Hi folks,I just stumbled on a topic I discussed with a few people some years back,and thought it'd be a nice idea to get more people to share their thoughts on this. Now,I'm not claiming to be right here;I'm just stating my personal view on this subject. We can all look at it together and see if we can make any sense together.


Why do we pronounce the word "champagne" as "shampayne" or "shampain"?
The word "CHAMPAGNE" is probably being pronounced wrongly as "SHAM-PAIN" or "SHAM-PAYNE" and i can explain:
In oral english,we were taught certain diphtongs and pronounciations & it goes thus:
ch: (pronounced as chi). eg: cheap,chip,cheat,chief,chef,chop,etc
sh: (pronounced as shi). eg: sheet,ship,sheep,shop,shot,short,etc
th: (pronounced as fe). eg: think(fink),thank(fenk),etc.
when you break CHAMPAGNE into two syllables,you get "cham"-"pagne". The cham should be pronounced like the cham in champion. The pagne should be pronounced as "pag-ne". or better still,we could have champ-agne as in agnes. It's either we pronounce it like this or we respell it as champayne or champain.
Pronouncing it as "shampayne" or "shampain" might just be wrong.

Note that "pag" elsewhere in English language is pronounced as "parj"(when spelt) e.g: pageantry.

Do you think English language is totally not correct at times,and that they'd need to review the spelling & pronounciation of certain words. What's your thought on this?


Cc:lalasticlala

Note: the bone of contention here,is how the two syllables that makes up the word "champagne",are being pronounced.

Doesn't work that way. The etymology of a word is what determines how it's pronounced.

Language does not follow logic and it's arbitrary... . What will you call Chasm and Chaos if CH only sounds as (Chi) as u claimed in your assertion?

Engliss sha!

You shud know that Champagne is a french word. Not English.
You might as well pronounce Kerosine as 'Ke-ro-See-Nay' or Language as 'Lan-gu-a-gay'...

That's why I'm thinking English language isn't totally correct. Chaos is pronounced as "kay-us". I think the problem is from the diphtong "ch" being pronounced as "chi".

Realtol:
Language does not follow logic and it's arbitrary... . What will you call Chasm and Chaos if CH only sounds as (Chi) as u claimed in your assertion?

Some English words can really be confusing as regards the spelling and it's pronunciation. I really wonder if these English people were high on something when they were constructing these words. What the hell is `G' doing in: Champaigne, Campaign etc, if it cannot be pronounced with it. Personally, I like the way the Hausas pronounce theirs, making sure that every alphabet counts

I'm a very inquisitive person and I've always wondered why we spell kerosine/kerosene that way,and pronounce it as "kerozin/kerozene". Same way I wonder why "chemical" is pronounced as "kemikal/kemical". How come the diphtong "ch" also changes from "chi" to "ke"? Maybe the vowel that follows the "ch" is responsible. But then again,how do we reconcile "cheap" pronounced as "chiip" but "chemical" pronounced as 'kemical"? Maybe the fact that 2 vowels appear after the CH in cheap,and a vowel and consonant appears after the CH in chemical. Confusing if logic is applied... Language is straightforward here: lan-gu-age. The 3 syllables(2 syllables in the real sense) matches with their pronounciation.

dajoaneke:
You shud know that Champagne is a french word. Not English.
You might as well pronounce Kerosine as 'Ke-ro-See-Nay' or Language as 'Lan-gu-a-gay'...

champagne is a French word, using English language rules to pronounce it right is out of place. We pronounce it the way has French want to pronounce it.

Pronunciation not Pronounciation

champagne /ʃamˈpeɪn/ shoe /ʃuː/ champion /ˈtʃampɪən/ pageantry /ˈpadʒ(ə)ntri/

sauce: google