For words ending in "-ity" is it ~t or ~d

[Tom Zurinskas]

[Note tilde (~) indicates truespel notation]

The sound of ~t versus ~d in "-ity".

I analyzed the top words with "ity" endings in the Collins Cobuild
word popularity database.  I listened to them spoken in m-w.com.
Words below are ranked, most popular at top.

SUMMARY  - as spoken in m-w.com;
Most words ended spoken as ~idee.
Mostly females said ~idee

                truespel
1       city     ~idee
2       university       ~idee
3       community        ~itee
4       security         ~itee
5       quality  ~itee
6       authority        ~idee
7       reality  ~itee
8       ability  ~idee
9       activity         ~idee
10      majority         ~itee
11      responsibility   ~itee
12      opportunity      ~itee
13      possibility      ~idee
14      capacity         ~idee
15      electricity      ~idee
16      personality      ~itee
17      identity         ~idee
18      mobility         ~idee
19      equality         ~itee
20      pity     ~idee

        words   male    female
~t      9       6       3
~d      11      2       9
        20      8       12

One can say that on the whole its ~idee.  Perhaps it's more
prevalent than in this sample, because some speakers may
be going by phonetic spelling and "citation" talk rather than
regular speech.


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

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