Adrianne answers “I am listening to the audio version of...”

Julie asked this question about Babel:

I am listening to the audio version of this (and really enjoying it.) they pronounce the title word as "bay-bel" where I would have said "ba-bel" Is "bay-bel" the standard pronunciation? Have I gotten this wrong all these years? Or is it British? Or particular to this book?

Adrianne So, this is an example of the same spelling but it has two different pronunciations to mean different thingsl. Pronouncing bah-bel is how you would sa…moreSo, this is an example of the same spelling but it has two different pronunciations to mean different thingsl. Pronouncing bah-bel is how you would say it when the word is describing a kind of speech “a confusion of sound” is how it’s put in the dictionary. However, the pronunciation bay-bel is based on the story from the bible about the Tower of Babel and “where God confounded a presumptuous attempt to build a tower into heaven by confusing the language of its builders into many mutually incomprehensible languages”. I went to catholic schools growing up so it’s how I know.(less)

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Julie that's great to know. I had no idea. ...more
Jan 11, 2023 04:39PM · flag

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