Talk:Cepphus

Pronunciation of "tystie"

Moved from User talk:W.andrea

Sorry, but I did (despite your edit summary saying it wasn't explained!) add reasons in my edit summary "cited ref doesn't support long '-ee' variant, nor does any other source I've seen; it is more of a schwa sound"; it is a short -i sound at the end, not '-ee' at all (nor '-ih' either; it isn't aspirated); could you remove those again, please! Thanks - MPF (talk) 09:52, 19 December 2025 (UTC)

OK, there's a few things to unpack here.

it isn't aspirated

That's not even possible with English phonotactics (unlike, say, Persian). That is, English words can't end with a /h/ sound. You should read the reference page: Help:Pronunciation respelling key. -⁠ih actually corresponds to /ɪ/, the short vowel in kit.

Sidenote: The H is used because the vowel is checked, meaning it can't normally occur at the end of a syllable. Cf. meh /mɛ/ or bah /bæ/, which also have checked vowels.

If you're ever questioning the English respelling, read the IPA pronunciation instead; that's more systematic and takes precedence over the respelling.

despite your edit summary saying it wasn't explained ... in my edit summary "cited ref doesn't support long '-ee' variant ..."

What I wrote in my more recent edit summary is "TEE-" pronunciation that was removed without explanation, i.e. the start of the word, not the end. For reference, that corresponds to IPA /tiː-/.

I hope that covers everything, but if not, or if I misunderstood you, please LMK. E.g. I could walk through how I converted the pronunciations given in the sources to the two Wikipedia systems, if that would help.

— W.andrea (talk) 21:48, 19 December 2025 (UTC)

@W.andrea As I read it, "UK: /ˈtaɪsti, ˈtiː-/" is saying "either UK: /ˈtaɪsti/, or UK: /ˈtaɪstiː/"; the latter is definitely incorrect; the former is correct. If you're meaning the second alternative is UK: /ˈtiːsti/, then, no, that is not how it is pronounced, either. The respell stuff, perhaps ditch it altogether, might be the best? I don't see that it helps at all - MPF (talk) 22:22, 19 December 2025 (UTC)

As I read it, "UK: /ˈtaɪsti, ˈtiː-/" is saying "either UK: /ˈtaɪsti/, or UK: /ˈtaɪstiː/"

Look at the hyphen: A hyphen at the end indicates a prefix, so it means "either UK: /ˈtaɪsti/, or UK: /ˈtiːsti/".

If you're meaning the second alternative is UK: /ˈtiːsti/

Yes, exactly.

then, no, that is not how it is pronounced, either.

What's your source? I cited the OED and Merriam-Webster. It's possible that you haven't heard it, but of course that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. To be fair, I've never heard of this word before, but the OED is authoritative for British English.

The respell stuff, perhaps ditch it altogether, might be the best? I don't see that it helps at all

It's intended to be easier to read for monolingual English speakers since it more resembles English orthography, while the IPA is more Romance-based. There are some cases where it's not really helpful, but I think it helps here. I'm open to being convinced though.

— W.andrea (talk) 22:10, 29 December 2025 (UTC)