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List of words of disputed pronunciation
{{IPA notice}}

The following is a list of words and names which are often pronounced by native speakers of the [[English language]] in ways which many others consider to be incorrect. In some cases, speakers disagree on how to pronounce borrowed foreign words; in other cases, the dispute arises from the effect of spelling on a word not pronounced as it is spelled. Many heated arguments are disagreements between the residents of a place and outsiders on how to pronounce the name of a place. 

(contracted; show full)ng on whether a phonetically accurate or phonemically accurate [[loanword|borrowing]] from Swedish is intended, either (1) or (2) is legitimate. However, when Linus Torvalds describes the pronunciation in terms of English words and uses English words with the short (or lax) vowels, one might conclude that his intention is for Linux to be pronounced with those vowels in English, as (1). (4) is simply a result of the standard phonological process in English of reducing unstressed vowels to [[schwa]], and is 
a simplythus a more English-sounding version of (1). Phonetically the difference between unstressed {{IPA|[&#650;]}} and schwa is very slight. (3) could be seen as an imitation of the English name "Linus" (as in [[Linus van Pelt]], which also happens to be the name of Linux's [[Finland-Swedish]]-speaking founder [[Linus Torvalds]] (although the legitimacy of "translating" names is questionable - by this rationale [[George Bush]] could become "Jorge Arbusto" etc). A more reasoned justification for (3) is that this is the only pronunciation which respects the [[phonics]] rule, "When a syllable ends in any vowel and is the only vowel, that vowel is usually long" (hence ''pa''/per, m''e'', ''I'', ''o''/pen, ''u''/nix, ''li''/nux)is based on the English pronunciation of Torvalds's first name ''Linus''.

*'''[[loch]]''' - (1)(a) {{IPA|[l&#593;k]}} (b) {{IPA|[l&#594;k]}}; (2)(a) {{IPA|[l&#593;x]}} (b) {{IPA|[l&#594;x]}}  <br/>This [[Scots language|Scots]] word for lake is pronounced by most English speakers as (1), with a final [k], as the voiceless velar fricative [x] is not normally in the sound inventory of English. Scots, however, and those English speakers who have acquired [x] for words like 'Chanukah' and 'Bach', will pronounce(contracted; show full)

==See also==
*[[List of names in English with non-intuitive pronunciations]]
*[[List of place names with unexpected pronunciation]]

[[Category:Lists of English words|Disputed pronunciation, List of words of]]
[[Category:English pronunciation|Disputed pronunciation, List of words of]]