Linked Vowels
Krale
from Boyne City asked what to call the conjoined æ. It is called a ligature, linked vowels, or
a digraph.
There
is no single universal pronunciation. Brits spell the word encyclopaedia;
Americans consider that to be archaic and spell it encyclopedia, with the ae pronounced as ee. A long ee sound also
appears in paediatric/pediatric and in anaemia/anemia.
But
in paedophile/pedophile, the ae
sounds like eh. The same eh sound appears in aesthetic/esthetic.
The
œ combination is also a
ligature. It has a short sound (eh)
in oesophagus/esophagus. But in oecology/ecology and in foetus/fetus, it has
the long ee sound.
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