On Wed 2 March 2005 23:10, John Hasler wrote: > > And what "default" rule is that? > > That a vowel followed by a single consonant followed by a vowel is > "long". Examples: Come again? That "rule" doesn't apply to many of your examples! > > default That's "d'fault" or "duh'fault" not "dee-fault' > rule "rool" not "ryool" (the "long" form of 'u' is the same as its name, like all the other vowels and not "oo" - compare 'fuel' and 'fool') > silent > directly "dir-ectly" not "die-rectly" > pronounce "pruh'nownce" or "praw'nownce" not "proh-nownce" > consonant "kon-son'ant" not "kohn-son'ant" or "kon-sohn-ant" > wrote > line > user > date > resent "r'zent" or "ruh'zent" not "ree-zent" > obeying "uh-bay-ing" or "aw-bay-ing" not "oh-bay-ing" > request "r'kwest" or "ruh'kwest" not "ree-kwest" > > There are, of course, numerous exceptions. Debian is one of them. Well considering that of the 13 examples you gave 7 of them don't follow the rule I'd say so... In fact, I believe the actual rule states that a vowel followed by a single consonant and then a silent 'e' is pronounced long, which does correspond to the words "wrote", "line" and "date" in your list. Examples of where 'u' follows this rule exactly and not as 'oo' are "mule" and "fuse", among others. The real problem is that English tries to represent something like 15 different vowel sounds with just 5 letters (y adds nothing in the end), various combinations thereof and 3 auxiliary letters (h, w & y) without the use of accents. -- David P James Ottawa, Ontario http://david.jamesnet.ca ICQ: #42891899, Jabber: davidpjames@jabber.org Noone isn't no one
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