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Why is accidentally pronounced accident-ly and not accident-tal-ly?

Incidentally, some other adverbs have this same phenomenon, where some dictionaries show the second-to-last syllable as being optional.

tchrist
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Glide
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1 Answers1

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For precisely the same reason as UK speakers often drop an unstressed syllable in words like medicine and secretary, making those come out as though they were spelt “medcine” and “secretry” instead.

It is because we sometimes reduce unstressed syllables not just to ambiguity, but to oblivion.

Edit: Barrie notes in a comment that the OED allows for only four syllables in accidentally, never five, so this is hardly uncommon.

Adding laboratory and territory to the list along with medicine and secretary, Patricia T. O’Connor observes here and here that dropping the penultimate syllable is a relatively “new” phenomenon in UK English, arising in the late 18th and early-to-mid 19th centuries. (But what happens with words like Worcester is something else, as she shows here).

But it is really no different than people pronouncing centuries as sentries, or -ally words as though they were -ly. Unstressed syllables are simply fragile. It is what happens in contractions, whether written or spoken. It can be also seen when Vulgar Latin developed into modern Romance, so it is not as though this were unique to English.

tchrist
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    Acknowledged in the OED, which gives both the British and US pronunciations as consisting of four syllables only, with no alternatives. – Barrie England Jan 18 '13 at 10:25
  • Among others that always confuse me are basically, technically, practically and accidentally. Thanks for linking Grammarphobia. –  Jan 18 '13 at 13:45
  • @InglishTeeture I don’t understand: how do they “confuse” you? – tchrist Jan 18 '13 at 14:19
  • @tchrist - The confusion is about whether to drop the syllable and say /li/ for every word that ends in –ally. It gets tricky when I don't have a dictionary nearby for a quick reference. –  Jan 18 '13 at 14:24
  • @InglishTeeture I’m not sure a dictionary is your best guide here. You have to develop your own ear for the language, and then do whatever makes sense in your current dialect and register and delivery. If you stare at it too long, it will begin to seem weird no matter what you do. – tchrist Jan 18 '13 at 14:26
  • @tchrist - Developing one's own ear for the English language is not easy being in India, especially in the region where I live. That's mainly because there aren't many who speak and pronounce English correctly around here. So, most of us heavily rely on books of reference. –  Jan 18 '13 at 14:44
  • Also, the classic example 'probably' in casual speech is often pronounced 'probly' – Mitch Jan 18 '13 at 15:43
  • @InglishTeeture: 1) listen to English or American movies/TV online. Or since you're in India, people will expect a more Indian style. Does sounding more British/American come with prestige there, or is it considered too elitist? – Mitch Jan 18 '13 at 15:46
  • @Mitch - I'm glad you asked. I can't probably vouch for everyone but for me, following the accepted standards of a language, whether native or foreign, is more of academic importance than anything else. Of course, English has its own glamour in India and people get noticed when they communicate in English well. I consider that only as an added bonus. –  Jan 18 '13 at 16:00
  • @InglishTeeture: It might sound funny to you at the hint that there might be some negative associated with prestige, but at least in the US there's a bit of anti-elitism and so a little bit of French or Latin thrown in will sound pretentious; educated yes, but also pretentious. (Of course a plethora of Latinate words is almost necessary in technical communication like law, engineering, or medicine and so is not pretentious there, I'm just talking about everyday communication. – Mitch Jan 18 '13 at 16:22
  • @Mitch: Point taken. I do get that a lot when I sound different to others here, like if I have to drop the penultimate syllable in 'basically' and pronounce it as /ˈbeɪsɪkli/. It must sound 'pretentious' to them. It has certainly done so whenever I pronounced 'women' as /ˈwɪmɪn/ whereas even most of the educated people would pronounce it as as /wʊmɛn/ here. –  Jan 18 '13 at 16:36
  • Well, I've always said accidentally with five syllables, as do lots of others, so the OED is wrong. Wrong! – Andrew Leach Jan 18 '13 at 16:45
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    tchrist, British people do not always drop an unstressed syllable in words like medicine and secretary. That varies between different people. – Tristan May 18 '13 at 17:59