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}.

5 comments:

  1. 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. 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

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

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

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    1. What a relief to know there are no exceptions!

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