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Originally Posted by BobK  /ˈmi:nıɲlǝs/ is my pronunciation (or is it /ɳ/ ? - I forget). I don't know about Mike's. Some people tend in informal speech to say /ˈmi:nınlǝs/. Not only informal speech, now I come to think of it: dropping final g in -ing endings used to be characteristic of the upper-class accent - affected by arrivistes, who claimed to spend their lives "huntin' shootin' and fishin'".
When you say 'words such as "meaningless", "priceless" etc.' I presume you mean words that have a noun followed by the suffix -less. I've thought of two -less words that don't fit this meaning, and don't follow this pronunciation; there may be more - nevertheless and nonetheless are pronouced with a clear /e/.
b |
It is interesting, Bob!
Do you mean that more and more people start to pronounce normal "n" instead of the nasal "n"?
I myself don't think I can pronounce the nasal well. I have problems with it and it doesn't sound to nasal, when I read it, I think.
Thank you for mentioning the two words with -less. I wouldn't be aware of it if you didn't mention it. I guess that it is read with normal "e" because the stress is put on the last syllable, with the "e". Is it really the reason?
-less 
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