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

[Tom Zurinskas]

Expanded ~t versus ~d in words ending in "-ity".

The sample below is from the top 5,000 words of English text as used in
general media.  The counts of instances are compiled by Collins Cobuild.
The top 5k words have a total instance count of 15.4 million instances.
Expanding the sample to all 37 words that end in "ity" out of the top
5,000 words in English showed that the "idee" is the majority pronuncation.
Every additional word has less than 9% the weight of the most used words.
Note: these words were phonetically spelled ~t instead of ~d by m-w.com.
I assume some speakers were influenced by this, thus ~d could increase.

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


        word    instances       truespel        speaker sex
1       city    3734    ~idee   female
2       university      3401    ~idee   male
3       community       2184    ~itee   male
4       security        1968    ~itee   male
5       quality 1859    ~itee   female
6       authority       1672    ~idee   female
7       reality 1410    ~itee   female
8       ability 1367    ~idee   female
9       activity        1332    ~idee   female
10      majority        1308    ~itee   female
11      responsibility  1302    ~itee   male
12      opportunity     1212    ~itee   male
13      possibility     1100    ~idee   female
14      capacity        899     ~idee   female
15      electricity     746     ~idee   male
16      personality     668     ~itee   male
17      identity        641     ~idee   female
18      mobility        608     ~idee   female
19      equality        537     ~itee   male
20      pity    530     ~idee   female
21      minority        500     ~idee   female
22      dignity 442     ~itee   male
23      necessity       422     ~idee   female
24      intensity       410     ~idee   male
25      curiosity       396     ~idee   male
26      publicity       385     ~itee   male
27      solidarity      375     ~itee   male
28      unity   372     ~idee   male
29      sexuality       361     ~itee   male
30      quantity        341     ~itee   female
31      productivity    331     ~idee   female
32      gravity 330     ~idee   male
33      humanity        329     ~idee   female
34      priority        323     ~itee   female
35      hostility       279     ~idee   female
36      stability       278     ~idee   female
37      morality        278     ~idee   female

SUMMARY  - as spoken in m-w.com;
Most words ending in "ity" are spoken as ~idee.
This sample is large and sufficient.
Dictionaries should recognize this fact.


        instances       %       words   %
~idee   19,955  58%     22      59%
~itee   14,675  42%     15      41%
        34,630  100%    37      100%

        male    female
~idee   6       16
~itee   10      5
        16      21


Note: I hear a true ~d and not a "Spanish r flap kind of d".
The Spanish r-flap has a different symbol in truespel, ~q.
It's the most frequent sound outside the English foenubet.
(see truespel book 1)

The truespel database is available for those interested in
doing similar evaluations using quality controlled truespel.




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





>From: Michael H Covarrubias <mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: For words ending in "-ity" is it  ~t or ~d
>Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:41:56 -0400
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Michael H Covarrubias <mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: For words ending in "-ity" is it  ~t or ~d
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Quoting Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>:
>
> > Further, whether people use the tongue
> > flap or "t" is variable depending on
> > social and linguistic factors.
>
>Right. and with such small numbers as these...
>
> > >
> > >        words   male    female
> > > ~t      9       6       3
> > > ~d      11      2       9
> > >         20      8       12
> > >
>
>I can't imagine any meaningful conclusion is likely.
>
>
> > I don't believe AmE speakers use a
> > "d" sound in any of these words. They
> > use a tongue flap, represented by an
> > upside down "r" in IPA.
>
>It's the rounded 'r' for the tap/flap isn't it? The upside down 'r' being
>the
>alveolar approximant.
>
>michael
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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