Wednesday, 4 June 2014

sonography

During the latest visit to my urologist we talked about what linguists call 'orthoepic acronyms', i.e. acronyms you pronounce like words. Take BBC - you've got to spell it out (if it's supposed to be English you're speaking). NASA, however, is pronounced /næsə/ or /nɑːsə/. NASA is an orthoepic acronym.
credit: argyle Inc.

My urologist came up with TRUS, which he pronounced as /trʌs/. I asked him what it stands for, and he replied: /trænzrektəl ʌltrəsɒnəˈgræfi/. I couldn't resist correcting him.

The English wordstock contains some sixty words ending in {-graphy}. The pronunciation is always /grəfi/, hence /ʌltrəsəˈnɒgrəfi/. I haven't yet found a word with the main stress on {-graphy}.
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5 comments:

  1. Sidney Wood4 June 2014 at 12:57

    Intuitively I'm sure you're correct, I haven't counted them all. Words ending -pathy are similar, except some words are accented -'pathy, especially medical terms. Something for Alex perhaps.

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    1. Alex Rotatori4 June 2014 at 14:12

      Hahahah... I can't think of medical terms accented -'pathy at the moment but there might well be some. My medical dictionaries only give /ɡrəfi/ for '-graphy' and /pəθi/ for '-pathy':

      1) http://alexabe.pbworks.com/f/Dictionary+of+Medical+Terms+4th+Ed.-+%28Malestrom%29.pdf

      2) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dictionary-Nursing-terms-clearly-defined-ebook/dp/B004YPRC3A

      Delete
    2. Sidney Wood7 June 2014 at 23:30

      Your right, of course, Alex. I was probably half asleep.

      Delete
  2. john maidment6 June 2014 at 15:23

    I found no exceptions to -ɡrəfi and -pəθi, when I was compiling the relevant E P Tips.

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    Replies
    1. Kraut6 June 2014 at 17:27

      What a relief to know there are no exceptions!

      Delete

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