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Dear Mouna mch,
No! They are not all silent.
�Zombiism � and �vacuum � are a couple of examples of doubled letters which are sounded.
Below is a much longer list and many of the doubled letters, (particularly vowels), are sounded. Several consonants are also sounded, �bookkeeper�, for example, is: �book-keeper�.
Technically speaking, a word such as �wholly� should be pronounced so that each of the occurrences of the letter �L� can be heard separately: �whole - lee�, but said very rapidly.
a: �aa, aardvark, aardwolf, aasvogel, baa, baal, baaskaap, balmacaan, bazaar, Canaan, craal, ethylenediaminetetraacetate, graal, haaf, haar, kamaaina, kraal, laager, laari, maar, markkaa, naan, praam, quaalude, rufiyaa, salaam, wadmaal
h: bathhouse, beachhead, fishhook, hashhead, highhanded, hitchhike, roughhewn, roughhouse, sleuthhound, touchhold, washhouse, withhold
i: aalii, alibiing, assagaiing, bacchii, biischial, chivariing, congii, coniing, denarii, filariid, foliiform, euphausiid, gastrocnemii, genii, incuvariid, medii, nauplii, obiism, piing, radii, reduviid, retiarii, safariing, sartorii, senarii, septenarii, sextarii, shanghaiing, shiitake, skiing, splenii, taxiing, teiid, tholeiite, torii, trapezii, triiodothyronines, zombiism [3]
k: bookkeeper, chukka, dekko, hokku, jackknife, knickknack, lockkeeper, markka, pukka, quokka, shikker, stockkeeper, sukkah, tikka, trekked, yakked, zikkurat
u: continuum, duumvir, menstruum, muumuu, residuum, squush, triduum, vacuum, weltanschauung
v: bevvy, bivvy, civvies, chivvy, divvy, flivver, navvy, revving, savvy, skivvy
w: arrowwood, arrowworm, bowwow, glowworm, hollowware, meadowwort, powwow, screwworm, strawweight, slowworm, wilowware, yellowworm, yellowwood
However, generally speaking, the majority of doubled letters in English --- blabber; sadden; gaffer; sagging; yellow; stammer; fanning; happy; marry; lass; fatter; buzz --- are not sounded separately.
I hope that this helps.
Les |
