Definition talk:Apotome/Linguistic Note

As an administrator of http://en.wiktionary.org/, I must question why you changed uh-POT-uh-mee to a-POT-o-mee. --kc_kennylau (talk) 02:36, 6 November 2016 (EST)


 * Because that is how it is pronounced. --prime mover (talk) 02:38, 6 November 2016 (EST)


 * Using which system of transcription? --kc_kennylau (talk) 02:40, 6 November 2016 (EST)


 * A civilised one. --prime mover (talk) 02:43, 6 November 2016 (EST)


 * So you just follow your heart. Any reason why you did not use the same symbol for the first and the third syllable like I did? --kc_kennylau (talk) 02:55, 6 November 2016 (EST)


 * Because they are not pronounced the same. --prime mover (talk) 03:30, 6 November 2016 (EST)


 * You do have a strange accent. According to the vowel reduction rule on Wikipedia, "most (though not all) unstressed syllables contain one of these sounds [reduced vowels]". Both the first syllable and the third syllable should be a schwa. At least the "o" in "epitome" is transcribed by every dictionary to be a schwa. --kc_kennylau (talk) 03:38, 6 November 2016 (EST)


 * I have an English accent (being a native of England and a lifelong resident there), and I pronounce words close to (if not exactly) as "received pronunciation". I therefore know that a and o are closer to the sounds in apotome than uh, which is little more than an inarticulate grunt.


 * When apotome is pronounced precisely, the sound of the a and that of the o are indeed different. That difference is subtle, but it is there. And neither one is a precise schwa. --prime mover (talk) 06:49, 6 November 2016 (EST)

The thing is, we're not trying to be Wiktionary here. We're trying to make people pronounce words correctly. And I contend that that's easier when the word itself is more or less intact. Moreover since our target audience is people who already know English and its standard rules of pronunciation (in their preferred accent).

The only real alternative is IPA. But IPA is unreadable for the uninitiated, and this is not a language site. &mdash; Lord_Farin (talk) 05:41, 6 November 2016 (EST)


 * But the problem is that under this transcription, the first and the third syllable look different. --kc_kennylau (talk) 05:47, 6 November 2016 (EST)


 * I don't see the problem. I just see the word "apotome", conveniently stressed and split up so that I know how to pronounce it. Perhaps you need to let go of the premise that "pronounced" implies "transcription in a linguistic sense". Most people will pronounce the a and o the same without thinking about it. I'm perfectly happy with that. &mdash; Lord_Farin (talk) 05:56, 6 November 2016 (EST)