Most compound words are pronounced with the identical pronunciation of each word in the compound. However, a few compound words are not. Let us look at ten compound words with modified pronunciations.
The following compound words have pronunciations which differ from the individual words:
breakfast
cupboard
endless
everybody
gentleman
gentlemen
necklace
nothing
vineyard
woodland
In the compound breakfast, both the word break and the word fast are not pronounced as they are in the individual words.
This is also the case with cupboard. The final consonant of cup is not pronounced, and the word board is pronounced with a different vowel in the compound cupboard.
In the compound endless, the word less is pronounced with a schwa.
The word everybody has a different vowel in the second part of the compound. It is not the same vowel used in body.
The compound gentleman has a schwa in the word man. This is also true for the word gentlemen. The result is that gentleman and gentlemen are pronounced the same.
In the word necklace, the second word of the compound is not pronounced the same as the word lace. The final vowel in necklace is a schwa.
However, in the word nothing, it is the first part of the compound which is pronounced differently. The first vowel of nothing is different from the vowel of no.
In the compound word vineyard, both parts of the compound have different vowels from those of vine and yard. However, in British English, only the first word of the compound is pronounced differently.
The compound woodland has a different vowel in the second part of the compound. The word land has a schwa when it is in the compound word woodland.
Most compound words are pronounced the same as the individual words in the compound. The compounds boathouse, surfboard and weekday are pronounced with the identical pronunciations of each word in the compound. However, with certain words, the pronunciation is modified. This indicates that the pronunciation of compound words can change over time.
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