifeTemplate:Citation needed. In addition, words traditionally pronounced with reduced vowels or omitted consonants (e.g. cupboard, Worcester), may be subject to a spelling pronunciation.

If a word's spelling was standardized prior to sound changes that produced its traditional pronunciation, a spelling pronunciation may reflect an even older pronunciation. This is often the case with compound words (e.g., waistcoat, cupboard, forehead). It is also the case for many words with silent letters (e.g. often<ref name=often>often in the American Heritage Dictionary</ref>), though not all—silent letters are sometimes added for etymological reasons, to reflect a word's spelling in its language of origin (e.g. victual, rhyming with little<ref>victuals in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref><ref name=victual>victual in Oxford Dictionaries</ref> but derived from Late Latin victualia). Some silent letters were added on the basis of erroneous etymologies, as in the cases of the words island<ref name=island>island in the American Heritage Dictionary</ref> and scythe.

Spelling pronunciations are often prescriptively discouraged and perceived as incorrect next to the traditionally accepted, and usually more widespread, pronunciation. If a spelling pronunciation persists and becomes more common, it may eventually join the existing form as a standard variant (for example waistcoat<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and often), or even become the dominant pronunciation (as with forehead and falcon).

Prevalence and causes

A large number of easily noticeable spelling pronunciations occurs only in languages such as French and English in which spelling tends to not indicate the current pronunciation. Because all languages have at least some words which are not spelled as pronounced,<ref>Even a language such as Finnish where almost all words are written as pronounced (in other words phonemically, often incorrectly called "phonetically") has exceptions, e.g. sydämen, ruoan, onko, konepaja, osta paljon, osta enemmän (phonemic spelling would be: sydämmen, ruuan, ongko, koneppaja, ostap paljon, osta 'enemmän), and many words borrowed from other languages.</ref> spelling pronunciations can arise in all languages. This is of course especially true for people who are only taught to read and write and who are not taught when the spelling indicates an outdated (or etymologically incorrect) pronunciation. In other words, when many people do not clearly understand where spelling came from and what it is (a tool for recording speech, not the other way around), spelling pronunciations are common.

On the other hand, spelling pronunciations are also evidence of the reciprocal effects of spoken and written language on each other.<ref name="stubbs">Michael Stubbs, Language and Literacy: the Sociolinguistics of Reading and Writing. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 31-32.</ref> Many spellings represent older forms and corresponding older pronunciations. Some spellings, however, are not etymologically correct.

Speakers of a language often privilege the spelling of words over common pronunciation, leading to a preference for, or prestige of, spelling pronunciation, with the written language affecting and changing the spoken language. Pronunciations can then arise that are similar to older pronunciations or that can even be completely new pronunciations that are suggested by the spelling but never occurred before.<ref name=stubbs/>

