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Mispronunciation
In linguistics, mispronunciation is the act of pronouncing a word incorrectly. Languages are pronounced in different ways by different people, depending on factors like the area they grew up in, their level of education, and their social class. Even within groups of the same area and class, people can pronounce words differently. A standard of pronunciation is the most common way to pronounce a word. Standards vary among groups. Dictionaries include pronunciations. Languages constantly change, split up, and diverge. Diversity within languages as a natural consequence of language evolution is now acknowledged. This diversity is studied. Pronunciation in dictionaries Early dictionaries, such as that by Samuel Johnson in England and later Noah Webster in the United States played a large role in making spelling more uniform. When dictionaries began to add pronunciation guides, they played a similar role there. At first, American dictionaries (at least) tended to avoid listing pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nucular
''Nucular'' is a common, proscribed pronunciation of the word "nuclear". It is a rough phonetic spelling of . The ''Oxford English Dictionary''s entry dates the word's first published appearance to 1943. Dictionary notes This is one of two contentious pronunciations that receive particular mention in the FAQ of the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'': Though disapproved of by many, pronunciations ending in \-kyə-lər\ have been found in widespread use among educated speakers, including scientists, lawyers, professors, congressmen, United States cabinet members, and at least two United States presidents and one vice president. While most common in the United States, these pronunciations have also been heard from British and Canadian speakers. The ''American Heritage Dictionary'' notes: The pronunciation (noo'kyə-lər), which is generally considered incorrect, is an example of how a familiar phonological pattern can influence an unfamiliar one ... incemuch more common is the simil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vowel
A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in Vowel length, quantity (length). They are usually voice (phonetics), voiced and are closely involved in Prosody (linguistics), prosodic variation such as tone (linguistics), tone, intonation (linguistics), intonation and Stress (linguistics), stress. The word ''vowel'' comes from the Latin word , meaning "vocal" (i.e. relating to the voice). In English, the word ''vowel'' is commonly used to refer both to vowel sounds and to the written symbols that represent them (, , , , , and sometimes and ). Definition There are two complementary definitions of vowel, one Phonetics, phonetic and the other Phonology, phonological. *In the phonetic definition, a vowel is a sound, such as the English language, English "ah" or "oh" , produ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spoonerism
A spoonerism is an occurrence of speech in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words of a phrase. These are named after the Oxford don and priest William Archibald Spooner, who reportedly commonly spoke in this way. Examples include saying "blushing crow" instead of "crushing blow", or "runny babbit" instead of "bunny rabbit". While spoonerisms are commonly heard as slips of the tongue, they can also be used intentionally as a word play. The first known spoonerisms were published by the 16th-century author François Rabelais and termed . In his novel '' Pantagruel'', he wrote ("insane woman at Mass, woman with flabby buttocks"). Etymology Spoonerisms are named for the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden from 1903 to 1924 of New College, Oxford, who was allegedly susceptible to this mistake. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' records the word ''spoonerism'' as early as 1900. The term was well-es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shibboleth
A shibboleth ( ; ) is any custom or tradition—usually a choice of phrasing or single word—that distinguishes one group of people from another. Historically, shibboleths have been used as passwords, ways of self-identification, signals of loyalty and affinity, ways of maintaining traditional segregation, or protection from threats. It has also come to mean a moral formula held tenaciously and unreflectingly, or a taboo. Origin The term originates from the Hebrew word (), which means the part of a plant containing grain, such as the ear of a stalk of wheat or rye; or less commonly (but arguably more appropriately) 'flood, torrent'. Biblical account The modern use derives from an account in the Hebrew Bible, in which pronunciation of this word was used to distinguish Ephraimites, whose dialect used a different first consonant. The difference concerns the Hebrew letter '' shin'', which is now pronounced as (as in ''shoe''). In the Book of Judges chapter 12, after the inhab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthoepy
Orthoepy is the study of pronunciation of a particular language, within a specific oral tradition. The term is from the Greek , from () and (). The antonym is '' cacoepy'' "bad or wrong pronunciation". The pronunciation of the word ''orthoepy'' itself varies widely; the OED recognizes the variants , , , and for British English, as well as for American English. The pronunciation is sometimes clarified with a diaeresis: ''orthoëpy'', such as in the title of Edward Barrett Warman's ''Warman's Practical Orthoëpy and Critique'', published in 1888 and found in Google Books. Warman states on page 5: "Words possess three special characteristics: They have their Eye-life—Orthography. Ear-life—Orthoëpy. Soul-life—Significance." As with Warman's book, the purpose of this article is "to deal exclusively with the ear-life, or orthoëpy". Overview In English grammar, orthoepy is the study of correct pronunciation prescribed for Standard English. This originally was understoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metathesis (linguistics)
