I (letter): Difference between revisions
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The first person singular subject pronoun '''Î''' is always capitalised. | The first person singular subject pronoun '''Î''' is always capitalised. | ||
Some British speakers emphasise their social superiority by pronouncing the '''î''' before '''r''' in words like '''wîre''' and '''fîre''' as if it were an '''à''', so that '''fîre''' sounds like '''fàr''': this is not a practice to recommend to foreign learners. Similarly, the pronunciation | Some British speakers emphasise their social superiority by pronouncing the '''î''' before '''r''' in words like '''wîre''' and '''fîre''' as if it were an '''à''', so that '''fîre''' sounds like '''fàr''': this is not a practice to recommend to foreign learners. Similarly, the pronunciation can be as extreme as a very long *fú in the American South. | ||
îe substitutes for final ŷ before suffixes -ed and -s: crîes, flîes, drîed, prîes, relîed. | '''îe''' substitutes for final '''ŷ''' before suffixes -'''ed''' and -s: '''crîes, flîes, drîed, prîes, relîed'''. | ||
î occurs after ê (like in German) in '''seîsmic'''. | '''î''' occurs after '''ê''' (like in German) in '''seîsmic'''. | ||
A third sound, long also, = ê, usually from Latin languages: machìne, elìte, Janìne, Christìna, polìce, Argentìna, skì, ballerìna, and unstressed: piâno (where it resembles the consonantal sound of y) Nàzì, Chrístìne or Christìne, mézzanìne, qùarantìne, and also Benìn. | A third sound, long also, = ê, usually from Latin languages: machìne, elìte, Janìne, Christìna, polìce, Argentìna, skì, ballerìna, and unstressed: piâno (where it resembles the consonantal sound of y) Nàzì, Chrístìne or Christìne, mézzanìne, qùarantìne, and also Benìn. | ||
Revision as of 20:44, 1 December 2008
I is the ninth letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced just like I, eye and aye (Î, eŷe and aŷe: the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes).
I is also the Roman numeral representing the number 1.
Use in English
i represents various vowel sounds.
The short sound: fíll, íf, guíld, buíld, síx, twín, líd, kíd, Índia, tíff, gíft, gíve, líve, wíth, hís, bít, quít, Ítaly, knít, contrítion, nutrítion, optícian, sít, líd, quíp, ríp, quíz (cf. cýst).
íe substituting for final ỳ before the suffixes -ed and -s also has this sound: wòrríes, hóbbíes, flúrríes (all -íz), wòrríed, rállíed, cárríed (all -íd). It should be noted that some younger BrE speakers are regularising these words to hóbbìês (-êez), wòrrìêd, etc.
The long sound is a diphthong consisting of à and ê: sîde, clîent, plîant, nîght, whîte, sîgn, mîne, trîumph, tîe, sîze, lîfe, nîce, vîe, pî number = pîe eat, hî hello = hîgh up.
Also, unstressed in final position: álibî, nûclêî (cf. spŷ, more commonly y in monosyllables) and before two consonants: pînt, lîthe, blîthe.
The first person singular subject pronoun Î is always capitalised.
Some British speakers emphasise their social superiority by pronouncing the î before r in words like wîre and fîre as if it were an à, so that fîre sounds like fàr: this is not a practice to recommend to foreign learners. Similarly, the pronunciation can be as extreme as a very long *fú in the American South.
îe substitutes for final ŷ before suffixes -ed and -s: crîes, flîes, drîed, prîes, relîed.
î occurs after ê (like in German) in seîsmic.
A third sound, long also, = ê, usually from Latin languages: machìne, elìte, Janìne, Christìna, polìce, Argentìna, skì, ballerìna, and unstressed: piâno (where it resembles the consonantal sound of y) Nàzì, Chrístìne or Christìne, mézzanìne, qùarantìne, and also Benìn. This ending can also be -îne: fîne, dîne, undermîne, and -íne when unstressed: exámíne, detërmíne, ërmíne.
i before e except after c remains a good rule, and the same applies to w with the exception of wìêld (and also in Nêil, Shêila and Kêith). ei after c also has the ì sound: decêit, cêiling, recêive - and similarly after w: wêird, wêir - though not in wèigh, wèight heavy (= wây how, wâit time).
