Pronunciation of "biopic"?

[MrAtoz]

@pulykamell

On the flip side, how do you pronounce “biosphere” and “biodome” and “biomass” and “biometric”? It seems there is some linguistic rule at play here, especially when “bio” and its ending can be separated into a prefix and standalone word.

Probably so. I wonder if number of syllables has anything to do with it? For example, “biograph” isn’t a word. But if it were, my instinct would be to pronounce it as bio-graph, not bi-ograph. Most of your examples (with the exception of “biometric”) likewise have just one syllable after the bio-, while “biography” has two.

I have no real strong feelings about it, but find it interesting to see a linguistic shift in progress. Myself, I’ve always pronounced it “bio-pic,” but I can certainly understand that this is not an inherently obvious pronunciation, and that people who pronounce it “bi-opic” are not stupid for doing so.

[Apollyon]

@SanVito

And here’s another example where we can’t make assumptions about the English language - ‘pictures’ is used frequently in the UK, as in 'shall we go to the pictures?, or ‘have you seen the latest picture by Spielberg?’ ‘Movie’ is distinctly American sounding.

Concur for NZ English, though “pictures” has something of an older / childhood flavour to it while “movies” is common in more recent use… I blame US cultural exports.

[pulykamell]

@MrAtoz

For example, “biograph” isn’t a word. But if it were, my instinct would be to pronounce it as bio-graph, not bi-ograph.

There’s actually a Biograph Theater here in Chicago and we do pronounce it “bio-graph.”

[sbunny8]

@MrAtoz

Although the “bi-AH-pic” folks at YouTube did add one additional argument, that I don’t think I’ve seen here. Namely: Do you pronounce “biography” as “BYE-oh-graphy?” No, you pronounce it as “Bi-AH-graphy.” In other words, the “bio” in “biography” is pronounced EXACTLY THE SAME as the “bio” in “bi-AH-pic.” So how can “bi-AH-pic” possibly be wrong?

There’s a rule in English that says which syllables are stressed often depends on how many syllables the word has. And pronunciation of vowels depends at least partly on whether that syllable is stressed or not.
Example 1: photograph (three syllables), FOE toe graph. photography (four syllables) foe TAH gruff fee. According to your logic, photograph should be pronounced foe TAH gruff. Show me native speaker of English who pronounces photograph that way. I dare you.
Example 2: biology (four syllables) bye AH low gee, biological (five syllables) BYE owe LAH jih cull. According to your logic, everyone is saying biological wrong because the second o is supposed to be pronounced AH.

Granted, there are lots of exceptions, including many words where American English stresses it one way and British English stresses it another way, but even then you still see the vowel sounds changing when the stress changes.
Example 3: controversy. American: CON trow Vur see. British: cun TRAH vur see.
Example 4: harassment. American: huh RASS mint. British: HAIR iss munt.

Pop Quiz. You know how to pronounce geometry and geometrical. How would you pronounce geodog? Would you say JEE owe dog, or jee AH dog?
Bonus Question. Suppose you meet someone who pronounces photograph foe TAH gruff. Is that person being ree DICK cue luss, or are they being RID ick CUE luss?