pronunciation - Why is "appreciate" pronounced as though the "c" is an "sh"?


Why is it that "appreciate" is pronounced as though it were "appreshiate?"



Answer



In general, English words spelled with "ci", "ti" or "si" before a vowel letter are often pronounced with a "sh" sound /ʃ/ rather than a "s" sound /s/. This phenomenon is called "palatalization," and it is described in the answers to the following questions:



The answers I linked to above mostly discuss words like social /ˈsoʊʃəl/ and initial /ɪˈnɪʃəl/ where there is no distinct "i" sound after the /ʃ/. However, there are also some words where "ti" or "ci" before a vowel letter is pronounced as /ʃi/, the combination of the "sh" consonant and a short unstressed "ee" sound (in some older British dialects, the sound used in words like this was more like "ih"). This includes words like associate (v.) /əˈsoʊʃieɪt/, appreciate /əˈpriːʃieɪt/, and initiate (v) /ɪˈnɪʃieɪt/.


It seems that this pronunciation is used for words ending in -iate, as well as further derivatives of these such as words ending in -iation. More generally, a pronunciation with /ʃi/ often seems to be possible when the following vowel letter represents an "unreduced" vowel sound like /eɪ/, /oʊ/ (ratio), /ɒ~ɑ/ (preciosity), /ɛ/ (conscientious), or /æ/ (partiality).


For some of these words, a pronunciation with /si/ is also possible; you should check a dictionary to see if that is the case for any particular word. For example, the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary lists an alternate pronunciation with /si/ for associate, but not for appreciate or initiate.


Another reason to check the dictionary: some words with similar spellings are never pronounced with /ʃ/, such as pronunciation and calcium, for which the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary lists only the pronunciation with /si/.


By the way, this kind of palatalization can also affect many other words such as those spelled with "ce" (ocean); it generally occurs in words spelled with t, c, ss, s, or z or before i or e followed by another vowel letter (a non-exhaustive list of possible environments for palatalization: "ia", "ie", "io", "iu", "ea"), resulting in pronunciations with fricatives like /ʃ/ or /ʒ/.


When "t" comes after the letter "s", it doesn't palatalize to /ʃ/ but to /tʃ/ (as in "Christianity" /krɪstʃiˈænɪti/). This rule also applies to words ending in -stion, like "question" /kwɛstʃən/.


Another, slightly different kind of palatalization occurs in words spelled with ss, s, z, t, or d before unstressed "long u" (often in the ending "-ure"), resulting in pronunciations with fricatives like /ʃ/ or /ʒ/ or affricates like /tʃ/ or /dʒ/.


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