昨日の記事「#1289. magic <e>」 ([2012-11-06-1]) に引き続き,綴字と発音の話題.現代英語の綴字と発音の乖離のなかでも,特に黙字 (silent_letter) と呼ばれる種類のものがある.綴字が無音に対応するケースだ.debt の <b> や island の <s> は,語源(後者は誤った語源)を参照して挿入された黙字の例 (etymological_respelling) だが,多くの黙字は,標準的な綴字が定まりかけていた時期,あるいは定まった後に,対応する音韻が消失したことにより生じたものである.Schmitt and Marsden (137) に,主として音韻消失により生じた黙字が便利に一覧されているので,以下にまとめたい.
Silent letter | Examples | Reason |
---|---|---|
k before n | knight, knee | k ceased to be pronounced during C17 (17th century); see [2009-08-27-1], [2012-04-26-1]. |
g before n | gnat, gnaw | g ceased to be pronounced during C16 |
m before n | mnemonic | Greek spelling; m never pronounced in English |
p before n | pneumonia | Greek spelling; p never pronounced in English |
p before s | psyche, psychology | Greek spelling; p pronounced by learned people probably until C18 |
w before r | wrist, wrong | w probably no longer pronounced after C16m (mid-16th century) |
w after s | sword | w probably no longer pronounced after C17m |
l after a and before f or v | calf, half | l probably not pronounced after ME |
l after a and before k | talk, chalk | l probably not pronounced after ME |
l after a and before m | calm, palm | l probably not pronounced after ME |
l in modal verbs | should, could | l ceased to be pronounced soon after ME in should; never pronounced in could (added to spelling by analogy with should) |
g after a vowel and before m or n | sign, paradigm | g reflects French/Latin original spellings but was probably never pronounced in English |
word-final b after m | bomb, thumb | b in some words never pronounced (crumb), in others it ceased to be pronounced quite early (thumb), in still others in EModE (dumb); see [2009-06-01-1], [2011-04-21-1]. |
word-final n after m | autumn, column | n reflects original French spelling but never pronounced in English |
t after s or f and before -en | listen, soften | t ceased to be pronounced in EModE; see [2010-05-11-1]. |
word-initial h | honest, hour | The loanwords are French, where h not pronounced; English usually follows this, but sometimes not (e.g., host) |
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