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Need help from someone good at English grammar/pronunciation?

neofinetrygeopticalism - 2010-02-01 22:38:45 - Languages

I've been speaking English my whole life but I still can't seem to figure out something. The word "Polish" as in the language of Poland, and the word "polish" as in "I will polish your shoes", they are spelled the same way, yet they have two different pronunciations? To my understanding, a capital letter cannot change the pronunciation of a word like that. I'm I not understanding something or is this just a contradiction of pronunciation in the English language? Thanks for your help.

Best Answer:

It's called a heteronym. Other examples: bass bow close live read

Answers:

English is just weird like that. It's just how it goes.

there are many words like that how about seal as in the animal and seal like to seal an envelope

There's plenty of words on English with the same spelling and different pronunciations. It's just one of those nuances that make English unique, and difficult.

I've never understood these language contradictions. Yes, Polish is pronounced as it is spell, but polish is pronounced pollish. There are many contradictions and words that follow no rules whatsoever. Did you know that "ough" can be pronounced at least 4 different ways depending on what word it is? eg. Bough, Cough, Dough, Through. The English language is a mysterious place indeed, and one can never begin to understand it.

The capital letter does not change the pronunciation; the context does. Are you similarly troubled by the different pronunciations of "to read" and "to have read"?

It's called a heteronym. Other examples: bass bow close live read

No, you are not misunderstanding and there is not a contradiction. English is just like that. Mostly because we 'stole' so much of our vocabulary from other languages but have a limited number of letters to represent the sounds. By the way, it has nothing to do with the capital letter. If for instance you were to have polish sausage.. it would be pronounced the same as Polish the nationality and language, but spelled with the lower case. Basically, English is not a standardized language. It's a mashup.

Those words have two totally different roots. "polish (v.)" : c.1300, from Old French 'poliss-', present participle stem of 'polir' "to polish," from Latin 'polire' "to polish, make smooth," of unknown origin. "Pole" : "inhabitant or native of Poland," 1650s, from German 'Pole', sing. of 'Polen', from Polish 'Poljane', lit. "field-dwellers," from 'pole' "field," from Proto-Indo-European base '*pele-' "flat, plain"

That is one of the peculiarities of the english language that make it so hard to learn. The derivation of the word polish comes from the Latin word polire, to polish or make smooth. Of course, the word Polish comes from describing something from the Country of Poland. Many years ago in college I had a course in Etymology which deals with the structure of words and their derivations and meanings. One of the things the professor keyed on was the difficulty in dealing with such issues as you describe. I hope this helps, but I doubt if there is any other answer to your question. Maybe some educator who is more proficient in languages and Etymology can expand on this.

also. wear where, there their, they're and lots more, especially spelt the american way.