words starting with "ex"

Mon Jul 23 18:07:34 UTC 2007

Zurinskas (in particular)
  Would that it were true that people look up words in the dictionary to find out how they are pronounced by most of the cultured speakers!
  I think you'll find that most dictionaries show IPA [I] for the initial sound in ex- words; but it is not a schwa.
  L. Urdang

Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Tom Zurinskas
Subject: Re: words starting with "ex"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks Urdang,

Actually m-w.com foespelz (phonetically spells) many of the words that start
with "ex" with a short i. In every case the speaker dutifully says the word
with a short i. This is apparently scripted. But in the case of schwa, the
speakers have leeway, and it's been a bit of a challenge to determine the
many sounds of schwa that they say.

I personally do not think the majority of Americans say "short i" instead of
"short e" for words that start with "ex". Americans don't say "stock
ixchange". My other position is proactive on this, which is to maintain
that we should keep letter/sound relationships whenever we can for ease of
teaching reading and spelling. That's the way it was always meant to be,
the alphabetic principle.

The best English accent has the least exceptions (not ixceptions) to the
phonetic patters of the written word.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at
authorhouse.com.

>From: Laurence Urdang
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: words starting with "ex"
>Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:30:43 -0700
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Laurence Urdang
>Subject: Re: words starting with "ex"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Your comment about the pronunciation of ex- words is more a matter of
>phonetic transcription by M-W editors than a strict matter of
>pronunciation. I call your attention to something that always confused me
>in my youth (spent with M-W Second Unabridged, in which the final -y in
>words like city were transcribed as "short i," in other words, a sound
>identical to that in the cit- part. I could not understand which Americans
>were saying (British-sounding) "siti" instead of "sitee," which is what I
>was hearing. The same practices apply to the initial ex-often transcribed
>as "igz-" rather than "eks."
> It was not till I did the pronunciations for the Funk & Wagnalls
>International Edition (1956) and the Random House Unabridged (1966) that
>these sounds came to be transcribed as better described by the (IPA) [i]
>sound, as in peek. The problem arose because of the convention of choosing
>between the transcription of the unstressed "short -i" sound and the
>allophonic "ee" sound, which most dictionaries use today.
> L. Urdang
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Scot LaFaive
>Subject: Re: words starting with "ex"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >Do you think this is correct for American dialect?
>
>Which American dialect?
>
>Scot
>
>
> >From: Tom Zurinskas
> >Reply-To: American Dialect Society
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Subject: words starting with "ex"
> >Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 03:36:18 +0000
> >
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender: American Dialect Society
> >Poster: Tom Zurinskas
> >Subject: words starting with "ex"
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Words starting with "ex"
> >
> >There are 64 words in the top 5,000 words of English that start with "ex"
> >according to the word-count analysis of English media text by Collins
> >Cobuild.
> >They are listed below. Of interest is how the first sound of "ex" is
> >pronounced
> >by the speakers in m-w.com. They may say it with "short e" or "short i."
> >They are faithful to the phonetic spelling that m-w.com provides.
> >Without peeking at m-w.com, take the test. Which words take which
> >pronunciations for "ex." Do you think this is correct for American
> >dialect?
> >
> >The words are listed in order of popularity
> >1 example
> >2 experience
> >3 except
> >4 exactly
> >5 expected
> >6 expect
> >7 exercise
> >8 extent
> >9 explain
> >10 explained
> >11 extra
> >12 expression
> >13 extremely
> >14 existence
> >15 expensive
> >16 exist
> >17 extreme
> >18 expressed
> >19 excellent
> >20 exchange
> >21 existing
> >22 examination
> >23 express
> >24 extraordinary
> >25 experienced
> >26 explanation
> >27 examples
> >28 excitement
> >29 executive
> >30 extended
> >31 excuse
> >32 exciting
> >33 expert
> >34 existed
> >35 exposed
> >36 examined
> >37 excited
> >38 exact
> >39 expansion
> >40 experiences
> >41 exists
> >42 exercises
> >43 experts
> >44 experiment
> >45 examine
> >46 external
> >47 experiments
> >48 expenditure
> >49 exhausted
> >50 exception
> >51 expense
> >52 expecting
> >53 extension
> >54 extend
> >55 explaining
> >56 explosion
> >57 exploitation
> >58 examinations
> >59 extensive
> >60 expectations
> >61 exhibition
> >62 excess
> >63 exposure
> >64 explains
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >According to m-w.com over eighty percent of the words start with "short
>i".
> >In the count of word instances in text, it's eighty six percent. I
> >personally believe that this is more UK than USA accent.
> >
> >Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> >See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at
> >authorhouse.com.
> >
> >_________________________________________________________________
> >Local listings, incredible imagery, and driving directions - all in one
> >place! http://maps.live.com/?wip=69&FORM=MGAC01
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=hmtextlinkjuly07
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

_________________________________________________________________
http://newlivehotmail.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Laurence Urdang
4 Laurel Drive
Old Lyme, Connecticut 06371
U.S.A.
(860) 434-2104

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org