Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Wordsmith Wednesday

The all-authoritative "They" say that English is one of the most complicated languages to learn.  The sheer number of rules and exceptions can be overwhelming for those who claim it as their native tongue, so I suspect that "They" are right in this case.

Do other languages have homophones, homographs and homonyms?  What about heteronyms?   Do YOU know what a heteronym is?  Well, let me tell you.  

Heteronyms are specific types of homographs (words with the same spelling but different in meaning or origin) in which the different pronunciations are associated with different meanings.  Specifically, when you change the accent from one syllable to another, everything changes!  Many heteronyms are the result of one pronunciation being a verb and another being a noun.  For example:

REcord / reCORD
OBject / obJECT
CONverse / conVERSE
PROject / proJECT
COMpact / comPACT
AUgust / auGUST
ENtrance / enTRANCE
PROceed / proCEED
ATribute / aTRIBute
CONduct / conDUCT
CONtent / conTENT
REFuse / reFUSE
SUBject / subJECT

How confusing that must be since we don't write with accent marks?!  These are just a few of dozens...can you come up with more?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

re: "can you come up with more?"

Would you accept:

ABsolutely/AbSOlutely/AbsoLUTEly/AbsoluteLY ???

/;>)
Guess who!!