Postscript

Posted by TheFallen on October 01, 2003

In Reply to: Are these exceptions? posted by TheOnceALinguistFallen on October 01, 2003

: : : : Beaumont's Angels (= there are 6 of us, teaching English at "Lycée Beaumont, Redon, Britanny, France")are getting desperate ! we 're having a tough time finding some coherent grammatical rule we could give our students about the pronounciation of the adjectives finishing with "-ed". Why do you say "crooked"[-id], "wicked" [-id],"legged" [-id]...and "eyed" [aid],"barbed"(wire) [barbd]...?
: : : : Any help welcome !

: : : Why?
: : : Cause we are the US of A and can do anything we want--take out people we don't like, terrorize people, bomb innocents, imprison citizens who speak out and generally swagger drunkenly around the globe causing terrible misery.

: : : Now back to the real question you asked:
: : : I am sure some word smith that populates this region of the internet will surely help you soon.

: : I usually only like to swagger drunkenly around my own neighborhood. I can find my way home easier that way.

: Hmmm. I'm not sure that there's a hard and fast grammatically linked rule for pronunciation. In old hymn books you occasionally see a grave accent on certain e's in the lyrics where the congregation is intended to sing the word in question as two syllables - blessèd (pron. bless-id) being an example that comes to mind. I've seen the same device used in older poetry books where the publisher is determined to show the expected scansion. However that's all a side issue.

: The clear "regular" pronunciation is with a silent non-syllabic e - played, eyed, barbed, loved, etc. I wonder if the examples you quote as exceptions really are exceptions - consider "the crooked card dealer crooked his finger at me" or "the wicked landlord laughed as the water wicked its way up the bricks". In these cases, the bisyllabic pronunciation may be to distinguish the figurative adjective from the more simplistic verb.

: As to "legged", I'd use a monosyllabic pronunciation of this word to describe a supermodel as long-legged. I do grant you that there is a rote expression "long-legged beasties" where "legged is indeed bisyllabic. However, given that this phrase is taken from a poetic source - "ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night" - I suspect that my earlier point about verse playing fast and loose with the rules may still stand.

After thirty seconds' reflection, you could of course also consider the following example - "the long-legged beastie legged its way over the hills and far away." I'm sticking with straightforward verbal parts featuring a silent e, and figurative adjectival usages being differentiated by a bisyllabic e...

...except in poetry and hymns.