Examples of English words with common spelling pronunciations

  • kiln with a fully pronounced n, instead of a silent n. Kiln was originally pronounced kil with the n silent, as is referenced in Webster's Dictionary of 1828.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From English Words as Spoken and Written for Upper Grades by James A. Bowen 1900: "The digraph ln, n silent, occurs in kiln. A fall down the kiln can kill you."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • often, pronounced with Template:IPAc-en. This is actually a reversion to the 15th-century pronunciation,<ref name=often/> but the pronunciation without Template:IPAc-en is still preferred by 73% of British speakers and 78% of American speakers.<ref>Wells, J. C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd edn, Harlow, UK: Longman, p. 560.</ref> Older dictionaries do not list the pronunciation with Template:IPAc-en although the 2nd edition of the OED does (and the first edition notes the pronunciation with the comment that it is prevalent in the south of England and often used in singing; see the Dictionary of American Regional English for contemporaneous citations that discuss the status of the competing pronunciations). The sporadic nature of such shifts is apparent upon examination of examples such as whistle, listen and soften in which the t remains usually silent.
  • forehead once rhymed with horrid but is now pronounced with the second syllable as Template:IPAc-en by 85% of American speakers and 65% of British speakers. This is actually a reversion to the original pronunciation.<ref>Algeo, John (2010). The Origins and Development of the English Language, 6th edn, Boston, MA: Wadsworth, p. 46.</ref>
  • clothes was historically pronounced the same way as the verb close ("Whenas in silks my Julia goes/.../The liquefaction of her clothes"—Herrick), but many speakers now insert a Template:IPAc-en, a voiced th. This is actually a reversion to the 15th-century pronunciation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • salmon is pronounced by a minority of English speakers with Template:IPAc-en, due to the letter l being re-introduced, despite being neither written nor pronounced in the original Anglo-French pronunciation.
  • The modern British pronunciation of solder is usually Template:IPAc-en, but the North American pronunciation of solder is usually Template:IPAc-en with a silent Template:Angbr. The word solder is derived from the old French souder, and the Template:Angbr was re-introduced in the 1500s on etymological grounds with the Latin solidāre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Even though the pronunciation without the Template:IPAc-en was the traditional way to pronounce it in Britain, the spelling pronunciation with the Template:IPAc-en eventually became the standard there.<ref>https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/solder_1</ref>
  • falcon is now nearly always pronounced with Template:IPAc-en, and only 3% of speakers have no Template:IPAc-en.<ref>Wells, J. C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., Harlow, UK: Longman, p. 297.</ref> The Template:IPAc-en was silent in the old pronunciation: compare French Template:Lang and the older English spellings faucon and fawcon. That may suggest either analogical change or the reborrowing of the original Latin.
  • alms, balm, calm, psalm, etc. are now often pronounced with Template:IPAc-en in some parts of the United States. In most of the United Kingdom, the traditional Template:IPAc-en pronunciation continues to prevail.
  • comptroller is often pronounced with Template:IPAc-en; the accepted pronunciation is controller (the mp spelling is based on the mistaken idea that the word is related to comp(u)tare "count, compute," but it comes from contre-roll "file copy").
  • ye (actually, yͤ or Þe), the definite article, as in Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe, is often pronounced like the archaic English pronoun ye instead of as the word the, based on the misleading use of the symbol y to substitute for the archaic printer's mark Þ: the letter thorn.<ref>Algeo, John (2010). The Origins and Development of the English Language, 6th edn, Boston, MA: Wadsworth, p. 142.</ref> (On the other hand, the beginning of the pronoun ye in Middle and Early Modern English is correctly pronounced like the beginning of you.)
  • Mackenzie, Menzies, Dalziel now include the sound Template:IPAc-en in place of the original Template:IPAc-en, due to the insular flat-topped g of Gaelic scripts being commonly transcribed into English as the similar-looking letter z.
  • armadillo and other words from Spanish with the double-L pronounced Template:IPAc-en instead of Template:IPAc-en (the latter being the closest approximation to the sound in Latin American Spanish); similarly, the Italian-sourced maraschino (cherry) and bruschetta with the Template:IPAc-en associated with that consonant cluster in German instead of the Template:IPAc-en of Italian.
  • victuals, pronounced Template:IPAc-en (rhyming with skittles), whose c (for a consonant that had been lost long before the word was borrowed from French) was re-introduced on etymological grounds, and the word is sometimes pronounced with Template:IPAc-en. The original pronunciation is reflected in, for example, the cat food brand "Tender Vittles".
  • The pronunciation of waistcoat as waist-coat is now more common than the previous pronunciation Template:IPAc-en.
  • conduit, historically pronounced Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en, is now nearly always pronounced Template:IPAc-en in most of the United States.
  • covert, historically pronounced Template:IPAc-en (reflecting its link with the verb cover) is now usually pronounced Template:IPAc-en, by analogy to overt.
  • medicine, historically pronounced with two syllables but now quite often with three (some speakers use two when they mean medicaments and three when they mean medical knowledge; the pronunciation with three syllables is standard in the United States).
  • Bartholomew, formerly pronounced Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en, is now Template:IPAc-en.Template:Citation needed
  • Anthony (from Latin Template:Lang), now (in Anglophone countries outside the UK) is typically Template:IPAc-en rather than Template:IPAc-en.
  • Numerous placenames with traditional pronunciations have been displaced by ones influenced by the spelling: St. Louis, formerly Template:IPAc-en now (in the US) Template:IPAc-en, Papillion (Nebraska), formerly Template:IPAc-en now Template:IPAc-en. Montpelier, the capital of Vermont, is now pronounced Template:IPAc-en, instead of the French Template:IPA.
  • Sir George Everest's surname is pronounced Template:IPAc-en.<ref>Template:Cite video</ref> The mountain named after him – Mount Everest – is generally pronounced Template:IPAc-en.<ref>Everest, Mount – Definitions from Dictionary.com (Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006)</ref>
  • Interjections such as tsk tsk! or tut tut! (a pair of dental clicks), now commonly Template:IPAc-en and Template:IPAc-en.Template:Citation needed
  • The words Arctic, Antarctic and Antarctica were originally pronounced without the first Template:IPAc-en, but the spelling pronunciation has become very common. The first c was originally added to the spelling for etymological reasons and was then misunderstood as not being silent.<ref>See "The Fight for English" by David Crystal (p. 172, Oxford University Press) and the entry for "antarctic" in the Online Etymology Dictionary.</ref>
  • hotel, originally pronounced Template:IPAc-en because of the pronunciation of the French Template:Lang, is now usually pronounced with an audible h.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Clarify Nevertheless, maître d'hôtel is pronounced Template:IPAc-en.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
  • herb, a word with origins in Old French, is generally pronounced with a silent h in the United States. The same was true of the United Kingdom until the 19th century, when it adopted a spelling pronunciation, with an audible h.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Ralph, originally pronounced Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en in the United Kingdom, is now often pronounced Template:IPAc-en.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • German loanwords such as spiel and stein are sometimes pronounced as beginning with Template:IPAc-en, as if they were native English words, instead of Template:IPAc-en. In German, initial s, immediately before p or t, is pronounced as if it were sch Template:IPAc-en.
  • nephew was, until recent generations, predominantly pronounced Template:IPAc-en in Britain, descended from Middle English nevew and originally loaned from Old French neveu, a spelling which remains unchanged into modern French. But the v was later changed to ph where the p hints at its Latin root nepot, which can be found in more recent Latin loanwords like nepotism. Today, spelling pronunciation has shifted the word's pronunciation predominantly to Template:IPAc-en.

