Marco.Cimarosti@icl.com wrote:
> > Where do you see alternatives? It is pronounced [ynikOd], obviously.
> > No place for any doubt here.
>
> Why not [yniko]? In France you drink a lot of [p@Rno], not [p@Rnod].
That would be spelled "Unicod", which in English would refer to a certain
whitefish....
> And, anyway, the correct pronunciation is [uni'kode]. What's the purpose of
> writing a final vowel if you don't read it?
>
> :-) Marco
Precisely not to lose the final consonant. The French, in their infinite
wisdom, have decreed that the last letter shall always be silent (with annoying
exceptions like "avec"); this makes their language easy to pronounce and
impossible to spell. Of course, this is emphatically a case of the pot
calling the kettle black....
--Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com> Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau, || http://www.reutershealth.com Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau, || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan Und trank die Milch vom Paradies. -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)
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