#nd different spellings based o accent and language and such

[histrynerdss]

oo baket ang ano ano non like . alam ko yung totoong dahilan pero ano bayan naman

i hate that "that that" is grammatically correct. why is english the joke language

[gredi-bird]

hi there, fellow ND with a linguistics degree here, I've got an answer for you that might be extremely unsatisfying!

tl;dr: The problem is that pronunciation doesn't come from spelling, it's something we're supposed to automatically pick up, like social cues.

We actually pronounce karaoke as "care-ee-okie" to be more consistent with pronunciation, because spoken and written English are separate. Spoken language is alive and constantly changing, but our writing system is based on standards set before Shakespeare.

Our system of vowels has changed so much since then, spelling is really more of a hint at pronunciation than anything else. Folks that automatically conform with ppl around them often don't ever realize this, leading to things like the "readers accent" in those of us who doggedly tried to sound everything out like we were told to.

pretty color-coded breakdown of how karaoke turned into ke-ri-yo-ki below the break

pls read it i worked way too hard on it lol

Our karaoke and coyote are borrowed from other languages, but as they became familiar they've subtly shifted to fit the pronunciation patterns of modern English.

To do some armchair historical linguistics, let's look at karaoke.

(note: if the phonetic sound spellings don't make sense, try it in an American accent. I didn't do it in IPA to make it accessible to non-linguists, which unfortunately means localizing it)

(note 2: this is a quick and dirty no-research analysis for demonstration purposes. my intent is just to show how sound change works in general. pls be kind to me if you see my mistakes lol)

original Japanese: ka-ra-o-ke

add English stress patterns: KA-ra-O-ke

English vowels have different versions for different stress levels: KEH-ra-O-kuh

but the original "e" at the end is reminiscent of the common "-y" ending: KEH-ra-O-kee

now we've got "a" and "o" right next to each other, which is very Not English, so we add in a sneaky consonant: KEH-ra-YO-kee

but if you say that fast a few times, that de-stressed "a" there gets sort of assimilated into the Y to make a lil internal rhyme, and all of a sudden we've got our familiar: KEH-ree-YO-kee

if you think that's complicated, just be glad we didn't stop at "KEH-ra-YO-kuh".

So we're not saying a Japanese word wrong, it's taking on English sounds bit by bit as it makes itself at home in our language

the more i learn bits and pieces of other languages the more annoyed i get with english