the pronunciation of "patio"

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Jul 21, 2009, at 8:39 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
> At 7/21/2009 11:31 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>> On Jul 20, 2009, at 7:39 PM, Doug G. Wilson wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> I don't see a pronunciation of "patio" with /S/ or /s/ in English
>>> dictionaries at a glance.
>>>
>>> However, handy on-line French dictionaries (ATILF, Acad. Fran.) show
>>> "patio" pronounced both /patjo/ and /pasjo/, the latter close enough
>>> to
>>> Baum's presumed /paSiow/ I think.
>>>
>>> So maybe this is a Frenchified pronunciation.
>>
>> this is an excellent idea -- and it wouldn't depend on the
>> pronunciation being based on an actual French pronunciation, since
>> English adopts many words from Spanish with "frenchified"
>> pronunciations based on spelling, rather than directly on French
>> pronunciations.
>
> Confusingly, the Spanish pronunciation (or so I hear on the Internet)
> is T, not S.

not confusing at all.  "frenchified" pronunciations of Spanish (and
other foreign) words depend not on actual French pronunciations *or*
on actual Spanish pronunciations, but (at least in part) are based on
the Spanish *spelling*, pronounced *as if it were* French.

arnold

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