When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. Arguably one of the most annoying things my grade-school teachers would chant, but it served its purpose mnemonically. It was supposed to help us remember that when a word has two vowels, or when a word has a vowel-consonant-vowel combination, the first vowel is pronounced long. Thusly:
Pronunciation: mee-maw
"Papaw"
Pronunciation: pay-paw
"Memmaw"
Pronunciation: mem-maw
"Pappaw"
Pronunciation: pap-paw
The bane of the English language is that all of its rules have exceptions, but I'd love to avoid them whenever possible.
Bona fide!
ReplyDeleteYou are so wise, Mr. Wirth, with such a varied interest in life!
ReplyDeleteIs there anyway you can do the annunciation for both Mem-maw, Memaw and Mammaw?
ReplyDelete