pronunciation - Why are "suffice" and "sufficient" pronounced so differently?


Today I heard somebody use a form of the verb "suffice" (which means "to be sufficient") pronouncing it like the verb "surface" without an r (and where that "a" makes more of an "i" sound). This person was logically, but incorrectly, adopting the "i" sound from "sufficient" which shares a root and meaning. The consonant sound in that second syllable is also quite different between the two words (having the c more like a z than an sh).


Why is this?


Other similarly puzzling questions:



I suspect Trisyllabic laxing might answer part of the question, but I don't think that explains it all.




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