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Geoyo Posted 13 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Pronunciation of 'dictionary'
The other day I was surfing the Wiktionary site, and wondered about their official pronunciation of their site:
So they don't pronounce it "vik-shuh-ner-ee" but "vik-shuhn-ree", omitting the "e". Digging further, in their pronunciation key of the word "dictionary", they list the "e" as optional. Yet all other dictionaries I found list "... shuh-ner-ee" as the only correct pronunciation. Is it correct to pronounce it without the "e"? And how common is that? Is it a difference between AE and BE? How would you pronounce it?
So they don't pronounce it "vik-shuh-ner-ee" but "vik-shuhn-ree", omitting the "e". Digging further, in their pronunciation key of the word "dictionary", they list the "e" as optional. Yet all other dictionaries I found list "... shuh-ner-ee" as the only correct pronunciation. Is it correct to pronounce it without the "e"? And how common is that? Is it a difference between AE and BE? How would you pronounce it?
Top answer
As an American, I say it with four syllables. It may well be a difference in accents/dialects.
- As an American, I say it with four syllables.
- It may well be a difference in accents/dialects.
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7 Answers
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As an American, I say it with four syllables. It may well be a difference in accents/dialects.
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Would it sound funny to you if someone pronounced it with three syllables? Have you ever heard it?
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It looks like there are far more accents and varieties of English than you think. Everybody sounds funny to me, and I sound funny to them.
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Thank you, but this doesn't quite answer my question 
So how do you pronounce it, and does it sound odd if someone pronounces it
So how do you pronounce it, and does it sound odd if someone pronounces it
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Once an American accepts how our British friends pronounce the element with the symbol Al, nothing sounds funny ever again.
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It doesn't matter how I say it. I will say that the standard American pronunciation has all four syllables. As for the Brits, they pronounce "Cholmondeley" CHUM-li, so what do I know?
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