CHAT: sch

>From:    And Rosta <a.rosta@...>
>>John Cowan:
>> BTW, "Scyth" [sIT] is the people and "Scythia" [siTija] the nation.
>> In general, "sc" before a front vowel is /s/ in English, although a
>> few words have adopted a spelling pronunciation.  One of the shibboleths
>> is "schism", which is traditionally [sIzm] but now usually pronounced
>> [skIzm] by people who have read it before they heard it.
>
>Surely this is not a spelling pronunciation. That would be /stSIzm/, surely,
>which is not used. Rather, /sIzm/ has the authority of tradition, while
>/skIzm/ has the authority of regularity. /SIzm/ is the one we ought to be
>complaining about. Curiously, not many people say /@stSu:/ for _eschew_;
>many say /@Su:/, presumably on the grounds that a funny looking word
>can't possibly be pronounced the way it's spelt.
I don't usually pronounce "eschew" (I usually only see it on the Internet, in
'eschew obfuscation'...) but I would have given it with /sk/, with /stS/ as a
second--but it would sound "weird" that way.  Just /S/ there wouldn't sound
right at all (my dictionary is yelling at me for that).

>Mind you, lots of funny stuff goes on with SC, doesn't it. As far as I
>can see, _sceptic_ should be so spelt, and pronounced /septIk/. As
>with <skeleton>, I spell it <skeptic>, so as to have an etymologically
>irregular spelling mirror the pronunication and its etymological
>irregularity/..
<skeptic> is the normal spelling here.

>> Sometimes /S/ is used instead, as in "schedule" /SEdjul/; in America this
>> is /skEdZ@l/.
>
>I don't understand anything about this one. Why the <h>? Why /sk/? Why /S/?
I would guess because 'sce' and 'sci' in [my] English usually start with /s/
(visceral, scepter, science), while 'sca' 'sco' and 'scu' usually use /sk/
(scamp, scone, escutcheon).  Using 'sch' instead of 'sc' for those shows you
want /sk/ where it would be /s/ otherwise (schedule, schism).

     *Muke!

--
http://i.am/muke  ICQ: 1936556  AIM: MukeTurtle
"No one's ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much imagined anything quite like it--
What God has arranged for those who love him."