When it comes to silent letters, English has many. They are there, standing firm, occupying space and charge you for extra ink but not pronounced at all. Many people hate them for being there and they fuss about why for god’s sake they are not pronounced. Well, there is a reason why they are not pronounced. The word PSYCHOLOGY was borrowed from Greek, where this combination of sounds is allowed. But would be difficult or impossible for an English speaker to pronounce those two sounds at the start of a word. So in English we kept the spelling but made the initial /p/ silent. Because no English speaking people would want to pronounce a P and S together because it will sound gibberish. You are free to add yours let's see those silent letters.

Wrap, the w is silent

In which language is combination of sounds not allowed

sorosoke101:
When it comes to silent letters, English has many. They are there, standing firm, occupying space and charge you for extra ink but not pronounced at all. Many people hate them for being there and they fuss about why for god’s sake they are not pronounced. Well, there is a reason why they are not pronounced. The word PSYCHOLOGY was borrowed from Greek, where this combination of sounds is allowed. But would be difficult or impossible for an English speaker to pronounce those two sounds at the start of a word. So in English we kept the spelling but made the initial /p/ silent. Because no English speaking people would want to pronounce a P and S together because it will sound gibberish. You are free to add yours let's see those silent letters.

Its a consonant digraph (two consonant sounds blended together to form a sound). By rule, digraphs create a new sound altogether (e.g sh, ch, th, etc) or not (as in this case). If a digraph assumes the latter in sound formation, it takes on the letter sound of either of the sounds. Thus, in this case, /PS/ by rule is sounded as /s/ or psi as this case.


One would be tempted to ask that if the letter sound is not pronounced, why then keep it there? Removing such silent sounds would constitute a breach in English language etymology.

Juliearth:






Its a consonant digraph (two consonant sounds blended together to form a sound). By rule, digraphs create a new sound altogether (e.g sh, ch, th, etc) or not (as in this case). If a digraph assumes the latter in sound formation, it takes on the letter sound of either of the sounds. Thus, in this case, /PS/ by rule is sounded as /s/ or psi as the case may be.

See as you dey pieces another man language.... Can you read a book written in your local language?

elotajohn1:



See as you dey pieces another man language.... Can you read a book written in your local language?

I cannot even speak my language. It is of no economic value to me.

illicit:
In which language is combination of sounds not allowed

Lol... you clearly didn't understood that part. He said the combination of the sounds /p/ and /s/ are allowed in the beginning of a word in Greek unlike in English. Notice he said "this combination of sounds". The word "this" implies he was specifically referring to the combination in question and not just combination of sounds in general.

WoundedLamb:


Lol... you clearly didn't understood that part. He said the combination of the sounds /p/ and /s/ are allowed in the beginning of a word in Greek unlike in English.

Oh yeah you are right

I think he modified sha

illicit:


He should have included the said sounds

He said sounds not the sounds you know

Actually, you're the one who didn't read him correctly, sir. Notice that he said "this combination of sounds... ". The word "this" implies he was specifically referring to the combination in question and not just combination of sounds in general.

Wetin k dey fine inside knife??

And why can't we just spell philosophy as filosofy, to save letters

English wey dey confused cos I don't know why sword is pronunced as surd abi na word..wahalarr

Juliearth:





I cannot even speak my language. It is of no economic value to me.

Ihere GI emegbuom megbuokwa ndi new GI!

illicit:
In which language is combination of sounds not allowed

in fulani language

Write~ rite, playwright~ playright

Gadafii:
Wetin k dey fine inside knife??

And why can't we just spell philosophy as filosofy, to save letters

Language is a Convention, not strictly speaking an item of choice.

Same reason Yorubas call Garri - Eba, and Ibos call it Garri. There is no correlation between the words Garri and Eba… yet it bears those nomenclature.

It’s just the way their use was developed over the years!

Phone suppose be fone Physical suppose be fysical

Ulunne777:


Ihere GI emegbuom megbuokwa ndi new GI!

You can stay oppressed for all I know and all its worth.

sorosoke101:
When it comes to silent letters, English has many. They are there, standing firm, occupying space and charge you for extra ink but not pronounced at all. Many people hate them for being there and they fuss about why for god’s sake they are not pronounced. Well, there is a reason why they are not pronounced. The word PSYCHOLOGY was borrowed from Greek, where this combination of sounds is allowed. But would be difficult or impossible for an English speaker to pronounce those two sounds at the start of a word. So in English we kept the spelling but made the initial /p/ silent. Because no English speaking people would want to pronounce a P and S together because it will sound gibberish. You are free to add yours let's see those silent letters.

you didn't say anything you know?

Because it can be used a bad example.

... You're as useless as the p in psychology ...

So true, English language is a combination of various worlds from different languages and sometimes wrong spelling can ruin your life. A man was travelling and texed his wife and forgot to put an E at the end of the sentence. He wrote am having a good time here I wish you were Her.

The most annoying word is "lingerie".
Why on hell isn't the spelling " Lanzurie"?

Biafranodogwu55:
Phone suppose be fone
Physical suppose be fysical

No na fisical

I think a more mundane reason is that pronouncing P and S as a consonant cluster, sounds a bit like PISS

Juliearth:






Its a consonant digraph (two consonant sounds blended together to form a sound). By rule, digraphs create a new sound altogether (e.g sh, ch, th, etc) or not (as in this case). If a digraph assumes the latter in sound formation, it takes on the letter sound of either of the sounds. Thus, in this case, /PS/ by rule is sounded as /s/ or psi as this case.


One would be tempted to ask that if the letter sound is not pronounced, why then keep it there? Removing such silent sounds would constitute a breach in English language etymology.

Thanks u.

GreatAxeMan:
I think a more mundane reason is that pronouncing P and S as a consonant cluster, sounds a bit like PISS

Funny! You are not far from the truth. The mundaneness of your thought was perhaps why the English carved out these deviations. Note that this rule doesn't apply to /PS/ alone. Don't forget mn, kn, pn, kn, and so on. Most words starting with these diphthongs are of Greek origins and it was easier to pronounce them in Greek. The English, however, knew there would a whole lot of tongue- biting experiences if modifications are not made. Thus, the reason why these deviations exist.

Juliearth:





I cannot even speak my language. It is of no economic value to me.

And you are proud to say this?

Chaiii!

BeardedmeatR:
No na fisical

Abii

WoundedLamb:


Lol... you clearly didn't understood that part. He said the combination of the sounds /p/ and /s/ are allowed in the beginning of a word in Greek unlike in English. Notice he said "this combination of sounds". The word "this" implies he was specifically referring to the combination in question and not just combination of sounds in general.

simple English is so difficult for some people to comprehend

French is even worse

Juliearth:





I cannot even speak my language. It is of no economic value to me.

I think you should view everything in life based on remite economics, your local language has great cultural value which you should be proud of. I attended a UNDP program in Monrovia, part of the criteria for participants was our ability to speak and write our local languages. English language is now the "lingua franca" of the world because the original owners promoted proudly.