Pronunciation of mountain and maintain

[davey101]

Hey!

I was wondering why the pronunciation of the 'tain' part in 'mountain' and 'maintain' are different?

Mountain's ending rhymes with 'in'. Whereas maintain's ending rhymes with 'pain'.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Tdol]

The first syllable of mountain is stressed, but the second of maintain; stress can affect pronunciation.

 

[BobK]

:up: (Also, that's often just the way it is in English. Why do tough cough through though borough [in Br Eng that is] bough and thought not have the same pronunciation for 'ough'? Stress explains borough but that still leaves six variants.) You can think of rules and exceptions, but where do the rules come from?

b