John Cowan wrote:
>
> "Grandsire, C.A." wrote:
>
> > Compared to that, even the French orthography is phonemic :) . Although
> > we do have our spelling monsters too
>
> "Oignon", which obviously should be pronounced /wanjo~/, is my favorite.
I should have thought of this one (by the way, there *are* French
people that pronounce /wanjo~/ instead of /onjo~/. I think it's more a
matter of dialect than a matter of phonemic reading).
> The specific problem with English "gh" is that it once indicated an /x/
> which has now been lost, sometimes disappearing completely with or without
> altering the vowel, sometimes changing to /f/.
>
> Trivium: "Straight" and its immediate derivatives are the only English
> words with "aigh"; it's pronounced [ej].
>
I learned it with [E]. Is it a possible pronunciation in some dialect?
--
Christophe Grandsire
Philips Research Laboratories -- Building WB 145
Prof. Holstlaan 4
5656 AA Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Phone: +31-40-27-45006
E-mail: grandsir@natlab.research.philips.com