Silent and invisible letters in English: Difference between revisions
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'''B''': '''thúm'''b''' dúm'''b''' núm'''b''' clîm'''b''' lím'''b''' dé'''b'''t dòu'''b'''t sú'''b'''tle | '''B''': '''thúm'''b''' dúm'''b''' núm'''b''' clîm'''b''' lím'''b''' dé'''b'''t dòu'''b'''t sú'''b'''tle | ||
'''C''': '''indî'''c'''t Tû'''c'''són Conné'''c'''ticut blan'''c'''mànge''' (*bləmónzh); after '''s''' before a front vowel: '''s'''c'''êne s'''c'''îence effervés'''c'''e | '''C''': '''indî'''c'''t Tû'''c'''són Conné'''c'''ticut blan'''c'''mànge''' (*bləmónzh); after '''s''' before a front vowel: '''s'''c'''êne s'''c'''îence effervés'''c'''e | ||
'''CH''': '''yà'''ch'''t''' (*yót) | |||
'''D''' before a soft '''g''': '''dó'''d'''g'''e '''é'''d'''gy ló'''d'''ging bá'''d'''ger brí'''d'''g'''e''' wé'''d'''g'''e; for most speakers in '''Wé'''d'''n'''e'''sday'''; and before a French '''j''' in D'''jiboûti Abi'''d'''jàn | |||
Revision as of 15:33, 12 July 2009
Silent letters constitute a notorious phenomenon in English: in wréstle, for example, only four out of the seven letters are actually sounded (*résl), and there can be strings of them in place names, exemplified by the trio Léicester, Glóucester and Worcester, pronounced *Léster, *Glóster and *Wùster. (The accents show stress and pronunciation, see English phonemes.)
Silent letters can be misleading, as in Thaîland and îsland, which rhyme, or they can be easily to ignore, as in wróng, yeôman, and lôw. They can serve to distinguish between words that sound the same:
knôw knowledge = nô negative
knót tie = nót negative
wráp parcel = ráp knock, talk
wrîte read = rîght correct = rîte ritual
chéck verify = BrE chéque money
Typical silent letters are b finally after m or before final t (-mb -bt); g or k initially before n (gn-, kn-); gh finally or before final t ( -gh -ght); l after à and before final f or m (-lf -lm); n finally after m (-mn).
List of examples
Silent A is found in: hëard lëarn Múrray = Mòray nébulaê; BrE words ending in -ary: sécondary díctionary; and all examples from Latin of aê: nébulaê (in the latter case, the American spelling omits the 'a')
B: thúmb dúmb númb clîmb límb débt dòubt súbtle
C: indîct Tûcsón Connécticut blancmànge (*bləmónzh); after s before a front vowel: scêne scîence effervésce
CH: yàcht (*yót)
D before a soft g: dódge édgy lódging bádger brídge wédge; for most speakers in Wédnesday; and before a French j in Djiboûti Abidjàn