On Thu, 18 Dec 2003, Christopher BJ Smith wrote: > At 12:18 PM -0600 12/18/03, Noel Stoutenburg wrote: > > > >A review of my dictionary shows that all of the multi words which > >begin with a long "O", including among others, obey, open, over, > >onerous, and Otolaryngologyst, seem to have the long 'o' as a > >separate syllable, and those where the o is short, (obliterate, > >ocular, oligarchy, omniciscient, opera, oven) seem to include the > >following consonant in the intial syllable. > > Hmm, I and my immediate family pronounce "obliterate" and "oligarchy" > with long o sounds, and "onerous" with a short o. So much for > generalisations with regional pronounciations, as I would have > hyphenated those words incorrectly if I had followed your guide.
I long ago gave up using my pronunciation as a bases for hyphenation. I now look up every word in the dictionary (but which dictionary should I use?), and use the syllabification I find there as the basis for hyphenation. FWIW, I pronounce the initial "o" in obliterate as a schwa (shwa?) sound ... since it is unaccented. The initial "o" in oligarchy I pronounce as a short o (since it is accented). I pronounce the initial "o" in onerous as a long "o" (but have no idea if it agrees with any dictionary). The turning point for me was when I travelled from Minnesota (where I lived at the time) to Toronto. In Minnesota, "produce" (the section of of a grocery store where one finds vegetables, etc.) has a long "o". In Toronto, it has a short "o". The word "project" (the noun, as in "an engraving project") is just the opposite: In Toronto, it has a long "o"; in Minnesota a short "o". I have given up trying to figure out my native language. (Its pronunciation "rules" no longer make any sense to me ...) -- Weldon Whipple [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
