Don't our American cousins prefer /ˈziːbrə/? /ˈziːbrə/ is also the traditional UK pronunciation and is the only pronunciation given in the first edition (1917) of Daniel Jones's English Pronouncing Dictionary. The 18th edition (2011) gives /ˈzebrə/ first and /ˈziːbrə/ as a secondary pronunciation. I wonder when the /e/ variant was first included and when it took over from /i:/ as the primary variant. I've got a set of the different editions of the EPD here, but I'm too lazy to look it up. The Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.) has a preference poll: /e/ gets 83% and /i:/ 17%. Among younger speakers, /e/ gets practically 100%.
GA: /ˈwʌts ˈblæk ən ˈwaɪt | ən ˈiːts laɪk ə ˈhɔːrs
ReplyDeleteə ˈzebrə/
Don't our American cousins prefer /ˈziːbrə/?
ReplyDelete/ˈziːbrə/ is also the traditional UK pronunciation and is the only pronunciation given in the first edition (1917) of Daniel Jones's English Pronouncing Dictionary. The 18th edition (2011) gives /ˈzebrə/ first and /ˈziːbrə/ as a secondary pronunciation.
I wonder when the /e/ variant was first included and when it took over from /i:/ as the primary variant. I've got a set of the different editions of the EPD here, but I'm too lazy to look it up.
The Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.) has a preference poll: /e/ gets 83% and /i:/ 17%. Among younger speakers, /e/ gets practically 100%.
Merriam-Webster offers only /ˈziːbrə/ as does ODP.
ReplyDelete