Update: 2012-01-01 12:42 AM +0630

TIL

ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY
Pronouncing the letters

silent-letters

Daniel Jones. Edited by Peter Roach, James Hartman and Jane Setter. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Scanned by Maung Kan Tun and edited by U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.). Not for sale. Prepared for students of TIL Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR.

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DJPD16-indx.htm

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Silent letters
B  C  G

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Silent letters

UKT: Unlike Burmese consonants, English consonants can become silent (zero realization) in some words and in some cases "mispronounced" beyond expectations. These examples are mine from DJPD16.
   Note to TIL editor: this file is my collection from DJPD16. I still have to revise and add more examples.

 

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Silent B

Go to letter B

[b] can be silent, or have a zero realization. There are two combinations in which this can occur: [bt] and [mb].
[bt] is either word medial or word final, e.g.:
  <doubt> /daʊt/    
  <subtle> /ˈsʌt.ļ/ (us) /ˈsʌt̬.ļ/

Words containing [mb] in which [b] is silent have the [mb] in word final position, except where an inflection is added, e.g.:
  <bomb> /bɒm/ (us) /bɑːm/
  <bombing> /ˈbɒm.ɪŋ/ (us) /ˈbɑːmɪŋ/

For [bt], the [b] is not silent, if part of a prefix. Compare:
  <subtract> /səbˈtrækt/    
  <subtle> /ˈsʌt.ļ/ (us) /ˈsʌt̬.ļ/

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Silent C

Go to letter C

[c] can be silent. There are two occasions when this can occur: the combination [ct] in some words, and in British place names such as Leicester, e.g.:
  <Leicester> /ˈles.təʳ/ (us) /-tɚ/
  <indict> /ɪnˈdaɪt/    
An exceptional pronunciation for c is /ʧ/ in some words borrowed from Italian, e.g. :
  <cello> /ˈʧel.əʊ/ (us) /-oʊ/
  <Cinquecento> /ˌʧɪŋ.kweɪˈʧen.təʊ/ (us) /-oʊ/
A final exception:        
  <Caesar> /ˈsɪː.zəʳ/ (us)  /-zɚ/

Go to letters ch

There is no reliable way of predicting whether [ch] will be silent or pronounced as  /ʧ , k/ or /ʃ/ by looking at the spelling alone. In the case of <yacht> [ch] is silent:
  <yacht> /jɒt/ (us) /jɑːt/
Occasionally, [ch] is pronounced /ʤ/ , as in the British place name <Greenwich>.
  <Greenwich> /ˈgren.ɪʤ/    
Words from Scots ending [ch] may be pronounced /χ/ (Greek Small Letter Chi, U03C7), but can also have the realisation /k/, e.g.:
  <loch> /lɒk, lɒχ/ (us) /lɑːk, lɑːχ/
  UKT: Choice of Chi U03C7 is my guess based on the shape of the character given in the original panel in the printed book.

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Silent G

Go to letter g

g is often silent before a consonant letter m or n at the beginning and end of words, e.g.
  <gnat> /næt/    
  <paradigm> /ˈpær.ə.daɪm/    

Go to letters gg
Note: the so-called double consonants are conjuncts in Bur-Myan. The first one is the coda of the first syllable and the second one is the onset of the second syllable. -- UKT111231

gg may be pronounced as /ʤ/, e.g.:
  <exaggerate> /ɪgˈzæʤ.ər.eɪt/ (us) /-ə.reɪt/
And in rare cases for American English as /gʤ/:
  <suggest> /səˈʤest/ (us) /səgˈʤest/

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Silent gh See letters ei | letters gh
   <eight>, <height>
   <high>, <height>, <plough>, <caught>

 

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