4 ms·

https://voca.ro/17YDT0eVw4Jh https://voca.ro/17YDT0eVw4Jh

by dorianmariefr 5y ago

jstanley 5y ago
Isn't that correct?
- yorwba 5y ago
  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indict https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indict
- jeroenhd 5y ago
  The correct (or at least, American English) pronunciation is "indite" (see https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/indict https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/indict for an audio file). The -c- is completely silent. In true confusing English fashion, "indite" still exists, with a different meaning from "indict".
- denton-scratch 5y ago
  "Correct" is an under-specified term when discussing english pronunciation. "Received Pronunciation" (roughly, BBC English) is full of all kinds of historical mispronunciations that have become standard, often as a result of the upper classes adopting some working-class tic as a fashion. Dropping the aitch from "historical" would be an example; it was a cockney habit, adopted by posh people. It's mostly faded among folk that talk proper nowadays (at least in England; aitch-dropping seems to have survived among some groups in the US). But a lot of what's considered standard pronunciation derives from horrible mispronunciations by posh people. [Edit] "An hotel" (with the aitch sounded) is simply incorrect; You only use "an" if you're going to drop the aitch. My mother once heard the following sound, brayed loudly in the quad at St. John's College, Oxford: "Eh-oh, heeliaw meekyeh!" (Oh, hello Mickey). That strangled accent was common among the huntin/shootin/fishin crowd. There was a fellow from the BBC Pronunciation Unit on the radio a couple of weeks ago, explaining (in a jokey way, as if to say it's a fuss about nothing) that "omicron" can be pronounced several ways, and that the unit had chosen OM-ee-cron. I did a term of classical greek at school; the first thing we learned was the alphabet, and we were taught to pronounce it oh-MY-cron. Classicist Mary Beard says it's oh-ME-cron, but I suspect she's inferring the way it might have been pronounced in Ancient Greece. Boris Johnson is a classicist; I'm sure he was taught to pronounce it the same way I was. But he's using the BBC version, at least in public. Anyhow, my confidence in the BBC Pronunciation Unit has gone down several notches this winter.
  - ogogmad 5y ago
    > Dropping the aitch from "historical" would be an example; it was a cockney habit, adopted by posh people I'll need to check this. If the word came from Old French or any post-Latin Romance language, then the "h" would almost certainly be silent. The "h"s in Vulgar Latin were all silent except among educated speakers. Pronouncing the "h" in "historical" or "hotel" is almost certainly originally a spelling pronunciation. It may have started out as a hypercorrection, just like pronouncing the "h" in "vehicle" when it should really be "vee-icle".
    - denton-scratch 5y ago
      Most latin-ish words in english came from Anglo-Norman; but some came earlier, from Old French. But it seems that phases of aitch-dropping have occurred repeatedly. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/02/h-dropping.html https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/02/h-dropping.html That's an interesting article, and apparently the hhistory of dropped aitches is much more complicated than I suggested. But I don't entirely agree with it. It says it's correct to use the indefinite article before a noun starting with an aspirated aitch; I don't know anybody that talks like that, and it sounds awfully pompous.

https://voca.ro/17YDT0eVw4Jh https://voca.ro/17YDT0eVw4Jh

jstanley 5y ago

Isn't that correct?

yorwba 5y ago
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indict https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indict
jeroenhd 5y ago
The correct (or at least, American English) pronunciation is "indite" (see https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/indict https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/indict for an audio file). The -c- is completely silent. In true confusing English fashion, "indite" still exists, with a different meaning from "indict".
denton-scratch 5y ago
"Correct" is an under-specified term when discussing english pronunciation. "Received Pronunciation" (roughly, BBC English) is full of all kinds of historical mispronunciations that have become standard, often as a result of the upper classes adopting some working-class tic as a fashion. Dropping the aitch from "historical" would be an example; it was a cockney habit, adopted by posh people. It's mostly faded among folk that talk proper nowadays (at least in England; aitch-dropping seems to have survived among some groups in the US). But a lot of what's considered standard pronunciation derives from horrible mispronunciations by posh people. [Edit] "An hotel" (with the aitch sounded) is simply incorrect; You only use "an" if you're going to drop the aitch. My mother once heard the following sound, brayed loudly in the quad at St. John's College, Oxford: "Eh-oh, heeliaw meekyeh!" (Oh, hello Mickey). That strangled accent was common among the huntin/shootin/fishin crowd. There was a fellow from the BBC Pronunciation Unit on the radio a couple of weeks ago, explaining (in a jokey way, as if to say it's a fuss about nothing) that "omicron" can be pronounced several ways, and that the unit had chosen OM-ee-cron. I did a term of classical greek at school; the first thing we learned was the alphabet, and we were taught to pronounce it oh-MY-cron. Classicist Mary Beard says it's oh-ME-cron, but I suspect she's inferring the way it might have been pronounced in Ancient Greece. Boris Johnson is a classicist; I'm sure he was taught to pronounce it the same way I was. But he's using the BBC version, at least in public. Anyhow, my confidence in the BBC Pronunciation Unit has gone down several notches this winter.
- ogogmad 5y ago
  > Dropping the aitch from "historical" would be an example; it was a cockney habit, adopted by posh people I'll need to check this. If the word came from Old French or any post-Latin Romance language, then the "h" would almost certainly be silent. The "h"s in Vulgar Latin were all silent except among educated speakers. Pronouncing the "h" in "historical" or "hotel" is almost certainly originally a spelling pronunciation. It may have started out as a hypercorrection, just like pronouncing the "h" in "vehicle" when it should really be "vee-icle".
  - denton-scratch 5y ago
    Most latin-ish words in english came from Anglo-Norman; but some came earlier, from Old French. But it seems that phases of aitch-dropping have occurred repeatedly. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/02/h-dropping.html https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/02/h-dropping.html That's an interesting article, and apparently the hhistory of dropped aitches is much more complicated than I suggested. But I don't entirely agree with it. It says it's correct to use the indefinite article before a noun starting with an aspirated aitch; I don't know anybody that talks like that, and it sounds awfully pompous.