On Sat, 7 May 2005 16:07:56 +0200, Jozef
<jozef.van.holsbeeck@pandora.be> wrote:
> Can somebody tell me the correct pronunciation of the word 'direction' ?
> Is it d&-'rek-sh&n or 'dI-rek-sh&n ? Or are both correct and is it simply
> a question of AmE or BrE ?
British English generally has the stress on the second syllable (all of
the times I've heard a Brit put the emphasis on the first they have
been exposed to AmE, but there could be BrE regional variations which do
that as well). The vowel sound can vary, however, between a schwa
(which I assume is what the & is in your notation), I as in 'bite' and
(more rarely) i as in 'hit' depending on the speaker.
The Concise OED (9th ed.) gives the latter two forms equally for BrE and
doesn't mention either the schwa or the stress on the first syllable...
Chris C
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