I'm usually an excellent speller. Recently, however, I caught myself having spelled auther, then authur, then author. (Finally, correct spelling!) I thought about the letters I used in those words. "Au", in author's case, is pronounced with a short "o" sound. The "th" in author is unvoiced. The last vowel in author is 'schwa'ed". Thus, the unaccented syllable has a vowel that sounds all the same to me--a bridge between the consonant pair and the "r". The schwa is a catch-all vowel sub that's barely there, imho.
Consider the following sounds and characters for "other":
- The "o" is actually pronounced with a short "u" sound rather than a short "o" sound.
- The "th" sound is voiced.
- The last syllable's vowel has that multipurpose schwa sound.
Phonetically, "author" might be pronounced "other" if you were somewhat familiar with English. For the three items I've mentioned, I'll discuss the "th" pronunciation first and vowels later.
th combination, eth and thorn
Correct Pronunciation of "th" combination would seem mystifying to non-native English speakers. "We used to have six more letters in the English alphabet" and "The five lost letters of the English language" provide background on use of "th" as the voiced "eth" (example, "then") and the unvoiced "thorn" (example, "thin"). If "th" were replaced by eth (Ð, ð) or thorn (Þ, þ) symbols, pronunciation would be more obvious. (I'd be in favor!)
additional past letters of interest WRT English alphabet, ash, ethel, wynn, yogh, ...
Both aforementioned resources describe "ash" and "ethel", which actually might look familiar in "separated" images. The "ash" separates to "ae", The "ethel" separates to "oe". The "wynn", another character in both resources, resembles a "p", but is actually associated with "w". The quartz.com resource mentions the "yogh", which resembles the number "3". The description explains "gh" combinations, which I'd often wondered about.
Yogh was historically used to denote throaty sounds like those in Bach or the Scottish loch. As English evolved, yogh was quickly abandoned in favor of the gh combo. Today, the sound is fairly rare. Most often, the gh substitute is completely silent, as in though or daughter.
How about a bigger gulp of past letters in the English alphabet? "10 Letters We Dropped From The Alphabet" displays and describes the following letters: "long s", "ampersand", "thorn", "that", "eth", "ash", "ethel", "wynn", "yogh", and "eng". The video owner makes a good case for leaving the "long s" dead. Actually, the "ampersand" sneaks into areas when character count counts. Some other letters might look logical to bring back. The "eng" could shave off a letter for every gerund and present participle.
vowels
Elementary schooling teaches about a, e, i, o, and u. They teach long vowels and short vowels. Later, they insert words with two vowels side by side, pairs such as "ea", "ee", "ie" ("i before e except after c"), "oo" (weird inconsistent pronunciation, such as "hook" and "loot"). They introduce cues like "magic e" that changes a short-vowel word into with a long-vowel word. It's much later to discover numerous exceptions to rules.
I am puzzled about "o" in "other" being pronounced as a short "u" sound. Think "other" vs. "otter" or "bother". Additional short-u sounding words with "o"—mother, brother.
"Oo" and "ou" can be confusing for pronunciations. Some words with "oo" are pronounced with pursed lips, some as short u's. "Root" seems to have both pronunciations. As for "ou", some pairs combine to sound like "ow". However, various Google search results indicate Canadians pronounce "ou" in "out" and "about" as "oot" and "aboot". "Route" is pronounced "rowt" and pursed-lips "root"—seemingly correct either way (stateside, anyway).
schwa
It looks like a schwa is considered to be a sound, not a letter. I think it should be added to the English alphabet. It resembles an rotated "e". From Merriam-Webster:
an unstressed mid-central vowel (such as the usual sound of the first and last vowels of the English word America)
I'd favor using the schwa to replace all of i's, e's, o's, and u's that currently serve as "unstressed mid-central" vowels. Think of my example of auther, authur, author. Comparative word, such as "better", and a phonetic neighbors "batter" and "bitter" would be fine with a schwa instead of "e" in the last syllable. While I'm at it, I'd spell "neighbor" with a schwa instead of "o".
meandering to consonant combos
I've noticed for many years of three ways of pronouncing "ch". Maybe I've run across so many "ch" words that the correct pronunciation isn't mysterious to me. From "The 3 'ch' sounds: sh, tch, k":
It can sound like k (as in “chasm” or “school”), like sh (as in “charade” or “brochure”), and like tch (as in “champion” and “child”).
One consonant pair that has intrigued me for pronunciation is "tr",
as in "tree". I hear "tchree". I sense that someone who pronounces it as
"tree" (tongue pressing the backs of the two upper front teeth) would sound like a
non-native speaker of English, maybe Eastern European. Related: pronunciation of "dr". Example: "Dream" sounds like "jreem" to me. "Dreem" (tongue pressing near the front of the roof of the mouth) would also maybe sound Eastern European.
Various consonant pairs seem to have one unpronounced letter. "HHow to Pronounce LM in FILM, REALM, PALM, OVERWHELM - American English Pronunciation Lesson" explains that the "l" is actually pronounced. The video also makes a good point about not inserting a vowel between "l" and "m". I tend to skip the "l" when saying balm, calm, palm, but I voice the "l" when saying realm.
"How do you pronounce “kn” in English?" explains the "k" was not always silent.
In early english, the "k" in the "kn" combination WAS pronounced, up until about the 15th century.
"Does German Use Silent Letters?" explains that the "k" in "kn" combination is voiced in German.
In English, the K is silent, like in the word KNEE. In German, both the K and the N are pronounced, and the K is hard.
The website also notes that the "ps" combination:
In English, the P is silent, like in the English word PSYCHOLOGICAL. In German, both the P and the S are pronounced, so the word begins with a ‘psss’ sound.
Additional consonant pairs I've noticed as odd, mostly because of non-pronunciation of one of the letters: mn (as in mnemonic), ph (as in phoenix), pn (as in pneumonia), and pt (as in pteradactyl). The "ph" pronunciation seems consistently "f".
Speaking of letters seen and mostly not heard, Merriam-Webster has a webpage listing and describing silent letters (from A to Z). Visit "Every Letter Is Silent, Sometimes How every letter can be (annoyingly) silent".
I hope I've piqued some curiosities about English-language characters present and past, and also about some pronunciations.
Related: "Pronunciation Musements"
