0
Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Never vs Fever
I am a native English speaker, and understand that words like "ever" and "never" are pronounced differently from words like "fever" or "Peter."
Can anyone tell me why this is? The words have the same structure and yet are pronounced differently, some with a short e sound and others with a long e.
Can anyone tell me why this is? The words have the same structure and yet are pronounced differently, some with a short e sound and others with a long e.
Top answer
Because English spelling is not phonemic, I guess. Words aren't written the way they sound, and they aren't read the way they're written. So I think spoken English and written English don't necessarily evolve together.
- Because English spelling is not phonemic, I guess.
- Words aren't written the way they sound, and they aren't read the way they're written.
- So I think spoken English and written English don't necessarily evolve together.
- Some extreme examples might be bury (=berry), lieutenant in the UK (=leftenunt, with an f ), the fact that American autistic can be pronounced the same as British artistic , and the fact some Americans pronounce cot and caught exactly the same and others don't.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
3 Answers
0
Because English spelling is not phonemic, I guess. Words aren't written the way they sound, and they aren't read the way they're written. So I think spoken English and written English don't necessarily evolve together.
Some extreme examples might be bury (=berry), lieutenant in the UK (=leftenunt, with an f ), the fact that American autistic can be pronounced the same as
Some extreme examples might be bury (=berry), lieutenant in the UK (=leftenunt, with an f ), the fact that American autistic can be pronounced the same as
00
AnonymousCan anyone tell me why this is?Accidents of history. There are many other cases which are equally shocking (or puzzling, depending how you look at it), if not more so.
evil - devil
gavel - navel
post - cost
dew - sew
crow - cow
mood - hood
rough - cough - though - through - bough
You'd need to study the
00
0
Related Questions