Opinions

Template:Original research Spelling pronunciations give rise to varied opinions. Often, those who retain the old pronunciation consider the spelling pronunciation to be a mark of ignorance or insecurity. Those who use a spelling pronunciation may not be aware that it is one and consider the earlier version to be slovenly since it slurs over a letter. Conversely, the users of some innovative pronunciations such as Template:Not a typo (for February) may regard another, earlier version as a pedantic spelling pronunciation.

Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933) reported that in his day, there was a conscious movement among schoolteachers and others encouraging people to abandon anomalous traditional pronunciations and to speak as is spelled. According to major scholars of early modern English (Dobson, Wyld et al.), in the 17th century, there was already beginning an intellectual trend in England to pronounce as is spelled. That presupposes a standard spelling system, which was only beginning to form at the time. Similarly, quite a large number of corrections slowly spread from scholars to the general public in France, starting several centuries ago.<ref>Peter Rickard, A History of the French Language (1989).</ref>

A different variety of spelling pronunciations are phonetic adaptations, pronunciations of the written form of foreign words within the frame of the phonemic system of the language that accepts them. An example of that process is the final silent consonant in French croissant Template:IPA sometimes being pronounced Template:IPA in English.

Children and foreigners

Template:Unreferenced section Children who read frequently often have spelling pronunciations because, if they do not consult a dictionary, they have only the spelling to indicate the pronunciation of words that are uncommon in the spoken language. Well-read second language learners may also have spelling pronunciations.

In some instances, a population in a formerly non-English-speaking area may retain such second language markers in the now native-English speaking population. For example, Scottish Standard English is replete with second language marks from when Scots started to be subsumed by English in the 17th century.

However, since there are many words that one reads far more often than one hears, adult native-language speakers also succumb. In such circumstances, the spelling pronunciation may well become more comprehensible than the other. That, in turn, leads to the language evolution mentioned above. What is a spelling pronunciation in one generation can become the standard pronunciation in the next.

In other languages

In French, the modern pronunciation of the 16th-century French author Montaigne’s name as Template:IPA, rather than the contemporary Template:IPA, is a spelling pronunciation.

When English club was first borrowed into French, the approved pronunciation was Template:IPA, as being a reasonable approximation of the English. The standard then became Template:IPA on the basis of the spelling, and later, in Europe, Template:IPA, deemed closer to the English original.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The standard pronunciation in Quebec French remains Template:IPA. Similarly, shampooing "shampoo; product for washing the hair" at the time of borrowing was Template:IPA but it is now Template:IPA.

