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MUSCOVITE Posted 12 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation

words where "-is-" produce the diphthong "ai"

Hi,

(1) Pisces
(2) isle
(3) island
(4)....

The words listed above seem to have originated from different languages ( Pisces - from Greek?, island - from Old French?)...

How come "-IS-" are pronounced as "ai" in these words?
There should be other words where "-IS-"' are pronounced this unusual way?

mus-te
  

Top answer

MUSCOVITE How come "-IS-" are pronounced as "ai" in these words? As you know, English is notoriously eclectic in its pronunciation. 'Island' is easily explained: S pelling modified 15c.

— Mister Micawber

  • MUSCOVITE How come "-IS-" are pronounced as "ai" in these words?
  • As you know, English is notoriously eclectic in its pronunciation.
  • 'Island' is easily explained: S pelling modified 15c.
  • by association with similar but unrelated 'isle'.
  • The others will require digging in musty old etymologies, but I would guess they have F>OF>L sources.
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5 Answers
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MUSCOVITEHow come "-IS-" are pronounced as "ai" in these words?
As you know, English is notoriously eclectic in its pronunciation. 'Island' is easily explained: Spelling modified 15c. by association with similar but unrelated 'isle'. The others will require digging in musty old etymologies, but I would guess they have F>OF>L sources.

The
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Thank you MM!
Still I believe examples such as debris, apropos, bourgeois, chassis are "less enigmatic" (in terms of pronunciation) than say Pisces because all of them are obviously borrowed from (modern) French .... where the tail 's' is always silent?
I may be wrong of course but ... looks like Arkansas and Illinois too are more French than English?
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MUSCOVITEHow come "-IS-" are pronounced as "ai" in these words?
Our pronunciation of "Pisces" is the result of Anglicizing Latin. This is seen in many other examples from Latin. The "s" has nothing to do with it.

/'piskes/ becomes /'pa?siz/

Go figure.
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It just means that the grapheme < i > represents a historically long i. And this long i has two realizations: (a) diphthong /a?/; (b) close vowel /i/. The other thumb rule is to look whether the world has two syllables or more: if two, open syllable lengthening (leading to a long vowel) ; if three, tri-syllabic laxing (leading to a short vowel).
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raindoctorIt just means that the grapheme < i > represents a historically long i. And this long i has two realizations: (a) diphthong /a?/; (b) close vowel /i/.
Whatever the history, modern i can be pronounced

/?/ as bit, sin
/a?/ as in bite, might
/?:/ as in bird, firm
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