Teacher Discussion Forums

sheikh radlinrol · Joined: 09 May 2007 Posts: 9

A student here in Spain was asked which of these four words had a different number of syllables from the others.

Wednesday vegetables languages excited

As I have a Scottish accent, I was stumped and embarrassed when she asked me for the answer. All comments welcome.

Lorikeet · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 3:55 am Post subject:

Wednesday has two syllables for me. ( Sort of sounds like wenzday)

sheikh radlinrol · Joined: 09 May 2007 Posts: 9

We would pronounce it as wed-ens-day. Maybe we're in the minority and should be teaching them your version, which I suppose is easier for them. Thanks for the reply.

Lorikeet · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 4:05 pm Post subject:

Oh! I didn't know it was pronounced as 3 syllables anywhere. I wonder why it isn't "wed-nes-day." Silly English spelling.

Buddhaheart · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 10:58 pm Post subject:

Canadian pronunciations of these words are as follows:

Wednesday: 2 syllables. The middle ‘e’ is silent.
Vegetables: 3 or 4 syllables. The second ‘e’ may be uttered or not. If so, it’s pronounced as a schwa.
Languages: 3 syllables
Excited: 3 syllables

You might therefore say there could be 2 “words (that) had a different number of syllables from
the others.”

eslweb · Joined: 31 May 2006 Posts: 208 Location: United Kingdom

I'd pronounce it exactly as the Cambridge Dictionary suggests:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=89616&ph=on
IPA /'wenz.dei/

I hope this helps...

James