how is the prefix "ex" really spoken (UNCLASSIFIED)

Thu Apr 29 10:47:27 UTC 2010

Verner's Law (something anyone who has taken even one introductory course in Linguistics usually learns about) deals not with vowels but with _consonants_. Although it applied to the change from Proto-Indo-European to Germanic, its effects are visible (or it's reapplying--your choice) in the examples cited.

>From Wikipedia:

"Verner's law, stated by Karl Verner in 1875, describes a historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby voiceless fricatives *f, *þ, *s, *h  (including *hʷ ), when immediately following an unstressed syllable in the same word, underwent voicing and became respectively the fricatives *b, *d, *z, *g (and *gʷ)." (Verner's Law entry, 1st Para.)

Geoffrey S. Nathan
Faculty Liaison, C&IT
and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)
+1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)

----- "Tom Zurinskas" <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

> From: "Tom Zurinskas" <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 4:27:56 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: how is the prefix "ex" really spoken (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: how is the prefix "ex" really spoken (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Looks like we're breaking Verner's Law here in the US.  We're not
> saying ~igzzam for "exam" and ~igzzakt for "exact".  I'm hearing
> ~egzzam and ~egzzakt.
>
> As Jay Leno would say ~egzzaktlee.
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
> see truespel.com phonetic spelling
>
>
>
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Geoff Nathan
> > Subject: Re: how is the prefix "ex" really spoken (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I guess being one of the resident phonologists I'd better jump in
> now with some elementary phonology.
> >
> > The pronunciation of the prefix spelled 'ex-' is determined in part
> by whether it is stressed. If it is stressed it is pronounced with the
> lax mid front vowel (as in 'bet'). So 'excellent, exercise, execute'.
> If unstressed it varies between lax mid (bet) and lax high front (as
> in 'bit') depending on formal/casual, dialect, and many other things.
> Since there is no rule for this there can be no standardized
> transcription. Hence the varying transcriptions for 'excite, excel,
> exactly...'
> > Note, however, that there is a rule about whether the 'x' is
> pronounced /ks/ or /gz/. If the syllable preceding it is stressed it's
> voiceless (ks) but if the following syllable is stressed it is voiced
> (gz). The exceptions are those words spelled with -xc- . Hence
> 'excite, excel' but 'exact, exam'.
> > (Esoteric note for historical linguists--the latter principle is
> actually Verner's Law.)
> >
> > Geoff
> >
> > Geoffrey S. Nathan
> > Faculty Liaison, C&IT
> > and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program
> > +1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)
> > +1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)
> >
> > ----- "Tom Zurinskas" wrote:
> >
> >> From: "Tom Zurinskas"
> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >> Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 7:00:16 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
> Eastern
> >> Subject: Re: how is the prefix "ex" really spoken (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >>
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender: American Dialect Society
> >> Poster: Tom Zurinskas
> >> Subject: Re: how is the prefix "ex" really spoken (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> You can hear 'em at thefreedictionary.com. Click on the flags for
> >> audio. On second listening I hear the first "e" in excess more
> like
> >> an ~e (as in "bet") than an ~a. Certainly it's an ~a (as in "hat")
> >> for "access". Having listened to a bunch of words with "ex"
> prefixes
> >> I thought the "e" in "excess" seemed different trending toward ~a
> >> rather than ~e.
> >>
> >>
> >> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
> >> see truespel.com phonetic spelling
> >>
> >>
> >>>
> >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >>> Sender: American Dialect Society
> >>> Poster: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC"
> >>> Subject: Re: how is the prefix "ex" really spoken (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >>>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>>>
> >>>> ~aks was the pronunciation for both USA and UK for one word,
> >> "excess"
> >>>> ~akses
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> How was "access" pronounced? The same as "excess"?
> >>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> >>> Caveats: NONE
> >>>
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