josefo@leminal.space to Showerthoughts@lemmy.worldEnglish · 11 months agoThe "i" in Linux and Linus have different pronunciations even when they shouldn't.message-squaremessage-square121fedilinkarrow-up1166arrow-down136
arrow-up1130arrow-down1message-squareThe "i" in Linux and Linus have different pronunciations even when they shouldn't.josefo@leminal.space to Showerthoughts@lemmy.worldEnglish · 11 months agomessage-square121fedilink
minus-squareScrollonelinkfedilinkarrow-up16·11 months agoI’m Italian and I pronounce both "i"s in the same way. Why is English so strange?
minus-squareDragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafelinkfedilinkarrow-up10arrow-down2·11 months agoBlame the French.
minus-squareebc@lemmy.calinkfedilinkarrow-up11·11 months agoHey, we pronounce both the same, too. Sorry English, that’s on you and you alone.
minus-squareDragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafelinkfedilinkarrow-up2·11 months agoUh huh And how would you pronounce it compared to a German?
minus-squareebc@lemmy.calinkfedilinkarrow-up1·11 months agoThe I as in “free”, but shorter (not drawn out) and the u as in “urban”, maybe? It’s hard to find English words where they make the french U sound, but it’s pronounced the same pretty much all the time.
minus-squaresamus12345@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up8·edit-211 months agoIn this particular instance, the Great Vowel Shift is to blame. What caused that is up for debate. In general, English is so strange because it’s a mongrel language, incorporating words from a variety of other different languages.
I’m Italian and I pronounce both "i"s in the same way. Why is English so strange?
Blame the French.
Hey, we pronounce both the same, too. Sorry English, that’s on you and you alone.
Uh huh
And how would you pronounce it compared to a German?
The I as in “free”, but shorter (not drawn out) and the u as in “urban”, maybe? It’s hard to find English words where they make the french U sound, but it’s pronounced the same pretty much all the time.
In this particular instance, the Great Vowel Shift is to blame. What caused that is up for debate.
In general, English is so strange because it’s a mongrel language, incorporating words from a variety of other different languages.