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.