On 12-Sep-2005, "Daniel Masse" <pas_de_spam_masse.dan@free.fr>
wrote in message <4325c6c2$0$14375$636a55ce@news.free.fr>:
> Hello !
>
> I am French... hence my question : I always thought that the word
> "wilderness" was pronunced like "wild",
dernier a la voyelle de "will", pas celle de "wheel". Ne
These words behave as if "wild" had a long vowel, but "wilderness"
a short one, in Middle English before the Great Vowel Shift (Grand
changement vocalique). But I'm not sure if that's the actual historical
reason for the difference in this particular pair.
> but I heard americans from the NW
> pronuncing the word like "weelderness" : who is right ?
They are.
--
Jim Heckman
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