[Vocabulary] What's the correct syllabification of "Polish"?

[Mori]

There's a difference between how it's syllabified in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. There is the same problem with the word Syria. What do you think?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Since "ish" is a suffix, I'd probably break it there. But it doesn't matter, does it? It's pronounced the same either way. (But it's pronounced differently than "polish" with a small P.)

 

[emsr2d2]

I find the Longman version odd. I would certainly separate it into "Po" and "lish".

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I've never even heard of Longman. Is it British? Or just an online dictionary?

 

[Rover_KE]

It's British, and not one of our best, I'm afraid.

It's unfortunate that its influence seems to predominate in the Far East.

 

[Mori]

But it doesn't matter, does it?

In my school textbook there's an exercise where students are asked to underline the syllable that receives the main stress. I always ask them to check in a good dictionary, but unfortunately Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary doesn't show the syllabification. Now what should they do: Should they underline Po or Pol?

 

[Mori]

I find the Longman version odd. I would certainly separate it into "Po" and "lish".

The Merriam Webster Dictionary confirms the Longman versions:

• Polish

• Syria

 

[Mori]

It's British, and not one of our best, I'm afraid.

It's unfortunate that its influence seems to predominate in the Far East.

Well, at least according to Wikipedia it's one of the best learner's dictionaries. I personally believe Oxford dictionaries are by far the best, though.

 

[Mori]

The Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (one of Longman's better publications) warns in its third edition (2008) that "The question of syllabication is controversial: different phoneticians hold very different views about it". That dictionary gives the syllable split of both Polish (adjective) and polish (noun and verb) as coming between l and i. The Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary also gives a warning, in its 16th edition (2003), that "The decision on where to place a syllable decision is not easy"; it gives the split in the same place as the LPD.

You're great, man! :up:

 

[GoesStation]

The question is particularly difficult for demonyms. I think everyone would agree it would be wrong to split Polish as "Po-/lish" at the end of a line, but it's logical for pronunciation purposes.

 

[GoesStation]

I don't agree. The writers/editors of the LPD and the EPD put the split after the l. ​That's where I would put it.

I should have written "possibly defensible". Do the dictionaries that split the demonym after the O address how Polish should be hyphenated at the end of a line? If not, they've missed something.

 

[bubbha]

For me, the L colors the sound of the vowel O in "Polish". For instance, in "Polish" the O is not a diphthong, as it is in, say, "Poe". So in my pronunciation, at least, it would have to be Pol-ish.

 

[Mori]

It doesn't. It says that it is one of the best-known learner's dictionaries.

Sorry to ask an off-topic question, but I wonder how you compare it with Macmillan Dictionary: which has more accurate definitions?