Prima Facie: Pronunciation - WordReference Forums

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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. prima facie: pronunciation

• Thread starter Thread starter natkretep
• Start date Start date Jan 16, 2016

natkretep

Moderato con anima (English Only)

Singapore English (Singapore/UK), basic Chinese Over the BBC today, I heard the reporter pronounce prima facie as pree-ma FAY-shih-ay /priːməˈfeɪʃɪeɪ/. That was a surprising pronunciation to me as it mixes English values and continental values of the vowels. Would you consider that to be a normal pronunciation of the word these days? I generally stick with English vowels myself (therefore viva is VIGH-vuh /ˈvaɪvə/ and via is VIGH-uh /ˈvaɪə/) and so on, so I say prigh-muh FAY-shih /praɪməˈfeɪʃi/.

Loob

Senior Member

English UK WR's two Random House dictionaries show the "pree-ma"* pronunciation as an alternative, Nat; and here's what the OED (Third Edition, updated to 2007) says Brit. /ˌprʌɪmə ˈfeɪʃ(ɪ)iː/ , U.S. /ˈˌprimə ˈfeɪʃi(ˌi)/​I think my pronunciation wobbles. ----------- *but not the FAY-shi-ay M

MirandaEscobedo

Senior Member

London UK British English I would suspect that the BBC reporter simply did not know how to pronounce it. I can't see any justification forpree-ma FAY-shih-ay /priːməˈfeɪʃɪeɪ. The Cambridge Online dictionary, which claims to give BBC pronunciation, has it as you say, including in the sound version. prima facie Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Cross-posted -- I was just referring to "facie". On"prima" I am agnostic.

RedwoodGrove

Senior Member

Northern California English, USA I've only heard in the US: pry-meh fay-sheh. I heard a professor once say the /fa/ as in fat, but it sounded affected, as if he at least thought it was British. That's a schwa up there, not an ee.

natkretep

Moderato con anima (English Only)

Singapore English (Singapore/UK), basic Chinese I can quite understand preema for prima (because we have prima donna and so on - though that is Italian, rather than Latin). I was thinking of the facie. I don't think any dictionary has FAY-shih-ay. If the last vowel is 'ay', the first vowel should be 'ah', shouldn't it? Last edited: Jan 16, 2016

morior_invictus

Senior Member

Slovak In case someone's urge to know the Latin pronunciation of the said term becomes unbearable . . . prima facie (Latin/Lingua Latina forum) M

MirandaEscobedo

Senior Member

London UK British English Well, I thought it was interesting, Invictus. Thank you. It seems feɪʃɪeɪ is a softened version of the Ecclesiastical (as opposed to the Classic) Latin pronunciation.

natkretep

Moderato con anima (English Only)

Singapore English (Singapore/UK), basic Chinese Thanks, everyone, for the interesting discussion. You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Bluesky LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

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