How is the word 'cyan' pronounced? Is it pronounced sigh-yann /saɪæn/ or sigh-yun /saɪən/ and is the stress on the first or second syllable?
The online dictionary entries indexed by OneLook Dictionary Search list both "SIGH-ann" /ˈsaɪæn/ and "SIGH-un" /ˈsaɪən/, with the stress on the first syllable. Some of them show secondary stress on the second syllable (/ˈsaɪˌæn/), such as Macmillan and the American Heritage Dictionary (which transcribes it as "sī′ăn′" with a larger stress mark after the first syllable), but none of them lists any pronunciation variants with the primary stress on the second syllable.
However, there are allusions to pronunciations with primary stress on the second syllable in various other places on the web:
Syllabification of "Cyan", using spaces (space bar) to separate syllables? (Yahoo Answers):
Cy AN. Stress is on the second syllable.
Cara
Although, is it true that Cyan, when properly pronounced, rhymes with
Diane? ;) Because I'm terribly attached to it rhyming with "lion,"
even more than I was attached to "D'ni" having its second syllable
stressed, which was before I learned it was supposed to have its first
syllable stressed, which was before RAWA dropped the bomb that, in
fact, the second syllable IS supposed to get more emphasis than the
first. (75th Trombone, Posted 11 March 2003 - 07:28 AM)
Behind the Name: User Comments for the Name Cyan
In Britain at least, the word "cyan" is pronounced "sie-ANNE", with
the stress on the 2nd syllable not the 1st.
-- Anonymous User
3/7/2006
Does anyone have any more information about the different pronunciations of this word?
Answer
The Oxford Dictionary Online specifies the pronunciation of cyan as /ˈsīən/. With this pronunciation, the first syllable carries the stress.
Merriam Webster's online dictionary, on the other hand, specifies two valid pronunciations of cyan: /ˈsī-ˌan, -ən/. The dictionary entry in this case puts the stress on the first syllable for both pronunciations.
Having spent a good deal of time in both the UK and the USA, my experience with the word supports Merriam Webster's entry, but not fully. I've heard both pronunciations (/ˈsī-ˌan, -ən/) in colloquial and professional use, and I've seen the word cyan appear in poetry and spoken in certain dialects (especially Irish and Australian) such that the stress can be manipulated by syntactic structure. Your already-referenced dictionary discrepancies support this broad interpretation.
Ultimately, you're asking a very complicated linguistic question here, and there exists no narrow answer because a narrow answer necessarily depends on relegating the scope of the question to a specific dialectic region and even a specific usage example within that dialectic region.
No comments:
Post a Comment