[TUHS] Unix, eunuchs?

[vasco@icpnet.pl (Andrzej Popielewicz)]

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John Cowan napisał(a):

>Andrzej Popielewicz scripsit:
>
>  
>
>>eunuch is "'yunek"
>>unit is "'yunet"
>>unique is "yu'nek,yu'nik"
>>
>>You can notice, that unix , more similar to unit or unique will be 
>>pronounced differently(?).
>>    
>>
>
>English is a vowel-reduction language, like Russian or Portuguese;
>vowels in unstressed syllables tend to be reduced either to schwa or to
>lax short i.  Because the anglophone countries broke up politically before
>language standardization could take effect, there is no single standard
>pronunciation worldwide, nor any fixed hierarchy of standards.
>
>Therefore, one must consider both dialects in which the unstressed short
>i and the unstressed schwa both become schwa, and ones where they do not.
>In the former dialects, "Unix" and "eunuchs" sound exactly alike; in
>the latter dialects, there is a small difference.
>  
>
OK, so I have learned something about English.

>(As Tim Bradshaw notes, "unique" is stressed on the second syllable,
>so there is no vowel reduction on that syllable.)
>
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It is and it was quite obvious for me before, I agree with You both,I 
found only words with similar pronounciation(neglecting stress).

>>I suspect , that if the pronounciation were be same many people would 
>>have noticed it before.
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>>
>
>I am quite certain that many people have.  It was perfectly obvious to me
>the first time I saw the word "Unix" written, and that was in 1976 or so.
>
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Well, I cannot "reproduce it" in my mind this funny feeling I suspect, 
as not natively Enlish speaking.
Hopefully it helped the Unix .Does it cause the smile every time You 
hear it ?
Even now knowing it I will probably ,hearing or reading the word "Unix", 
not associate it with "eunuch".Probably because I have coded Polish 
pronounciation in my mind, or in other words I mostly think in Polish.

>>It is clear , that opinion of American/English linguistic/language 
>>specialist would be neccesarry.
>>    
>>
>
>I am not a specialist, but I am a generalist with a good understanding
>of the domain.
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Your opinion is sufficient.I appreciate.

Andrzej