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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
After having lived for 52 years, it is interesting to notice when mispronunciations become acceptable because, according to judgments made by lexicographers, enough of the population is incorrectly pronouncing a word to make the mispronunciation an acceptable part of the language.
One that has changed in acceptability in my lifetime is (at least in American English):
affluent (first pronunciation, AF-floo-ent) has now the additional now acceptable af-FLOO-ent, which still goes against my aural grain.
Another that I predict will change is carbohydrate (first pronunciation, car-bO-HI-drAte) which I know hear
regularly mispronounced as car-bO-HI-drit.
Another that is regularly mispronounced is template (first pronunciation, tem-plit), but mispronounced tem-plAte.
Have any of you observed mispronunciations becoming acceptable in your lifetime? I'd be curious to read here about your observations. (I've read cross-references on this topic in the search section, by the way, but I'm raising this as a separate subject on how the unacceptable in our language have become (or are becoming) acceptable.
Best regards,
WW
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Not sure what is mispronunciation, but.
As a callow yoot, I remember either being pronounced mostly as eether; the eyether pronunciation was, to me, a little high-falutin. Any more the standard pronunciation seems to be eyether; the people who still pronounce it eether seem to be few and far between.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
maintenance (MAIN-tenance) into (main-TAIN-ance)
Yuk.
As for nuclear ---well!--- let's not go there again.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
How about bird for brid? Oh, wait a minute; that was a long time ago so it's probly OK by now.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
I find that where I am familiar with two pronunciations, neither of which have been deemed incorrect, I tend to switch randomly among them. The two eithers and neithers, and offen vs. often, all come to mind.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
and while i have no problems saying Duration (dur a tion) during is always juring... alway a j, never a d at the start of that word! and i am not alone-- is there anyone out there who still has a d sound out in front?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
is there anyone out there who still has a d sound out in front?
I also waffle on any of those "u" words where the Brits add an extra y sound...Tuesday, duty, during, news...Since I've moved to Newfoundland (much closer ties with Britain than mainland Canada), I've picked up saying T-yoosday instead of the American Toosday. Helen's post reminded me that "during" is another one of those. If I add the y, it makes the d into a j (jyuring) but without the y it's still a d (during).
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
But when you listen to the news and television (if ever), don't you hear words that just make you want to blow up because you hear words changing that you've got some affection for?
Candidate. Not that I like politics. I don't. It's my civic duty and nothing more.
But I've heard so many dadburned reporters pronouncing candidAte, candidit that I could just cry.
I know that the word is doomed. We'll eventually lose that perfectly lovely long A, and will be stuck with the more convenient "it" sound.
I also like brid. It's closer to some of the sounds brids make--especially if you roll your tongue a little on the "r"--quite onomatophoeic.
WW
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
during is always juring... is there anyone out there who still has a d sound out in front?
The change of tyu, dyu to chu, ju in British English has gone through three stages. At the beginning of the 20th century good speakers only used it in words like 'picture' (pikcha): the pronunciation piktya or piktyua would have been old-fashioned even then.
The old RP accent had tyu, dyu in all other cases.
The next change was for them to become chu, ju in unstressed syllables, as in fortune and residue. This is how I speak when careful.
The latest change is the same in stressed syllables: tune and dune are now choon and joon. This is, I think, still regarded as a bit sub-standard, and I'd only use them casually (and might tend to resay if I noticed).
However, 'during' being such a common word, it is probably in advance of the change, and I find I always say juring. Only if I was being exceptionally careful would I say dyuring.
Once I caught myself hypercorrecting jury to dyury.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Helen, I pronounce it "doo-ring" and I'd have thought most of USn's do. Now I'm perplexed.... Antipodeans, do y'all palatalize the d in during (and the T in Tuesday for that matter)? Nice thread, Wordwind. Right up my proverbial alley!  As Faldage pointed out, 'brid' became 'bird' before any of us were born and I guess we just have to accept changes, as grating as they may be. Having said that, though, I'm with wow: "nucular" sends me screaming down the street.
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