Has the pronunciation of ‘divisive’ ever been consistent?
Barabara Walters’ pronounciation of ‘divisive’ (long vowel sound) is much more pleasing to me than Barack Obama’s (short vowel sound), yet the latter is more popular. You hear it everywhere now.
Here is Obama for those (like me) who had no idea what OP was talking about. I can’t believe I didn’t notice this before.
Well, there’s “divide” and “divisor” on one hand, and “division” on the other, so there’s support for both pronunciations.
But I’ve always pronounced it with the long vowel – “div-eye-siv” – which to me is the natural pronunciation. So that is obviously the correct way to say it. 
More seriously, I think the presence of the “e” suggests that the long vowel sound is more appropriate – as opposed to how one might pronounce “divisiv”. See, for instance, “kit” versus “kite”. Of course, we’re talking about the English language here, where rules exist primarily for the purpose of being ignored and trampled to death.
I don’t hear anyone in the American media use the long-vowelled version anymore.
Yeah, I think in my speech I prefer the short vowel version, but I also use the long vowel version for emphasis.
Well, if the evidence of the OED is to be believed, at one time the long-vowel pronunciation was consistently favoured, since that is the only pronunciation the OED records. The OED is a descriptive dictionary and doesn’t hesitate to record alternative pronunciations where both are current.
So I’m guessing the short-vowel pronunciation as a common phenomenon is a relatively recent development.
(And my own observation, for what it’s worth, is that I only hear it from US speakers, so it may be regional to the US.)
Thanks UDS1. I think I started hearing ‘divisiv’ for the first time around 2007 and after. I don’t remember hearing before that. I grated on my ears.
IMO, and worth what you paid for it…
Long “i” sound is UK English standard and in the USA is somewhere between deliberate high-register and an affectation. Short “i” sound is US standard.
Whether the long “i” affectation sounds simply highbrow or sounds offputtingly haughty depends a lot on your attitude to the speaker & their topic.
No, it hasn’t been consistent. It’s always been… you know… I’m trying really hard not to say it…
Different sources appear to have different views on this issue, often contradicting each other. However, the general consensus seems to be that the long-i form is standard and preferred. For example, the link below to the American Heritage Dictionary shows the long-i pronunciation as standard, and states that, at the last survey of their Usage Panel, 88% considered the long-i pronunciation the preferred form. It also notes that the short-i variant, though still “less favored” than the long-i, is becoming increasingly prevalent and thus on a path to becoming an “established variant”. The Cambridge Dictionary, meanwhile, shows the long-i form as standard in both US and UK English.
Additionally, here’s an extract from a comment on StackExchange supporting the long-i form. I think the example of many verbs ending in -ide retaining the long-i sound in their adjectival form is very persuasive of that form being the appropriate standard. But as I implied earlier, the only consistency in the “rules” of the English language is their inconsistency.
verbs that end in -ide (/aɪd/) regularly produce adjectives ending in -isive (/aɪsɪv/) …
decisive derisive divisive incisive ...
Both the OED and the OALD agree with this.
I’m thinking therefore that the “other” pronunciation is less broadly accepted, perhaps a regionalism or sort of hypercorrection due to interference with divisible /dɪˈvɪzɪbəl/.
The sources I’ve seen don’t seem to generally indicate a US-UK divide on this. Regardless, I would never have ascribed any sort of prestige register to either variant. As noted earlier, I’ve always said it with the long “i” and as far as I can remember, have always heard it that way. This is in Canada, which often adopts hybrids of UK and US usage.
Yeah, there are two sides to this, and nobody seems to agree on it. It’s, like, um, thingo… tip of my tongue…
Conteentious?
Controoversial?
A source of isle while?
I can’t resist the temptation to ask those who feel that “divisive” with a short “i” is the appropriate pronunciation how they feel about the following related adjectives:
- The verb “decide” becomes the adjective “decisive”. How do you pronounce “decisive”?
- The verb “deride” becomes the adjective “derisive”. How do you pronounce “derisive”?
- The verb “incide” – which is archaic, but historically means “to cut”, is the origin of the modern adjective “incisive”. How do you pronounce “incisive”?
- The verb “divide” becomes the adjective “divisive” How do you pronounce “divisive”? If not consistently with the above, why not?
Decisive and incisive are long “i” in my dialect.
Derisive and divisive are short “i” in my dialect. So is risible.
Your point is, Good Sir? 
-ive is long. Eg Divisive, Derisive, Decisive
-ision has a short i
Are you saying you pronounce the “i” in “…sive” as long, or that you pronounce the “i” in the syllable that precedes the “… sive” as long?
Ah, I see - it’s di-vi-s-EYE-v!
Then I guess my point would be that your dialect contains arbitrary inconsistencies. I believe it’s preferable that all those words and all others matching a similar pattern of -ide verbs transformed into -ive adjectives should all be pronounced the same. Most dictionaries I’ve consulted tend to agree that this is mainstream pronunciation (example) while in some cases acknowledging the short “i” as a minority variant. Your dialect may be a regionalism. I will not presume to say that it’s “wrong”, but I’ll just point out that it should be no surprise since there are vast areas of the US that have never heard of the Caesar, or President’s Choice onion rings, or Stefano marinara sauce, and where people pronounce “divisive” with a short “i”. That’s just the sort of world we live in.
Quite.
We’re an unschooled lot, but at least we’re loud and there are a great many of us. Fortunately amongst ourselves we can agree on nearly nothing, and so nearly nothing gets done. Which is probably for the better
Just throwing in that in JibJab’s video for the 2008 presidential elections (“Time for Some Campaignin’” - Youtube link), the Barack Obama character uses the long-vowel pronunciation. 1:14 minutes into that video.