The third sound of ì merges into a preceding s to make the zh sound in -sion: vísion, derísion, lêsion, télevísion, revísion and into preceding c and t to make the sh sound in -cious and -tion: précious, spêcious, ignítion, nâtion, creâtion, posítion, abstráction, inténtion, méntion and into x to make a ksh sound in -xious: ánxious, nóxious (*ánkshəss, *nókshəss).
There can be a similar effect before the suffixes -cia, -sia and -tia: Galìcia (-ìssiə) Patrícia (-íshə) Alícia (more often -íssiə than -íshə) Âsia (*Ashə or Âzhə) amnêsia, Maláysia, Indonêsia (all for most speakers -zhə) Croâtia (*Crôwâshə) milítia, inërtia (both -shə) - and in AmE with Tunisia (*Toô-nìzhə) but not in BrE (Chû-nízìə).
The ïr sound: gïrl, fïrst, bïrth birthday (= bërth ship), gïrth, fïr tree (= für cat) and stïr, is the same sound as in nërve, türn and wörm wriggle (cf. wårm hot, wŏrn wear).
Irregular i’s
| spelling | pronunciation | |
| again | *əgén or əgâin | |
| against | *əgénst or əgâinst | |
| croissant | *kwússón (French nasal -on) | |
| impasse | (regular) ímpasse, (irregular) *ámpasse (á or à) | |
| lingerie | BrE *lánzhəry, AmE *lànjerèy (è stressed) | |
| meringue | *meráng | |
| reveille | *reválly | |
| said | *séd | |
Final i is usually unstressed î: álibî, nùclêî, rábbî, Mâgî. Also: pî number (= pîe eat) - but not usually in monosyllables: skì, dôh-rè-mì (mì = mê mine) and not in nationalities: Sàudì (*Sòwdi), Pakistānì, nor in girls’ names: Térrì, Dórì, Nâomì, Jácquì (-kì) nor in Italian words: raviôlì, spaghéttì, conféttì, Rossìnì.
Double i is very rare and usually accidental: skìíng, Shìîte, râdìî, Hawàiì (*Ha-wài-ì: three syllables) and cóniìne.
-ice: In monosyllables: twîce, nîce, trîce, thrîce, vîce, lîce, prîce and in: sácrifîce, devîce, advîce but -íce usually in words of more than one syllable: pôultíce, crévíce, nótíce, láttíce, Véníce, hóspíce, órifíce, nóvíce. But: polìce.
-ive: Adjectives have an unstressed -íve: obtrûsíve, abûsíve, tålkatíve, demónstratíve, contémplatíve, progréssíve, regréssíve, inclûsíve and nouns: môtíve, explêtíve, dîgestíve (noun or adjective) while verbs have a stressed -îve: contrîve, arrîve, deprîve, revîve, but: líve (verb) lîve (adjective) alîve (adjective).
-ible, or -able (see also under a): sénsible, respónsible, póssible, éligible, suscéptible, convërtible.
In more recent formations from nouns and verbs -able is usual: êatable (cf. édible) pálatable, unbreâkable, unrepêatable, classifîable, relîable (in)dispénsable and also, to prevent -ii-, vîable. ii does, however, occur in two words, skìing and Hawàìi (*Həwàì). See under a for the suffixes -icle, -ical, -acle, and -age (*-íj).
The merely negative prefix dís- (distâsteful, disâbled, disinclîned) sounds exactly like another, dýs-, which means bad: dýsentery, dysléxia, dysfúnction.
i is redundant in friénd, pláit, sûit, frûit, jûice, slûice, crûise, brûise, recrûit, pursûit, nûisance, pàrliament, cárriage, márriage (both -ríj).