The Evolution of Pronunciation – The Scholarly Kitchen

By inergency On Apr 5, 2024

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A recent Twitter (sorry, “X”) conversation about the word “preprint” got me thinking about the evolution of language and the video below. Just as the meaning of words change (when was the last time you “hung up” or “dialed” a phone?), so too does pronunciation. As Erica Brozovsky of Otherwords notes, the only difference between a correct pronunciation and a mispronunciation of a word is often time. The video below is full of all sorts of different reasons why words are mispronounced (“hypercorrection” leading to silicon being pronounced differently than bacon or falcon, and where that “r” at the end of “idea” comes from in certain regions). I realized that I mispronounce “coup de grace” without the “s” sound at the end, and that I’m at the cutting edge of those changing the pronunciation of “dour” to rhyme with “sour”. See if you can spot any of your own habits below.

David Crotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

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