This question given rise to by material in the current “IMHO” thread “Pet Peeves Only You Have”.
I’m wondering whether there is an American / UK English difference, as follows. Posters in the above thread seem unanimous that for Latin feminine-gender nouns adopted as English words, and ending in “-a” – plural thus “-ae” – antennae, larvae, vertebrae, alumnae: the “ae” ending is pronounced “ee”: and that American teachers used to insist on this with great firmness.
I (lifelong UK citizen and resident) think (though without total certainty: pluralising of such words seems seldom to occur in conversation, in the circles in which I move !) that I was taught that “ae” endings as above, are pronounced “eye”; and that that is the normal pronunciation convention in the UK. Am wondering a little, though, whether I’m right about any of this, re the UK. Can anyone who feels that they’re on surer ground over this than I am, clarify?