American pronunciation of ''semi''

[Grant Barrett]

On Tuesday, January 11, 2000, Lars Anders Kulbrandstad <lars.kulbrandstad at LUH.HIHM.NO
> wrote:

>Are there any speakers of American English who could help sort out an
>argument* on the pronunciation of "semi"?
>In British English it rhymes with "Demi" - the actress. Does this
>pronunciation occur in AmE?

Man, I think that dime will go unclaimed.

I pronounce "semi" two ways: SEM-ee and SEM-igh. I dunno why, though it seems like I
use the latter in exaggeration and always as an abbreviation for a semi-tractor
trailer.

Regarding Demi Moore, there are at least two pronunciations of her name: DE-mee
(maybe DEM-ee) and d at -MEE (maybe de-MEE).

--
Grant Barrett
gbarrett at americandialect.org