| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| diamond, diaper (nn.) |
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| Each has two Standard pronunciations, one without and one with a middle unstressed syllable: DEI-muhnd and DEI-puhr are more commonly heard than DEI-uh-muhnd and DEI-uh-puhr. The loss of the middle syllable resulted from anglicizing words originally French: putting a heavy stress on the initial syllable in the English way led to the fading-out of the middle unstressed vowel. Some purists still argue for the three-syllable pronunciations, but their cause with diamond seems to be nearly lost, and that for diaper to be losing ground rapidly. The Oratorical level exhibits more three-syllable pronunciations of these words than does any other. | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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