LL-L "Phonology" 2008.06.07 (01) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 07 June 2008 - Volume 01
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From: Fred van Brederode <f.vanbrederode at home.nl>
Subject: "Idiomatica" ?

The past two weeks we had relations from the US in our home. Discussing the
trips to be made, one of the subjects was the distance of such trips. On
this side of the ocean cars measure distance in kilometers. Nothing special
so far. It is the pronunciation of the word kilometer that fascinated me, as
it had many times before. The visit from the US brought it back to my
attention.

Our US visitors pronounce the word kilometer stressing the o: kil*o*meter.
Nothing special, this is what almost everyone does. However, what everyone
does is not necessarily the right thing.

The pronunciation of kilometer as kil*o*meter is completely analogous with
the pronunciation of words like barometer and thermometer. The analogy may
be the very reason for it. Most words ending on …*o*meter however are
instruments of measurement. For that reason one might rather think that a
kil*o*meter is an instrument for measuring kilo's, than a measure of
distance.
When indicating the distance of a thousand meters, a more proper
pronunciation would probably be: *ki*lometer, stressing the first syllable.
We do the same thing with *ki*lobytes when a thousand bytes are meant. Why
change it when it comes to meters?

*Ki*lometer may be more proper, but even if it is, it still seems odd to be
the only one pronouncing the word properly.

The bottom line is I brought myself into the situation of finding both ways
of pronunciation odd. I either do it completely wrong, or I seem to
show off knowing
it all better. Avoiding to speak in terms of kilometers is no option in this
country……

 Is there any verdict given before on this matter. Is there such a thing as
a right pronunciation?. Has anyone dealt with the "problem" before? What was
your solution?

Groetjes,

Fred van Brederode
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