Hi folks,I just stumbled on a topic I discussed with a few people some years back,and thought it'd be a nice idea to get more people to share their thoughts on this. Now,I'm not claiming to be right here;I'm just stating my personal view on this subject. We can all look at it together and see if we can make any sense together.


Why do we pronounce the word "champagne" as "shampayne" or "shampain"?
The word "CHAMPAGNE" is probably being pronounced wrongly as "SHAM-PAIN" or "SHAM-PAYNE" and i can explain:
In oral english,we were taught certain diphtongs and pronounciations & it goes thus:
ch: (pronounced as chi). eg: cheap,chip,cheat,chief,chef,chop,etc
sh: (pronounced as shi). eg: sheet,ship,sheep,shop,shot,short,etc
th: (pronounced as fe). eg: think(fink),thank(fenk),etc.
when you break CHAMPAGNE into two syllables,you get "cham"-"pagne". The cham should be pronounced like the cham in champion. The pagne should be pronounced as "pag-ne". or better still,we could have champ-agne as in agnes. It's either we pronounce it like this or we respell it as champayne or champain.
Pronouncing it as "shampayne" or "shampain" might just be wrong.

Note that "pag" elsewhere in English language is pronounced as "parj"(when spelt) e.g: pageantry.

Do you think English language is totally not correct at times,and that they'd need to review the spelling & pronounciation of certain words. What's your thought on this?


Cc:lalasticlala

Now,note that the bone of contention here,is how the two words are pronounced when broken into two syllables.

First of all, check the origin of the word.
If the word is borrowed from another language, it might disobey all your plenty rules

Have thought about the possiblility of the word not being "English"?

Just like the words island and viscount

Just like the words

Campaign and Champaign
Champagne is a French word, as such, it doesn't following the phonetics rules of the English language

But even campaign doesn't make sense too,and it's english.

ayindejimmy:
Just like the words

Campaign and Champaign
Champagne is a French word, as such, it doesn't following the phonetics rules of the English language