New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesHow are names ending in cia pronounced as sha in English?
On the surface, it looks like it should be pronounced as see-ah, and I'm curious about how it is pronounced as sha in English.
This message was edited 3/2/2024, 9:35 PM
3
Replies
This isn't specific to names. Consider the pronunciation of "special," "social," "musician," "physician."
Of course there are exceptions, such as the word "pronunciation" itself.
I don't know that there is a specific why. English spelling is quirky and only partially phonetic. And many people named Lucia, for instance, pronounce their name "loo-see-a" or the Itaian way, "loo-chee-a"
Of course there are exceptions, such as the word "pronunciation" itself.
I don't know that there is a specific why. English spelling is quirky and only partially phonetic. And many people named Lucia, for instance, pronounce their name "loo-see-a" or the Itaian way, "loo-chee-a"
5
Notice how these words and names are pronounced—the C when followed by a long /i/ becomes /s/, but if the ia is monophthongized to schwa it becomes sh. Of course s is affected the same way. In reality the i (sometimes e) has become the approximant /j/ and partially or fully merged with the preceding dental to form a new phoneme. This happens to s z t and d, and foreign words naturalised into English where C and g are dentalised before i and e. Sometimes you can still hear the approximant (marshya), sometimes you can't.
This message was edited 3/4/2024, 7:04 PM
3
Thank you.
2