# Change Letter --\> big change in pronunciation

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-letter-big-change-in-pronunciation/761510>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 1, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-letter-big-change-in-pronunciation/761510 "2016-08-01T22:26:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-letter-big-change-in-pronunciation/761510/21 "2016-08-02T20:25:54Z")

</div>

> [@BrotherCadfael](#):
>
> Doesn’t that ADD a syllable?

Which post are you refering to?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-letter-big-change-in-pronunciation/761510/22 "2016-08-02T23:14:53Z")

</div>

Subtleties–\>subtitles

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-letter-big-change-in-pronunciation/761510/23 "2016-08-03T10:54:53Z")

</div>

> [@jtur88](#):
>
> Which post are you refering to?

“And \*\*idea =\> ideal \*\*adds a letter and subtracts a syllablle.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-letter-big-change-in-pronunciation/761510/24 "2016-08-03T11:07:41Z")

</div>

Syllables are not cut-and-dried… But, to me, you either pronounce both “idea” and “ideal” with two syllables, or you pronounce them both with three.

But I do see how you could analyze “ideal” as two (many would say the word “deal” has one syllable), while requiring “idea” to have three (since the “-ea” here is clearly not a single phoneme, as it is in, say, “pea.”)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-letter-big-change-in-pronunciation/761510/25 "2016-08-03T16:51:35Z")

</div>

Only four letters, but  
tomb-\>comb-\>bomb

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-letter-big-change-in-pronunciation/761510/26 "2016-08-03T20:50:13Z")

</div>

A mathematician and a chemist pronounce (and hyphenate) equivalent entirely differently. Although not an example of the OP, consider what happens to finite, when you prefix in-.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-letter-big-change-in-pronunciation/761510.md?page=1)