....the lion

[Mark A Mandel]

On Mon, 30 Dec 2002, Anne Gilbert wrote:

#> I just heard on NPR Androcles pronounced as an'drah kuh leez.  I
#> haven't consulted very many sources yet.  But, WM, AHD4, ACD, NCCN, and
#> RH do not show a variant to what I have always said... 'an druh kleez.
#> Where did the intrusive syllable come from...a typo?
#
#INteresting.

I "see" that comment with one eyebrow raised :-)   "..., captain."

          \ ,
        ^ o o ^

#  It sounds as if the speaker "saw" an extra syllable and pronounced
#it that way.  At least that's the way I "read" the situation.

Or "saw" the word with stress on the "oc" and then inserted a schwa by
their own (dialectal?) rule, bringing it away from (a non-epenthetic
pronunciation of) "Shockley" and towards "apocalypse" and "broccoli".

-- Mark A. Mandel