Schedule (sk-/sh-?)

[Michael Quinion]

>  In his Pronouncing Dictionary of 1990, J.C. Wells says under
> "schedule": "The AmE pronunciation with -sk is starting to be
> heard in BrE." It would be interesting to see what the second
> edition has to say about this change in progress, as further
> polls were conducted to determine which pronunciations are the
> ones currently preferred among Britons.

The new edition contains a graph showing a clear gradation
according to age, with sh- being used by more than 90% of older
speakers (age not specified), but sk- by 65% of those born since
1973. Overall, 70% preferred sh-. If the slope of the graph is
to be believed, the shift to sk- is accelerating.


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
<editor at worldwidewords.org>
<http://www.worldwidewords.org/>