Old Italian had a pair of post-alveolar affricates Template:IPA and Template:IPA (as in Template:IPA and Template:IPA, written pace and privilegio), and one of post-alveolar fricatives Template:IPA and Template:IPA (as in Template:IPA and Template:IPA, written bascio/bacio and presgio/pregio), which could only occur between vowels. During the 13th century, the afore mentioned affricates became allophonically fricatives if singleton and intervocalic (the modern Tuscan pronunciation of pace and privilegio being Template:IPA and Template:IPA), essentially merging Template:IPA - Template:IPA and Template:IPA - Template:IPA into positional allophones and rendering obsolete and useless the -s- spellings. After the Italian Unification, the Tuscan pronunciation of pace and privilegio was deemed too vulgar and dialectal for the standard language, and the original pronunciation was indirectly restored; in the modern Standard Italian accent, they're always realized as Template:IPA and Template:IPA. Since the spelling did not distinguish between the original pairs of post-alveolar affricates and fricatives, bacio and pregio started being unetymologically pronounced Template:IPA and Template:IPA as well.

In present-day Italian, a few early English loanwords are pronounced according to Italian spelling rules such as water ("toilet bowl," from English water (closet)), pronounced Template:IPA, and tramway, pronounced Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Italian word ovest ("west") comes from a spelling pronunciation of French ouest (which, in turn, is a phonetic transcription of English west); that particular instance of spelling pronunciation must have occurred before the 16th century, when the letters u and v were still indistinct.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A few foreign proper names are normally pronounced according to the pronunciation of the original language (or a close approximation of it), but they retain an older spelling pronunciation when they are used as parts of Italian street names. For example, the name of Edward Jenner retains its usual English pronunciation in most contexts, but Viale Edoardo Jenner (a main street in Milan) is pronounced Template:IPA. The use of such old-fashioned spelling pronunciations was probably encouraged by the custom of translating given names when streets were named after foreign people: Edoardo for Edward, or Giorgio for George for Via Giorgio Washington.

In Spanish, the ch in some German words is pronounced Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink, instead of Template:IPAslink. Bach is pronounced Template:IPA, and Kuchen is Template:IPA, but Rorschach is Template:IPA, rather than Template:IPA, Mach is Template:IPA or Template:IPA, and Kirchner is Template:IPA or Template:IPA. Other spelling pronunciations are club pronounced Template:IPA, iceberg pronounced Template:IPA in Spain (in the Americas, it is pronounced Template:IPA),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and folclor and folclore as translations of folklore, pronounced Template:IPA and Template:IPA. Also in Spanish, the acute accent in the French word élite is taken as a Spanish stress mark, and the word is pronounced Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

When Slavic languages like Polish or Czech borrow words from English with their spelling preserved, the pronunciation tends to follow the rules of the receiving language. Words such as marketing are pronounced as spelled, instead of the more phonetically faithful Template:IPA.

In standard Finnish, the sound /d/ developed as a spelling pronunciation for the letter d, though it originally represented a /ð/ sound. Similarly, /ts/ in words like metsä (forest) is a pronunciation spelling of tz used in pre-1770s orthography, which originally represented a long /θ/ sound. The dental fricatives had become rare by the 1700s, when the standard pronunciations started to develop into their current forms, which became official in the 1800s. The /d/ sound, however, is not present in most dialects and is generally replaced by a /r/, /l/ or simply dropped (e.g. lähde "water spring" may be pronounced as lähre, lähle or lähe). Standard ts is often replaced with tt or ht (mettä, mehtä).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In Vietnamese, initial v is often pronounced like a y (Template:IPA) in the central and southern varieties. However, in formal speech, speakers often revert to the spelling pronunciation, which is increasingly being used in casual speech as well.

Chinese has a similar phenomenon called youbian dubian where unfamiliar characters may be read with the pronunciation of similar characters that feature the same phonetic component. For instance, the character Template:Lang is rarely used in Chinese but is often used in Japanese place names (where it is pronounced chō). When read in Mandarin Chinese, it came to be pronounced dīng (such as in Ximending, a district in Taipei that was named during Japanese occupation) in analogy with the character Template:Lang (also pronounced dīng), even though its expected etymological reflex is tǐng.

In Welsh the word Template:Lang is traditionally pronounced with either a Template:IPA or Template:IPA, depending on dialect, in the final syllable – i.e. Template:Angle bracket. The pronunciation Template:IPA is a spelling pronunciation, the spelling was settled on so as not to give preference to any particular dialect. A similar situation occurred with the word Template:Lang which is usually pronounced Template:IPA or Template:IPA but many younger and second-language learners pronounce it as spelt: Template:IPA.

See also

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Citations

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