Was "Dip-thong" but now I'm hijacking it!

Derrick Chapman derrickchapman at MINDSPRING.COM
Fri May 19 16:54:09 UTC 2000


"The (pronunciation) syllable division is before the -th-, but the etymology
has di- + phthong 'sound'.  IRudy"

You know, ever since I had trouble dividing words into syllables in the
first grade, I've been aware of the fact that the dictionary is very often
wrong.  Maybe the whole premise of syllable division of words is flawed.

The teachers gave me a rule:  divide words between double consonants.  Fine,
how about "little:"  Do you say LIT-TUHL, LI-TUHL or LIT-UHL?  The truth is
there's a great deal of variation, depending on dialect and situation.



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