Same Spelling Different Pronunciation Different Meaning

It has been awhile that I wrote anything. June and I are back at Sarah and Scott's place in Parramatta,  Sydney. The weather is fine, and whether or not (homophone here unintentional) you realise it, there are many words in English that are pronounced differently, with different meanings, even though they have the same spelling. I am sure you can name quite a few. Such words, usually pairs, are referred to as Heteronyms.

Here are some examples (with sub-classification indicated for some variations of Heteronyms)

Read -  present and past tense. (Rhymes with hid and had) (Grammatical Function Heteronyms).

Polish -  wax and polish the floor and citizens of Poland (Capitonyms)

Resume and Resumé -  to begin again and a summary (Accent Heteronymns)

Now for the True Heteronyms - words that have the same spellings but have unique pronunciations and unique meanings.

lead - to guide and the metal. (Rhymes with lid and led)
row - row, row, row your boat and quarrel or have a row with your boss. (Rhymes with crow and cow)
wind - wind the clock (behind) and blowing in the wind (Bob Dylan)
minute - there are 60 seconds in a minute and there were minute amounts of arsenic in the dead husband's body.
present - the past and present and let me present to you our latest collection of diamonds from Pulau Ketam.

How about the following words :
desert
refuse
produce

For a more thorough discussion of heteronyms, the following website should be of interest: 

http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_heteronyms.html

A and An

Today, let's talk about "a" and "an". When I was in school, may I add, a long time ago, my teacher told us this simple rule. Use "a" for words beginning with a consonant letter....a pussy cat, a church mouse, a silly nanny; use "an" for words beginning with a vowel....an orang utan, an old horse, an idiot, and so on.

Actually, the choice depends on whether the word begins with a consonant sound or not. This may be right or wrong, and is a bit tricky, as some words may be pronounced differently with dialects from different parts of the world. Take the word "history". The "h" is usually prounounced, hence "a history". However, with Cockney English,  sometimes the word is pronounced with the "h" dropped.  Hence, "an historian" or "an historical novel".  Saying "an history", "an hotel", etc., is incorrect and is not in keeping with proper English pronunciation anywhere, and does not appear in standard writing.

Above everything, in proper English, with words beginning with "h" but not pronounced, "an" is used. "An hour", "an heir". This is correct.

"A" is also used for words beginning with a "You" sound.  Thus, we say "a used old bag" or "a United fan"

Finally (?) , common errors occur in report writing, where numbers are involved. These are usually out of sheer carelessness or ignorance. For example, "They are going to build a RM80 million sports complex down the road." "An" should be the correct word.  "With a Do-It-Yourself bookshelves and wardrobes available in the market, furniture makers are losing out to the departmental stores". The "a" should be dropped.      

Flammable and Inflammable

Look at these pairs of words. Accurate and inaccurate. Appropriate and inappropriate. Decent and indecent. You can name many pairs like those I have pointed out. The second word is the opposite of the first, simply by adding the prefix "in".  There is, however, a strange case, in the words flammable and inflammable.

There is no difference in meaning between flammable and inflammable. Both mean burn easily. There is a preference, however,  for flammable in both British and American English. 
   
Actually, inflammable is the original form, derived from the verb inflame. "In" is derived from the Latin preposition meaning en (engulf, endanger, enslave) not the prefix meaning un. But because it’s easy to interpret the in as the common negative prefix in (as in inaccurate, inappropriate), the word has always caused confusion. Therefore it was only a matter of time, that Safety and Fire Protection Agencies and Associations would urged the use of the word "flammable" rather than "inflammable".

Bill Bryson (Dictionary of Troublesome Words, Penguin Reference, 1984) has this to say, "Because the meaning of inflammable is so often misapprehended, there is an increasing tendency to use the less ambiguous flammable. In other cases this might be considered a regrettable concession to ignorance. But it would be even more regrettable to insist on linguistic purity at the expense of safety."

Hanged and Hung

Now, hanged and hung are derived from the same word "hang". You hang pictures on the wall. So they were hung there last week. When prisoners are sentenced to be executed by hanging, it is laughable to say that they were hung yesterday. The correct term is "hanged". It is not that difficult to remember then. People are hanged. Pictures and other objects are hung.

But a reminder. Prisoners were hanged. Not "hanged to death". "Hanged" means that the prisoner is dead already.

Can and May

It's August 8. I suddenly remembered one common colloquialism which is unacceptable in formal usage. You have probably heard it quite often before, but can applies to ability and may denotes permission. Thus we say, " Yes you can go, but no you may not." In other words, we mean, " Yes, you have the ability to go, but no you dont have my permission."

In informal usage, can and may are used interchangeably. [Can is generally used for both permission and ability. Can I go now? You can if you want to ....This is in such general usage that it should be regarded as good English in speaking and in informal writing. (Book of Usage and Abusage; Eric Partridge, 1954)] Thus I often hear this from friends, " Can I borrow your dictionary?", or "Can I have a ride back home today?" They are both grammatically wrong in formal usage. May should be substituted for Can.

May also implies uncertainty, possibility and wish in some usage: "We may buy a new washing machine when the company gives us a month's salary as bonus this year."

Could and might also add to the confusion. Could implies ability but with conditions attached: "We could get new computers for the office if we had the money". Could is also a polite way of asking a question: "Could you do this for me?" Might shows less probability that can, could or may. "The PC we ordered might get here next week." "Sure, they have been telling us that for three months, but it might never get here." (The New American Dictionary of Confusing words; Wiliam C Paxson, Penguin Books USA Inc., 1990).

Might is used after a governing verb in the past tense, may after such a verb in the present tense: "She says we may go." "She said that we might go." (Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression; Harry Shaw, Washington Square Press, 1975)

Repeat Again

This is another of those common redundancy in spoken English. When we want someone to say what he had said earlier, we do not request him to "repeat again" what he said. The correct way is to ask him to "repeat" what he said.

Repeat means to say or write something again. The prefix re means again. So we say" Please repeat that", or "Please say that again", NOT "Please repeat that again". In the last sentence "again" is superfluous.

Pronounciation?

Just the other day, I overheard this guy talking about how words can often be mispronounced. I joined in the conversation. When he said that "pro-noun-ciation" must be right or it may convey a different meaning, I was amused at his apparent ignorance of the pronunciation of the word.

Pronunciation is the noun formed from the verb pronounce. It is not pronounciation. Certainly, it is not surprising then that, the uninformed would pronounced it as pronounciation.

Anyway, most of us, me included, would have been guilty of mispronouncing words like zoology, culinary, awry, macabre, and misled, at one time or other. Understandably, mispronunciation occurs when we are confused by the different ways words with similar spelling are pronounced differently. For example, dough and tough, beard and heard and bear and dear. This is especially so with the way locals spell certain words especially names of people and places. Try Geoffery or Julio, Durham, Worcester, or Derby. How about the Mojave Desert or Mexico?

There are exceptions where American English is concerned. Common examples are schedule, vase, and route. They are pronounced differently in English English.