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mn is used in English to write the word-initial sound /n/ in a few words of Greek origin, such as mnemonic. When final, it represents /m/, as in damn or /im/ as in hymn, and between vowels it represents /m/ as in damning, or /mn/ as in damnation (see /mn/-reduction). In French it represents /n/, as in automne and condamner.
Words ending in vowels would elide with the following word if it started with a vowel or h; words ending with -m would also be elided in the same way (this is called ecthlipsis). [19] [20] In writing, unlike in Greek, this would not be shown, with the normal spelling of the word represented.
An intermediate vowel sound (likely a close central vowel or possibly its rounded counterpart ), called sonus medius, can be reconstructed for the classical period. [41] Such a vowel is found in documentum, optimus, lacrima (also spelled docimentum, optumus, lacruma) and other words.
In English, the "letter name" of a vowel is its long vowel form (except in the case of y , which has the same pronunciation as i – compare byte/bite). This terminology reflects the historical pronunciation and development of those vowels, but as a phonetic description of their current values it may no longer be accurate.
Ancient Greek accent, by contrast, is only based on vowels. A syllable ending in a short vowel, or the diphthongs αι and οι in certain noun and verb endings, was light. All other syllables were heavy: that is, syllables ending in a long vowel or diphthong, a short vowel and consonant, or a long vowel or diphthong and consonant.
Words beginning with /sC/ receive an initial supporting vowel [ɪ], unless they are preceded by a word ending in a vowel, as in [ˈskɔla] > [ɪsˈkɔla]. [23] The earliest unambiguous attestations occur in inscriptions of the second century AD. [24] In some languages, such as Spanish, word-initial /sC/ remains phonologically forbidden to this day.
The letter j has the single sound /dʒ/. The letter r has a single sound, /r/ in rhotic dialects of English. In nonrhotic dialects, it varies according to placement in a syllable. At the beginning of a syllable, it is pronounced /r/. At the end of a syllable, i.e. between a vowel and a consonant, or after a vowel at the end of a word, it is ...
Words ending in a stressed vowel (e.g., вода́) can only rhyme with other words which share the consonant preceding the vowel (e.g., когда́). Words ending in a stressed vowel preceded by another vowel, as well as words ending in a stressed vowel preceded by /j/, can all be rhymed with each other: моя́, тая́ and чья all rhyme.