Pronunciation

[princeot]

Why are some words pronounced and written differently?
For example-COLONEL...which is pronounced as KERNEL.

and, adding 'T' before two 'Z's, as in pizza or abruzzi...which is pronounced as pitzza and abrtzzi respectively.

If a word is pronounced like that, why not write like that :?:

 

[Rover_KE]

...adding 'D' before two 'Z's, as in pizza or abruzzi...which is pronounced as pidzza and abrdzzi respectively.

I've never heard those words pronounced anything like that.

Regarding colonel and kernel, nobody ever claimed that English pronunciation was logical.

Rover

 

[Barb_D]

Peet-zuh

I"m sorry to say I don't even know the other word.

 

[jlinger]

It's just the word origins hanging around. They are useful distinctions in writing, as it's often less easy to determine context from written word than from spoken conversation. Seeing a different spelling puts your mind in the right place.

Colonel came from "column" and kernal arrived in English from "corn."

And that's not a d in front of those zz's. It's a t. Pitzza. That's just an Italian pronunciation, so don't blame the English for that one!

There have been many (mostly unsuccessful) attempts at simplifying spelling. Theodore Roosevelt, when he wasn't presiding or exploring or rough riding, was one such proponent. There have been many examples of such evolutionary changes, but it's a very slow process.

For example, Americans have been successful in replacing "catalogue" with "catalog" - but still retain "tongue" instead of "tong" (or, actually, "tung," which is what the Simplified Spellers want).

Google it. It's a fascinating history.