Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

yads
Lv 5

pronunciation help... anyone?

it's about words ending in -ATE.. some of them are pronounced "it" {chocolate, climate} while others "EYT" (lactate, sulfate).. can somebody please tell me if there's a rule to this? like which letters must precede -ATE for it to be pronounced "eyt" or "it".. i would appreciate if you could give me the source (online preferred).

Big thanks for your help.

*mwahmwah*

Update:

i do think it's just accent/dialect.. but they really differ in their transcriptions in dictionaries (see my given examples)

:P

1 Answer

Relevance
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    it's merely regional accents, style or lazy lips but you can't go wrong pronouncing strictly by following the rule - e at the end of the word normally means you prounounce the preceding vowel as the 'long' version of that preceding vowel's sound.

    ATE- ayt instead of it or et

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.