4.0138 Plurals and Pronunciation (5/89)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 29 May 90 18:15:46 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0138. Tuesday, 29 May 1990.


(1) Date: Fri, 25 May 90 17:34 EDT (15 lines)
From: Ivy Anderson <ANDERSON@brandeis.bitnet>
Subject: RE: 4.0129 Permutations in Language and Pronounciation

(2) Date: Sat, 26 May 90 10:52 EDT (11 lines)
From: MERIZ@pittvms
Subject: Media: From Plural to Singular

(3) Date: Sat, 26 May 90 17:32:53 EDT (12 lines)
From: Brian Whittaker <BRIANW@YORKVM2>
Subject: Plural of Medium [eds]

(4) Date: Sun, 27 May 90 11:13:27 EDT (24 lines)
From: "Ian M. Richmond" <42100_1156@uwovax.uwo.ca>
Subject: Re: 4.0129 Permutations in Language and Pronounciation

(5) Date: Tue, 29 MAY 90 14:26:11 BST (27 lines)
From: CHAA006@vax.rhbnc.ac.uk
Subject: RE: 4.0129 Permutations in Language and Pronounciation

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 25 May 90 17:34 EDT
From: Ivy Anderson <ANDERSON@brandeis.bitnet>
Subject: RE: 4.0129 Permutations in Language and Pronounciation (2/41)

Re: Bob Kraft's query about the singular use of plural nouns:

I have a colleague who insists on using the word "consortia" to refer to
a consortium of which we are a member, as in "The Consortia has
decided...," despite the fact that the singular form is used in the
organization's title. I have never had the heart to correct her, though
it drives me crazy.

Ivy Anderson
Brandeis University

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------17----
Date: Sat, 26 May 90 10:52 EDT
From: MERIZ@pittvms
Subject: Media: From Plural to Singular

Alas, _media_'s "gentle passage" from collective plural to singular,
referred to by Bob Kraft, is not echoed in French, which treats the word
as a singular (masculine). As one might expect, the plural form is
_medias_ (with e acute).

-Diana Meriz
meriz@pittvms.bitnet
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Sat, 26 May 90 17:32:53 EDT
From: Brian Whittaker <BRIANW@YORKVM2>
Subject: Plural of Medium [eds]

To quote an acquaintance of mine, "Media is different from books,"
echoing McLuhan's ideas but not his Latinity.

(In response to Bob Kaft's query on language permutations, this one item
comprises my total datumbase on the subject.)

Brian Whittaker
Department of English, Atkinson College, York University
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------30----
Date: Sun, 27 May 90 11:13:27 EDT
From: "Ian M. Richmond" <42100_1156@uwovax.uwo.ca>
Subject: Re: 4.0129 Permutations in Language and Pronounciation (2/41)

Bob Kraft inquires about the use of "media" as a singular noun. In 1984
I began working on a bilingual microcomputing glossary, which I completed
in 1986 (French/English). In 1984 already "media" was commonly used as a
singular noun in the North American computing press. My first encounter
with this usage dates back to several years before that, however, to
about 1977 or 1978, when I first began hearing it from my students, who
would make statements like, "Television is the most effective advertising
media." This usage on their part may have been encouraged by the fact
that the French term "me<eacute>dia" has long been used as a singular
(since at least 1965, according to the _Petit Robert_ dictionary) with
the plural form "me<eacute>dias" being in common use. Indeed, "mass
media" is commonly translated into French by "les me<eacute>dias". I
have rarely encountered the plural, "medias", in English, except in
computing terminology, where it now appears to be used exclusively,
except by academics. In other areas, "media" seems to me to be used as
both a singular and a plural, a situation fraught with ambiguity.

Ian M. Richmond, Department of French, University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7. 519-661-2163 Ext 5703
also IMR@UWOVAX.BITNET
(5) --------------------------------------------------------------41----
Date: Tue, 29 MAY 90 14:26:11 BST
From: CHAA006@vax.rhbnc.ac.uk
Subject: RE: 4.0129 Permutations in Language and Pronounciation

>I don't know if this bears any relevance to the question raised about
>the pronunciation of 'processes', but I recently completed a course in
>operating systems and the word process (a program in execution) was used
>frequently in both singular and plural. It was always pronounced in the
>plural as '-eez'. The professor began the course using the standard
>pronunciation, but after about two days he switched to the -eez form
>when students were unable to distinguish between 'processes' and
>'processors'.

How interesting. The only place that I have encountered the `long
plural' of `process' is on a DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation)
training course; could Julie enlighten us as to whether it was a DEC
course that she attended ? Is this an example of the evolution of
`DECspeak' ?

When I verbalise `processors' and `processes' in unstressed <Br.E>, the
distinction sounds obvious; the former ends in <schwa zed-ess>, while
the latter ends in <short-i zed-ess>. Could an <Am.E> correspondent
comment on the N. American pronunciation ?

Philip Taylor
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College,
``The University of London at Windsor''