The R sound of L

[plin]

Hi,

The first L in "colonel" seems to sound like R so that the whole word reads like "kernel"; are there any other words where L sounds like R?

Thanks--Plin.

[Pete]

Hi,

The first L in "colonel" seems to sound like R so that the whole word reads like "kernel"; are there any other words where L sounds like R?

Thanks--Plin.
I can't think of any other instances of this. Generally in English when a word is spelled in a way that appears unrelated to the way it is pronounced, it turns out that the spelling of the word was standardized and frozen at a very early time, and then over the course of centuries, the pronunciation shifted to the way it is now said. I don't know the specific history of the spelling and pronunciation of "colonel".

[plin]

<I can't think of any other instances of this. Generally in English when a word is spelled in a way that appears unrelated to the way it is pronounced, it turns out that the spelling of the word was standardized and frozen at a very early time, and then over the course of centuries, the pronunciation shifted to the way it is now said. I don't know the specific history of the spelling and pronunciation of "colonel".>


Thanks Pete,


Can the same comment be made for the JE sound of GA in "margarine"?


Appreciated--Plin.

[Pete]

<I can't think of any other instances of this. Generally in English when a word is spelled in a way that appears unrelated to the way it is pronounced, it turns out that the spelling of the word was standardized and frozen at a very early time, and then over the course of centuries, the pronunciation shifted to the way it is now said. I don't know the specific history of the spelling and pronunciation of "colonel".>


Thanks Pete,


Can the same comment be made for the JE sound of GA in "margarine"?


Appreciated--Plin.
Surprisingly, the Oxford English Dictionary says that "margarine" is pronounced either with a hard "g" or with the soft ("j") sound. I've never heard it said with hard "g". The word has been used since about 1875, so possibly the hard "g" pronunciation was used back in that time frame. The other possibility is that the alternate pronunciations are regional. (All of which really means that I don't actually know the answer to your question and I could not find it.)

[plin]

"Surprisingly, the Oxford English Dictionary says that "margarine" is pronounced either with a hard "g" or with the soft ("j") sound. I've never heard it said with hard "g". The word has been used since about 1875, so possibly the hard "g" pronunciation was used back in that time frame. The other possibility is that the alternate pronunciations are regional. (All of which really means that I don't actually know the answer to your question and I could not find it.)"


Years ago I pronounced "margarine" with the hard G sound, which at the time, and based on my own assumption, seemed natural; eventually I noticed the difference when others said the word. This caused me to correct my mistake. It turns out, after reading your comment, that I was not the only one saying it that way; not only that, it wasn't a mistake after all, even though in practice only a relative few were giving the word the hard G sound. Of course this is just a memory for me, since it doesn't take long in an English -speaking environment to notice that the vast majority of people use the 'soft ("J") sound' when saying "margarine."

Thanks, Pete, for your time in helping me and other forum posters.


Plin.