Re: USAGE: varying pronunciation of "kilo"

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, Mark J. Reed wrote:

> In English compound words, the metric prefix "kilo" seems to normally
> be pronounced however your particular 'lect renders /'kIl@/.  If,
> however, the <o> is not reduced for whatever reason, such as in
> when "kilo" is used as a word by itself (short for "kilogram",
> usually used with respect to illegal narcotics),
Just to let you know, here in Australia where we use kilograms and
kilometres and kilometres an hour very frequently, `kilo' just means
`kilogram' with the only connotation it has being that the speaker wasn't
speaking in a formal register (it's been or more than one occaision I've
asked for a kilo of mince, f'rinstance, but I don't think I've ever
asked for a kilogram of minced meat), and `kay' refers to both
kilometres and kilometres an hour (`The speed limit around schools is
fourty kays'). And kilometre typically IME has the stress on the second
syllable i.e. as /k@lOm@t@/. But this might not be unexpected to you,
apparently it's originally an Americanism, or so complaints from the 70s
or 80s imply.

> the  <i> seems to
> automatically switch from /I/ to /i/.
>
> If either statement is not true of your 'lect, that's fine; I'm not
> trying to make a broad statement or get into YAEPT.  But I am wondering
> why the /I/->/i/ shift happens where it does.  For me, it's quite
> automatic; if I pronounce the o as an o instead of as a schwa, it takes
> noticeable conscious effort to keep the <i> short, and the resulting
> word sounds funny.  ("He calls his belt-notches his Kill-o-meter(TM)."
I could never imagine anyone not pronouncing the o as aught but /@/ except
in 'kilo' (standing alone) and 'kilometre' (when stressed on the second
syllable).

> Is this a phonetic thing, some sort of vowel-harmony umlautish effect,
> or is it just a learned distinction?
I'm guessing it is, at least for me, a learned thing. Certainly isn't
phonetic. English stress and syllable weight is a funny beast, so if for
you it happens when you'd pronounce the o as a long vowel even with
suffixes, it might be trying to make stress happier, but kilo-watt with
short I and long O doesn't sound like it has unhappy stress, just an oddly
pronounced o.

(And it might even be slightly related, or it might not, I'm not sure ,but
all that happens in 'kilo' for me (and I'm not disputing it for you, just
sayingg that you might take my opinion with some amount of salt) is that
the I gets longer, it doesn't change quality, but this is the doings of
the l i.e. the i is pronounced the same as the ee in feel and differently
from the i of fill. And, of course, the o is no longer a schwa.)

--
Tristan

Mecht most toreck, ånd absolut mecht most toreck absolutelik. Gehalchte
menn vaore nichæ ever uevel menn, jetsvao svao indfluedels evaore
nemmfremm, ånd ne othoritet.
                             --- Jochn Emerich Edvard Dalberg, Herr Acton

/maiS mQ:tSaitS,  Qn afsluS maiS mQ:tSaitS afslulaitS.  jQ:f m&: wE Sa jev
ivu m&:, ZEsi fo efluduS evuJE:f, Qn (mwipet_ho/nu:t_horit_heS)/

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