Silent letter !

[crazYgeeK]

Do I have to remember all words that have silent letters to pronunciate them correctly ? Or We have a rule to grasp for easy pronunciation ?
For example, I have usually read the word "castle" with a clear tone at the "t" but I've just learned that it should be pronounced without "t" like as "casle". There are many other words with silent letter and I have to learn to pronounce each by each without a general rule for all ?
The "t" in "caster" is not a silent letter, so that's why I want a rule to know when it is a silent letter or not ?
The same to other silent letters such as "g" (sign), "b" (bomb), "p" (cupboard), "r" (iron - I've always read this with a clear tone at "r" before), "t" (whistle) ...
The easy silent letters to learn are "h"(hour) and "e" (heart), but there are some too difficult to me such as "t", "r", "s". I guess the "t" is only a silent letter in the "stle" and it will be pronounced as "sle" instead ?
Thank you so much !

 

[5jj]

The same to other silent letters such as "g" (sign), "b" (bomb), "p" (cupboard), "r" (iron - I've always read this with a clear tone at "r" before), "t" (whistle) ...
The easy silent letters to learn are "h"(hour) and "e" (heart), but there are some too difficult to me such as "t", "r", "s". I guess the "t" is only a silent letter in the "stle" and it will be pronounced as "sle" instead ?
Thank you so much !

There are not really many rules, You simply have to learn, for example, that the letter 'g' is not pronounced in 'sign' and 'singer', but it is in 'signal' and 'finger'.
Words ending in '-mb' and '-bt' have a silent 'b', those ending in '-stle(r)' a silent 't', and those beginning in 'pn-', 'ps-' and 'pt-' a silent 'p'.
At the beginning or end of a word, 'g' is silent before 'm' and 'n'.
At the beginning of a word, 'k' is silent before 'n'.
At the end of a word, 'n' is silent after 'm'.
'w' is silent before 'r' at the beginning of a word, and in 'sword' and 'answer'.

 

[SoothingDave]

There's an "r" is "iron" when I say it.

 

[5jj]

There's an "r" is "iron" when I say it.

Is that as in 'I earn' or as in 'irony'?

 

[Barb_D]

There's an R for me too. Irony, iron, ironic... all have an R in there.

 

[BobK]

Re the /r/ in 'iron'; I believe that's true of Am English. In standard British English, there is no /r/ ( so that 'iron' and 'ion' [a charged particle] sound almost the same - I say 'almost' because some speakers maintain a distinction by pronouncing the /ɒ/ in 'ion'. Some speakers in the UK have the /r/ as a dialectal variant (the various dialects used in Scotland use it, for example).

...
At the end of a word, 'n' is silent after 'm'.
...

Recently, I've heard this applied to derivatives also (where the final 'n' is no longer final). I (and most British speakers over 30) say /'kɒlǝm/ but /'kɒlǝmnist/. Younger speakers keep the silent 'n' in both words.

b

PS Barb's post has reninded me of another thing. Like the /n/ in 'columnist', we reinstate the /r/ in 'irony', 'ironic' etc (though 'reinstate' is probably the wrong word, as the link with the metal is shrouded in the mists of philological history (if it's there at all - I haven't checked).

 

[SoothingDave]

Is that as in 'I earn' or as in 'irony'?

One syllable. Like "earn" sort of. Irony is three syllables with the I like ice cream.

 

[Barb_D]

If I have to iron my dress I would say I have to i-earn my dress.

I say irony as both i-earn-ee and i-run-ee. More the latter.

Two syllables for iron, three for irony.

 

[SoothingDave]

My dialect is probably not typical of Americans or the dictionary. But iron is one syllable where I come from.

 

[Barb_D]

John Travolta nailed the Baltimore accent in Hairspray.

He/she had to "arn."

 

[BobK]

I've done some digging; the words 'iron' and 'irony' seem to be unrelated (except in the rare cases when 'irony' is used to mean 'like the metal'. This is what I got from Harper's Online Etymology Dictionary:

Word Origin & History

iron
O.E. isærn (with M.E. rhotacism of -s- ), from P.Gmc. *isarnan (cf. O.S. isarn , O.N. isarn , M.Du. iser , O.H.G. isarn , Ger. Eisen ) "holy metal" or "strong metal" (in contrast to softer bronze) probably an early borrowing of Celt. *isarnon (cf. O.Ir. iarn, Welsh haiarn ), from PIE *is-(e)ro- "powerful, holy," from PIE *eis "strong" (cf. Skt. isirah "vigorous, strong," Gk. ieros "strong"). The verb meaning "press clothes" (with a heated flat-iron) is first recorded 1670s; ironing board is from 1843.

I thought at first that their 'ieros' was a typo for 'eiros', but it's not. My Greek Dict'y tells me that there were two words - ̔̔̔ιερός (as in 'hierarchy') meaning 'sacred;/'powerful'/'excellent'..., and ̕είρων (whence 'irony') meaning 'dissembler'. I'll sleep better now. ;-)

b