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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
| A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996. |
| Page 224 |
occurring among well-educated people and the pronunciation (j n’y - n´´) among the less well educated. There is now some evidence that the pronunciation with long i in the last syllable is becoming more widely used by people of all social levels, but the most widely accepted pronunciation is still (jn’y- n). People who normally use the short i pronunciation often use the long i pronunciation jokingly. | 1 |
genus | |
Pronounce this word (j ’n s), with a long e in the first syllable, but note that the Latin plural, genera, should be pronounced (jn’r-), with a short e in the first syllable. | 2 |
gerrymander | |
Although Elbridge Gerry, who inspired this word, pronounced his name (gr’), with a hard g, gerrymander may be pronounced (jr’-m n´´dr) or (gr’-mn´´dr). Actually the pronunciation with a soft g is more common now. | 3 |
gibberish | |
| A very small minority of people pronounces this word with a hard g. The overwhelming majority pronounces it (jb’r-sh). | 4 |
governor | |
Standard pronunciations for this word include (g v’r-nr), (gv’-nr), and (gv’nr). The second of these has lost an r through dissimilation, a phonological process that involves the change or loss of one of two similar or identical sounds in a word in order to avoid a repetition of that sound. | 5 |
| More at dissimilation. | 6 |
grievous | |
| The pronunciation (gr’v-s), which is considered nonstandard, is an example of intrusion, a phonological process that involves the addition or insertion of an extra sound. The usual pronunciation of grievous has only two syllables, (gr’vs). | 7 |
| More at intrusion. | 8 |
gunwale | |
| Like boatswain and forecastle, this nautical word has a pronunciation, (gn’l), that is not easily predictable from the spelling. Note that although gunwale is the usual spelling, the word is always pronounced (gn’l). The variant spelling gunnel, which reflects the pronunciation, has been used for several hundred years and is also acceptable. Other nautical words with tricky pronunciations include bowline, mainsail, and topgallant, to name just a few. | 9 |
| More at pronunciation spelling and spelling pronunciation. | 10 |
H | |
| The letter H comes from the Roman alphabet. The (h) sound was eventually lost in Latin, and in the Romance languages, which are descended from Latin, h is not pronounced although it is retained in the spelling of some words. In both Old English and Middle English, h represented (h) at the beginning of words and before vowels, although in Middle English h “weakened” somewhat and was often silent before vowels in unstressed syllables. In | 11 |
| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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