| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| -AGE, PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS ENDING IN |
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| Pronunciation often tells us something of the frequency of use and length of time in English of originally French words ending in -age. Triage, mirage, and barrage are relatively low frequency words not long in English; the stress remains on their last syllables, and they are pronounced with the French-sounding -AHZH. But in Modern English the primary stresses of marriage and advantage (in Middle English pronounced mah-ri-AHZH and ah-vahn-TAHZH) have moved forward, and the final syllable in each is anglicized to the pronunciation -ij. Garage, on the other hand, is in divided usage in today’s American English, pronounced acceptably either guh-RAHZH or guh-RAHJ, with the stress remaining on the last syllable. (In British English there is a third pronunciation: GER-ij.) | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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