The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. 1996. Page 213

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CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD · WORD INDEX · SUBJECT INDEX

The American Heritage® Book of English Usage.

A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.

Page 213

degree to which the pronunciation has become Anglicized. In words formed in English on the same model, such as luggage, poundage, orphanage, parsonage, breakage, and wreckage, the pronunciation of -age is always (-j).	1
agoraphobia
The pronunciation (g´´r--f’b-) is the one most widely accepted in educated speech. Likewise agoraphobe should be pronounced (g’r--fb´´) and agoraphobic (g´´r--f’bk).	2
ague
This somewhat old-fashioned word is properly pronounced (’gy), with two syllables.	3
albumen / albumin
Both of these words generally have stress on the second syllable, and, in fact, sound the same except for the final vowels, which may be slightly emphasized to preserve a distinction between the two. A pronunciation with the stress on the first syllable does occur, however, probably more often in British English.	4
alms
The older and more widely accepted pronunciation is (ämz), but the spelling pronunciation (älmz) is increasingly common.	5
More at L and spelling pronunciation.	6
alumni / alumnae
Alumni, the Latin plural of alumnus, is usually pronounced (-lm’n), according to the pronunciation rules for Anglicized Latin. Likewise alumnae, the Latin plural of alumna, is usually pronounced (-lm’n). Confusion comes about in part because in English i has several possible pronunciations and ae is an unusual combination. Also, in classical Latin pronunciation, which attempts to approximate the pronunciation of ancient Roman times, the opposite would be true, that is, the final vowel sound of alumni would be (), and the final vowel sound of alumnae would be ().	7
analogous
This word is properly pronounced (-nl’-gs), with a hard g sound, never (-nl’-js), with a j sound.	8
More at G.	9
anesthetist
The pronunciation (-ns’t-tst) is an example of assimilation, a phonological process that involves one sound being influenced by another sound, usually a following sound, so that the sounds become more alike or identical. In the case of anesthetist, the (th) becomes (t) by assimilating to the following (t), with the result that the sound segment (t) occurs twice. In careful speech the word should properly be pronounced (-ns’th-tst).	10
More at assimilation.	11
angina
The pronunciation (n’j-n), which more accurately reflects the word’s Latin pronunciation, is more common in medicine. Both pronunciations, the one with stress on the second syllable and the one with stress on the first syllable, are acceptable in all circumstances, however.	12

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD · WORD INDEX · SUBJECT INDEX

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