quest for info/suggestions. re: dialects

[Donald M. Lance]

>From: James Smith:
>> 'c' should be silent in 'arctic'?  I hear both
>> variants all the time but
>> always thought the 'c' "should" be there (it is for
>> me)!  What is the
>> source of the absent 'c'?
>
>I usually pronounce the "c", but at times I drop it,
>especially in "Arctic Circle", which is not just a
>geographic designation but the name of a local
>fast-food chain.  It seems I hear others routinely
>pronounce the word with the "c" silent or weak, and
>when the "c" is pronounced, it is often stressed,
>almost a separate syllable.  Out of curiosity I
>referred to my 22-yr-old Webster's, which shows both
>pronunciations but with the pronounced "c" apparently
>preferred.

I recall that when I was in high school (1940s) we were taught
(emphatically) that the "correct" way to say 'Arctic' and 'Antarctic' was
without the first c.  Silent, like the -t- in 'often' and 'listen'.  Phonics
has replaced prior usage as a guide, especially as English teachers turned
more and more to literature to the exclusion of language study.  I don't
mean, of course, that phonics and fussy usage are instances of high-order
language study.  I taught high school English for 7 years.  Been there, done
that.

DMLance