Metathesis ( ; from Greek , from "to put in a different order"; Latin: ''transpositio'') is the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word or of words in a sentence. Most commonly, it refers to the interchange of two or more contiguous segments or syllables, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis: * ''anemone'' > ''**anenome'' (onset consonants of adjacent syllables) * ''cavalry'' > ''**calvary'' (codas of adjacent syllables) Metathesis may also involve interchanging non-contiguous sounds, known as nonadjacent metathesis, long-distance metathesis, or hyperthesis, as shown in these examples of metathesis sound change from Latin to Spanish: * Latin > Spanish "word" * Latin > Spanish "miracle" * Latin > Spanish "danger, peril" * Latin > Spanish "crocodile" Many languages have words that show this phenomenon, and some even use it as a regular part of their grammar, such as Hebrew and Fur. The process of metathesis has altered the shape of many familiar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paragoge
Paragoge () is the addition of a sound to the end of a word. It is a type of epenthesis. Paragoge is most often linked with the nativization of loanwords. It is particularly common in Brazilian Portuguese, not only in loanwords but also in word derivation. It is also present in the accents of many Brazilians while speaking foreign languages such as English. Some languages have undergone paragoge as a sound change, and modern forms are longer than the historical forms they are derived from. Italian ''sono'' 'I am', from Latin ''sum'', is an example. Sometimes, as above, the paragogic vowel is an echo vowel, such as Proto-Oceanic ''*saqat'' "bad" > Uneapa ''zaɣata''. Etymology The word ''paragoge'' is taken from 'deviation; language alteration': from παρα- prefix ''para-'' 'beside' and ἀγωγή ''agogē'' 'bringing in'. In loanwords Some languages add a sound to the end of a loanword when it would otherwise end in a forbidden sound. Some languages add a grammatical en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prothesis (linguistics)
In linguistics, prothesis (; from post-classical Latin based on ' 'placing before'), or less commonly prosthesis (from Ancient Greek ' 'addition'), is the addition of a sound or syllable at the beginning of a word without changing the word's meaning or the rest of its morphology (linguistics), structure. A vowel or consonant added by prothesis is called prothetic or less commonly prosthetic. Prothesis is different from the adding of a prefix, which changes the meaning of a word. Prothesis is a metaplasm, a change in spelling or pronunciation. The opposite process, the loss of a sound from the beginning of a word, is called apheresis (linguistics), apheresis or aphesis. Word formation Prothesis may occur during word formation from loanword, borrowing from foreign languages or the derivation from protolanguages. Romance languages An example is that + stop consonant, stop consonant cluster, clusters (known as '), in Latin, gained a preceding in early Romance languages (Old Span ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epenthesis
In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the first syllable ('' prothesis''), the last syllable ('' paragoge''), or between two syllabic sounds in a word. The opposite process in which one or more sounds are removed is referred to as syncope or elision. Etymology The word ''epenthesis'' comes from and ''en-'' and ''thesis'' . Epenthesis may be divided into two types: excrescence for the addition of a consonant, and for the addition of a vowel, svarabhakti (in Sanskrit) or alternatively anaptyxis (). Uses Epenthesis arises for a variety of reasons. The phonotactics of a given language may discourage vowels in hiatus or consonant clusters, and a consonant or vowel may be added to help pronunciation. Epenthesis may be represented in writing, or it may be a feature only of the spoken language. Separating vowels A consonant may be added to separate vowels in hiatus, as is the case with linking and intrusive R in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is a strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. In English, aspirated consonants are allophones in complementary distribution with their unaspirated counterparts, but in some other languages, notably most South Asian languages and East Asian languages, the difference is contrastive. Transcription In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), aspirated consonants are written using the symbols for voiceless consonants followed by the aspiration modifier letter , a superscript form of the symbol for the voiceless glottal fricative . For instance, represents the voiceless bilabial stop, and represents the aspirated bilabial stop. Voiced consonants are seldom actually aspirated. Symbols for voiced consonants followed by , such as , typically represent consonants with murmured voiced release (see below). In the grammatical tradition of Sanskrit, aspirated co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aphesis
In phonetics and phonology, apheresis (; ) is a sound change in which a word-initial vowel is lost, e.g., ''American'' > '' 'Merican''. In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any initial sound (including consonants) from a word or, in a less technical sense, to the loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word. The more specific term aphesis (and its adjective ''aphetic'') is sometimes used to refer to the loss of unstressed vowels. Etymology The term ''apheresis'', attested since at least 1550 in English, comes from Latin ''aphaeresis'', from Greek ἀφαίρεσις ''aphairesis'', "taking away" from ἀφαιρέω ''aphaireo'' from ἀπό ''apo'', "away" and αἱρέω ''haireo'', "to take". The hyponyms ''aphesis'' () and ''aphetic'', coined in 1880 by James Murray, are inspired by Greek ἄφεσις ''aphesis'', "letting go" from ἀφίημι ''aphiemi'' from ἀπό ''apo'', "away" and ἵημι ''híemi'', "send forth". Historical sound change I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
