diabetes

[Alice Faber]

Unfortunately, for me this is neither a bookish nor a learned term.
As far as I can tell, I *always* have tense /i/ in the final
syllable, and it's preceded by a lax voiceless tappish something or
other. Now that I'm introspecting about it, I can't be 100% sure that
my unstudied pronunciations wouldn't end in /z/ rather than /s/.
However, I don't think I have the lengthening that would normally be
associated with a following voiced consonant.

Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>Picky, picky!  But you're right, of course (and phonetically, we should be
>using APA [D] for the flap).  In fact, the more I say this word to myself,
>the more I realize I alternate between the two prons.  Isn't this common
>with "bookish" or learned terms like 'diabetes'?  I suspect it's not a
>regional matter at all.
>
>At 07:03 AM 12/14/01 -0800, you wrote:
>>It's neither "tis" nor "tes";  it's "dus" or "deez".
>>
--
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Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203) 865-8963