Re: LCC2: Meeting our Community

Joseph Fatula wrote:
> T. A. McLeay wrote:
>> AFAIK, it's because it's pronounced /endZl&N/ i.e. as two syllables, and
>> -ge- is one way to spell of soft g (cf. also vegetable /vedZt@b@l/), but
>> -gi- isn't.
>
> That's a _giant_ mistake!  (Well, okay, a minor mistake, but minor
> doesn't have "gi" in it.)
-gi- does not spell a soft g. It spells a soft g with a following i (be
it long, short, schwa, yod or other). (There are probably examples with
-gia-=/dZ@/ or similar, but I had in mind a following consonant.)

> On another note - was "vegetable" originally pronounced with a /dZ/ in
> it?  Is it still?  I'm not sure I've heard it as anything other than
> [vetSt@bL\=], but the spelling would seem to indicate otherwise.
I pronounce "vegetable" the way I indicated; why would I have lied?
(And, compare also with words like "vegetarian" that clearly indicates
it was a /dZ/ regardless of what it is for you.)

--
Tristan.

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