I have a question about the word "Island"...

Question

Does somebody know why you don't pronounce the "s" in the word "island"? I just don't understand why... also the state of "Arkansas" why the last "s" is not pronounced, either? I hope you can understand my English. Thank you.

• The English is perfect. I could understand it very well. - MeEncantanCa May 20, 2010
• Yes Sylyon, your English is just fine. - Yeser007 May 20, 2010
• Hey, this could be another A-Z thread. Words with silent letters:) - Yeser007 May 20, 2010
• Good idea, yesero. - Rikko May 20, 2010

Answer 1

The short and sweet...it's simply a rule in English. When there is an "s" between the letters "i" and "l" it is silent like island or isle. As for Arkansas, I really couldn't get a clear answer from a website so I will simply say "because the "s" is silent and that's how it's pronounced". Hey 1 out of 2 isn't bad.

• Yes, I guess I just have to obey the rules :) - sylyon1976 May 20, 2010
• Jason7R, maybe that silent "s" rule is only true if a word starts with them. "Dislike" or "misled", for example, would not have the "s" silent. - Rikko May 20, 2010
• Rikko, good point! - sylyon1976 May 20, 2010
• great point Rikko!! You are correct, unless of course we can find something that can dispute this. :) English language, Good Grief (Charlie Brown voice). ;) - Jason7R May 21, 2010

Answer 2

Another state, Illinois, doesn't pronounce the last "s" either.

ILL-a-noy

• Yes, I forgot about Illionis, but Kansas and Texas, you do pronounce the s... - sylyon1976 May 20, 2010
• I believe Illinois and Arkansas are pronounced like French words. Yes, you pronounce all the "s" in Kansas and Texas. - Rikko May 20, 2010
• Massachusetts :-) - Delores--Lin May 21, 2010

Answer 3

There is no rule that defines the pronunciation. The 's' in 'island' came to be because of a misspelling. I pulled the following from entymonline. You have to remember that although English has some roots in Latin, it is not a true romance language.

"Island, spelled iland, first appears in Old English in King Alfred's translation of Boethius about A.D. 888; the spellings igland and ealond appear in contemporary documents. The s in island is due to a mistaken etymology, confusing the etymologically correct English iland with French isle. Isle comes ultimately from Latin īnsula "island," a component of paenīnsula, "almost-island," whence our peninsula."

• Very informing. Thanks. - sylyon1976 May 20, 2010
• Or, I guess informative, not informing, right? - sylyon1976 May 20, 2010
• Yes - informative is right - patch May 21, 2010

Answer 4

One of my favorites goes all the way back to George Bernard Shaw. He pointed out the difficulties of spelling in English by showing that you can apply rules from other words to spell "fish" as "ghoti". The explanation: Take "gh" as it is pronounced in "enough" to give you your "f" sound. Take "o" as it is pronounced in "women" to supply your "i" sound. Take the "ti" as it is pronounced in "nation" to supply your "sh" sound. Hence, "fish" can be spelled as "ghoti"!

Answer 5

The spelling trick for island = is land. It is a spelling trick because the “s” is silent. Pronounced (ahy-luhnd)

Isle is a short version of Island and the “s” is also silent. Pronounced (ahyl)

Aisle is a walkway and the “s” is also silent. In fact it is pronounced the same as Isle.

They all follow the rule posted by “Jason7R

Answer 6

It's also like the word "white". The "h" isn't pronounced. It's just the rules of English phonetics. Shoot, even I don't understand it and I've been speaking English my whole life!

• I think there's a little bit, a trace, of the "h" sound in "white" though. - Rikko May 20, 2010
• Not in the US, Rikko. - Yeser007 May 20, 2010
• depends on the regional accent - Valerie May 20, 2010
• Yesero, Valerie, I just checked with Webster. You are both right. There are 2 ways to pronounce it - one with, the other without, the "h" sound. - Rikko May 20, 2010
• How about "where", "why", is the h silent? I always ommit the sound of the h, but in school they teach you to pronounce it like "who". Once I came to the US, I noticed that nobody does that. So, I just started to ignore that h... :) - sylyon1976 May 20, 2010
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Answer 7

Silent letters man. It's that simple really.

