[PW] Re: learned -- pronunciation

[Douglas Eric Anderson]

I understand that the differences in the pronunciations of *beloved* vs.
*loved*, and the pronunciation of certain adjectives like "ragged" and
"jagged", are probably a result of a similar process.

These also remind me (though these are each a different type of situation
altogether) that as a child I wondered what the verbs "nake" and "misle"
meant, and why one only ever saw them in the past form ... :-)

-- Doug A.



On Wed, June 14, 2006 10:29 am, Jimm Wetherbee wrote:
> Michael,
>
>
>> Why is it that we say a learned [lernid] professor, but learned [lernd]
>> behavior?
>>
> The OED has an entry regarding the suffix -ed that may serve as a
> partial explanation.  In brief, two things occurred, one was a general
> tendency to either drop or not express the vowel with most words (though
> not all).  The OED goes on that the difference in *lernid* and *lernd*
> would be to distinguish the adjectival use from that of the past
> participle.  I suppose it could have evolved the other way, although
> *lernid*, sounding somewhat archaic, may have more naturally attached
> itself to academia, just as words such as "blessed" are often pronounce
> *blessid* rather than *blessd* in an ecclesiastical setting (the latter
> phenomena is noted in the OED).
>
> --jimm
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-- 
Douglas E. Anderson
Reference Coordinator
Ashtabula County District Library
335 W. 44th St.
Ashtabula, OH 44004 USA
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