[Ads-l] Antedating of "Apartheid"

[Laurence Horn]

Ah, so it is—laxly indeed.  As I said, it’s not the only pronunciation, but it’s the one I heard most often, from both lax and tense folks (mostly in the 1970s and '80s, during discussions in the news and universities about the policy).  Still, if I hadn’t missed that, I wouldn’t have been forced to imagine a cigar tide, so it was worth it.

> On Jul 18, 2020, at 9:24 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> As I understand it, that is the lax pronunciation given by Wiktionary. BB
> 
>> On 18 Jul 2020, at 18:16, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>> 
>> The reason I transcribed it earlier as “a-PAR-tide” is that the /t/ is really part of the last syllable, with the aspirated of “tide” that’s lacking (at least for me) in “apart” or “apart hide”. More like the way it is in “start time” or would be in “cigar tide” (when the high tide brings into shore all the cigars that had been thrown overboard off ocean liners). 
>> 
>> LH 
>> 
>>> On Jul 18, 2020, at 9:05 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I don’t hear this word a lot, but I agree that “apart hide” (but with no “h” sound) sounds normal to me.
>>> 
>>> Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apartheid <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apartheid>) gives ə-ˈpär-ˌtāt and ə-ˈpär-ˌtīt.
>>> 
>>> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apartheid <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apartheid>) has an interesting analysis, giving the “apart (h)ide” pronunciation as “lax”:
>>> 
>>> Strict: əˈpɑɹthaɪt
>>> Alternatively: əˈpɑɹtheɪt
>>> Lax: əˈpɑɹ.taɪd
>>> 
>>> The OED offers only one pronunciation, əˈpɑːtheɪt, which runs the risk of making people think there is a θ pronunciation there, even though they do have separate symbols for the voiced and voiceless sounds.
>>> 
>>> Benjamin Barrett (he/him/his)
>>> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>>> 
>>>> On 18 Jul 2020, at 17:13, Baker, John <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Although the “apart hide” pronunciation seems to be more or less standard in American English, there are a number of online sources, many of them seemingly quite knowledgeable, that agree that it should be pronounced “apart hate.”
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> John Baker
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Wilson Gray
>>>> Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2020 5:02 AM
>>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Apartheid"
>>>> 
>>>> External Email - Think Before You Click
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Some time more or less in the same era, LIFE published an article on
>>>> apartheid. The article, among other things, explained that _apartheid_ is
>>>> an Afrikaans word and that its pronunciation is approximately "apart-hate."
>>>> 
>>>> Apparently, nobody else in the English-speaking world read this article.
>>>> I've heard this word pronounced as bizarrely as "appe(r)tite" even by UK
>>>> speakers.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 1:02 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu<mailto:fred.shapiro at yale.edu>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> apartheid (OED 1947 Oct.)
>>>>> 
>>>>> 1947 _Rand Daily Mail_ 23 Jan. 9/3 (Readex) The Opposition had no native
>>>>> policy. He [S. J. Tighy] had asked the Leader of the Opposition for a
>>>>> definition of the word "apartheid." It could not be found in any dictionary.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Fred Shapiro
>>>>> 
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>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> -Wilson
>>>> -----
>>>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>>>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>>> -Mark Twain
>>>> 
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>>> 
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