Answer 8

Others would be Knife and Know. The K is silent. I"m sure there is a rule somewhere but like MeEncanta...I've learned to live with it without knowing why {Oh look, there's another one, why.}

• We can add words that begin with "pn" too, right? - Rikko May 20, 2010

Answer 9

Lots of pronunciation rules in English don't make sense. These words are pronounced completely differently although they're spelled the same:

through /throo/
rough /ruff/

bough /bou/

dough /doe/

I'm afraid that many times in English you just have to memorize the specific cases :(

Answer 10

There's place in the US which became popular because the movie "Somewhere in TIme" was mainly filmed there - Mackinac Island in Michigan. The name of the place is sometimes pronounced like "ma ki no". It's a beautiful and unforgettable place.

• I LOVE that movie!!!! I didn't know that that is where it was filmed, though. Thank you. - christine2 May 21, 2010

Answer 11

Here are some more unusual pronunciation words from skit by a comedian named Galleger (sp)

comb = o sound
bomb = a sound
tomb = u sound

• if you noticed you don't really pronounce the last b - lauren12 May 20, 2010

Answer 12

The word "Polka" is another example. Now, I noticed that people don't pronounce the "l". They pronounce it like "Poka". I guess I just have to memorize them.

• I think more include the l than leave it out in this particular example - LateToDinner Jun 30, 2010

Answer 13

You pronounce "Island" like this

(Is-Land)

The word "IS" and "LAND"

Pronounce it like this - I - Land (Island)

• You pronounce the "s"? - mar959 May 20, 2010
• No, you don't pronouce the "S" in island. Eye-land - --Mariana-- May 20, 2010
• marianne is right - Valerie May 20, 2010

Answer 14

Since some of you are posting about “o” here is something I did a many years before a long time ago and attempted to pull from my memory. Yah we do silly things in grade school.

The “O”

“of” a simple word pronounced (uv) like in up.

Well this type of bird should be spelled “Dof “or “Duv”; but no it is spelled Dove. Pronounced (duv)

But there is an e at the end and the “o” should sound hard, no problem I will fix that.

Dove does have a hard “o” sound after you Dive into the water. Pronounced (dóv)

But they but their spelled the same, can it go more wrong?

If you love this than you will “adore” the next one

Step right in through the “dore” wait that’s wrong! it’s “door” Pronounced (dór) But “a door” has the same “o” sound as “adore”

Do you feel the “doom” of the “o” lingering overhead?

The “oo” in “doom” does not have that “door” sound, it sounds like the “u” in flume.

Are you getting this o sound yet?

Remember the “o”s are “not” that hard.

Hey wait a second, new sound.

A rope with “naught” “knots” is a rope that does “not” have a “knot”.

Yes they are all pronounced the same and where the hell did the “k” “come” “from” Pronounced “cum” “frum”

Just check “above” at the u sound of “of” O.K.

Answer 15

Here is another one. Iceland. In Icelandic the name Iceland is ísland. pronounced

eis laand eis as in the is sound in gris in spanish. translated to english ísland is really Island as well. american's (which i am) or english speakers, when they heard ísland they heard iceland. that's how it got it's name. but iceland's name is really island. I heard this story from my faðir, í íslenska(dad, in icelandic), who in turn heard it from his mother(my grandmother, or amma in icelandic) My grandmother spoke icelandic and visited iceland often she had several awards for her work, and a few medal trophy things, that unfortunately had to be returned when she passed away. In memory of her i am now learning Icelandic. One of the hardest languages to learn. at least in my opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hoz_f26KcE

• Icelandic sounds less appealing than Greenland, the version I heard about European settlements. - DonVon May 20, 2010
• Actually, Iceland is green and greenland is made of ice. greenland has a smaller population, but iceland's economy was not doing really well as of late. - lauren12 May 23, 2010