A second look at ash

A New Look

I'm having a second look at the ash  notes (/æ/)  – the  number of changes/errors/improvements is chastening). Here's the latest.

1. algal, and alkali
   The stressed (first) syllable has this vowel. See also under AL: /ə/.
2. allied
   This is the adjective (as in, for example, "allied troops"). When used as a past participle this word has the same stress (and the same unstressed vowel) as the verb "ally" – see under
   AL: /ə/.
3. alloy
   This is the noun. The same letters appear in words such as "unalloyed", which has an unstressed second syllable – see AL: /ə/.
4. balalaika
   The first syllable has this vowel; the "al" in the second syllable is unstressed – /ə/.
5. caloric
   Not in Macmillan English Dictionary but in several other dictionaries – for example, Collins.
6. counterbalance
   This is the sole representative of compound words formed with "balance". There are no separate entries either for idiomatic phrases (such as "balance of power" and "checks and balances").
7. Dalai Lama
   Transcribed thus in the Macmillan English Dictionary but in the audio sample the sound is /ɑ:/
8. gallant
   This is the adjective, with stress on the first syllable. In the noun, the first syllable is unstressed – see AL: /ə/.
9. genealogy
   Perhaps because of the popularity of genealogy on the Internet, the American English pronunciation (which Cambridge Dictionary of American English gives as having either /æl/ or /ɑl/) is often misheard, misreported, and then mistakenly learnt as /ɒ/ and misspelt as "geneology". As this is the only "-alogy" in English, it is possible that the erosion will continue , and that in 22nd-century English the a spelling will seem as old-fashioned as – for example – "shew" does today.
10. hallowed
    The noun and the verb have limited (largely literary and/or poetic) use, but the past participle formed from the verb is still used in idioms such as ‘hallowed ground" or the hyperbolic – mock-reverential – "hallowed turf" in certain sports venues.
11. hallucinogen
    The Macmillan English Dictionary gives this word the vowel sound /æ/, but the audio sample has /ə/ (like hallucinate and other derivatives, which are transcribed that way.
12. heraldic
    It is not clear why the Macmillan English Dictionary does not include this word. Many others (for example, Collins) do.
13. maladjustment
    This is the sole representative of the many words that use the prefix "mal-" – with certain exceptions. These exceptions are generally cases where the remaining word, after the "mal-" is removed, is not a recognizable word in its own right.
14. malfeasance
    This is included because the word "feasance", while it exists, is archaic and used chiefly in a legal context.
15. malapropism
    This is included because the word "apropism" doesn‘t exist (except, perhaps, in a jocular context).
16. malcontent
    This is included because, although the word "content" is recognizably etymologically relevant, the word is normally not a noun (except in the British House of Lords, where it refers metonymically to the votes of people in favour of a motion, or to the voters themselves).
17. mall
    The Macmillan English Dictionary gives a total of four transcriptions, two marked as "British English" and two marked as "American English". The two "British English" ones are /æ/ and /ɔ:/, but they both have the audio example /æ/. However, the one marked /ɔ:/ uses /æ/ in the context "shopping mall" – a context that tends to attract one of the American pronunciations (/ɔ/ – typically realized by speakers of BE as /ɔ:/).
18. mallrat
    The Macmillan English Dictionary gives a "British English" pronunciation with /æ/. But as the word is American slang this pronunciation seems to be questionable. Certainly I have never heard it.
19. malodorous
    The word "odorous" is not simply "giving off a smell", with a prefix indicating whether that smell is good or bad. (Similarly, "smelly" has an automatically negative connotation.)
20. malware
    The "mal-" refers to the effect of the "-ware" rather than to its quality.
21. palpitations
    Note the plural. The singular also exists, but the plural refers to a specific (though ill-defined) physical condition.
22. phalanx
    The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription is thus for British English, and gives /eɪ/ as American English – although the /eɪ/ pronunciation is common in the UK. In fact, the /æ/ seems to be common enough in the US for the /eɪ/ transcription to be linked to an American voice using /æ/.
23. salmon and salmonella
    Note that in "salmon" the l is silent, whereas in "salmonella" it is not.
24. shall
    In most other cases of words that end "-all" - "ball", "call", "fall", "gall", "hall" .... – the pronunciation is /ɔ:/. Philologists are generally not surprised to find exceptional pronunciations in words that are dying out: the frequency graph at the Collins Dictionary entry for evidence of this decline. (The usage graph may take a few seconds to load, and by default it shows usage in the ten years to 2008; Use the drop-down menu to select 100 years [or 300 years for the whole story – with an explosion in the late 18th centtury followed by a steady decline in the 19th and 20th centuries].)
25. shallows and valuables
    This is a noun. Note the plural ending.
26. shalom
    The Macmillan English Dictionary gives this transcription, but the audio clip has /ə/. Moreover, especially when sung, the vowel is commonly heard with the long vowel /ɑ:/.
27. shalt
    This is archaic; it is the second person singular of the verb "shall", but is still used in Biblical (and pseudo-Biblical) quotations – particularly in the form "Thou shalt not...".
28. tala
    Indian English musical term, used also by Westerners in the UK referring to Indian music.