Why X sometimes sounds like Z (in English)

Have you ever looked at the magical instruments that are xylophones and wonder why x is pronounced as z instead of ks? This is why X sometime sounds like Z (in English, at least.)
#language #languages #alphabet #linguistics

[@SuraiginOfficial]

Fun fact: in greek the metal xylophone is called "μεταλλόφωνο (metalofono)" and just so nobody asks, i know this because i'm greek and i own a metalophone.

[@PublicLibraryx]

play a song for us

[@rosenberry9150]

yeah, play a song for us man

[@mertzanakia]

No bro. Xylophone in Greek is ξυλόφωνο and is made of wood. Μεταλλόφωνο also exists and is made of metal.

[@nik021298]

That is the exact same word in Spanish. Metalófono. Although we also have Xilófono, pronounced as /si'lofono/. The distinction about one being of wood and the other metal also exists in Spanish, they might be greek loan words or have their roots in greek.

[@mikeone1185]

russian pretty same - ксилофон (ksilofon)

[@gisopolis77]

0:57 We percussionists classify those "metallic things" as glockenspiels, not xylophones, so the definition actually stays true to its etymology!

[@beyonderboi]

I believe we musicians call those “metallic things” metallophones staying even truer to the Greek etymology with Ancient Greek “métallon” meaning metal (and we know what phone means). But yes xylophones are never metallic

[@diamond_star9267]

isn't that a vibraphone?

[@beyonderboi]

@@diamond_star9267 a vibraphone is a variant of a metallophone with two rows of metallic keys, one for sharps and flats and one for whole notes like on a piano

[@sethb124]

​@@beyonderboi Actually the main defining feature of vibraphones is that they have a foot pedal, that when pressed down, causes the keys to ring (or vibrate) instead of the sound quickly dissipating. Glockenspiels are the other main type of metallophone, and they also have 2 rows of keys. Even chimes have 2 rows of keys

[@sethb124]

@@diamond_star9267 Glockenspiels are much smaller than vibraphones, and they're played with rubber or plastic mallets. Vibraphones are larger, have have a foot pedal that lets the keys ring when pressed down, and are played with yarn mallets

[@carmi7042]

2:25 a similiar thing happens in Italian too. The letter z is pronunced as "ts" in most times, but it can become "dz" in some cases, the most consistent of them is at the beginning of the word.

[@ellajelenska6643]

in german z is also usually pronounced as ts

[@jpaulo_ap]

Zanzara

[@tigrafale4610]

They pronounce z as ts in German usually

[@urinstein1864]

Today I learned, the t in "tsunami" is silent in English. Until now I used to bring up this egzact word as an egzample of the "ts" sound.

[@xXJ4FARGAMERXx]

What about czar? Also does it *have* to be initial ts-? Can't you use "cats"?

[@urinstein1864]

Yeah going "cats" and "bits" is probably the thing to do. I would prefer initial "ts", but not that big a deal I guess. As for "czar", I think that ones tough, as "zar" is a common English pronunciation of it. According to Wikipedia "sar" is as well, so yeah, same problem as tsunami, it seems.

[@bobboberson8297]

hot soup is my go to example

[@chaconneind3777]

Actually, in Oxford dictionary, NAmE pronunciation of “t” is optional, while BrE is required.

[@Xnoob545]

don't worry, since the original japanese does say the "ts", yu could technically claim that your way is more correct than others. I'm part of the TSunami gang myself Side note, can I mention that "tsu" sounds so beautiful and makes Japanese sound much more Japanese

[@alexmeng4805]

Look at what I've found, another linguistic youtube channel! What a great day. About the [ks] vs [gz] distribution in English, it looks like it's being conditioned by both intervocalicity and stress positions. Look at all the [gz] words (ex'ist, ex'ample) the /k/ in /ks/ is an unstressed syllable final and /s/ is a stressed onset. Then in [ks] words ('exercise, t'axi) /k/ is in a stressed syllable while /s/ is not. (Or you can simplify this and just say whether stress comes before or after but phonologically is two sounds.) This voicing assimilation would also make sense since an unstressed syllable is more likely to have its features mixed up a bit and the second component /s/ just follows whatever the first sound /k/ is doing. Keep up the good work!

[@hungvu262]

found out during the video that I pronounce those words with a k

[@thegoldendragonacs]

The fact that you snuck a chug jug reference in the section about voiced and unvoiced words is legendary. Never before have I seen a meme that not only doesn’t distract, but actually proves a point.

[@LingoLizard]

I didn't even realize it was a fortnite thing until midway through editing :P

[@thealtrik3051]

@@LingoLizard The absolute madman including references without even noticing

[@mikaelsza]

In portuguese language, X has 4 sounds: /ks/ Sexo, Fixo, Tóxico, Torax; /s/ Excelente, Maximo; /z/ Exame, Exercício; (Sh-sound) Xadrez, Caixa, Xenofobo, Xilofone How do we know which sound use? Mostly, practice!! But ever has Sh-sound when starts a word and ever has /ks/ sound when ends a word. Edit: reading a comment below, I noticed that the Z sound is present when X is stressed or before the stressed syllable and KS sound when X is after the stressed syllable, but both in intervocalic position.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

And it doesnt exist in latviešu alphabet, but we do know how to read it and will read ks without fault.

[@kamota8523]

*5, don't forget /gz/, as in hexágono!

[@lohphat]

Those metal xylophones are technically glockenspiels. Xylophones are wooden by definition. There are further refinements in nomenclature regarding marimbas and vibraphones as well.

[@Swagpion]

Ah, a german word. You can not convince me that glockenspiel isn't german.

[@lohphat]

@@Swagpion Ich habe nichts darüber gesagt.

[@txtp]

are they not metallophones?

[@OhioStudiosOG]

i always pronounced Xylophone with the x as a normal eks sound, i always got mad when people said zylophone.

[@Leo-qh6vf]

In Portuguese there are also many cases in which "x" is pronounced like a "z". For example, the word "example" in Portuguese is "exemplo", and this x sounds like a z. It also happens for exercise and many others.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

And latviski there are none. Technicly our alphabet doesnt have an x but our people do know how to read it and all will read it as ks in every case without fault.

[@lizavetabudnik3140]

Isn't it "xylOphono" in Greek and "xylophOne" in French?

[@justafeather4630]

that's true, they just altered the stress to emphasise the different realisations of the :d

[@piptune]

French at some point lost it sense of stress inherent from Latin, so now French tends to fix its stress pattern on the last syllable, not counting the sound /ə/ (schwa). For instance: 🇨🇵muSIque, béluGA 🇪🇸MÚsica, beLUga So as French stress is (almost) always predictable and (I guess) doesn't cause minimal pairs, French is (often) not considered to contain any stress system whatsoëver.

[@ryuko4478]

@@piptune actually no, French doesn't stress syllable of a word, it stressed the last syllable of a phrase! so yeah when a word is pronounced in isolation it's the last syllable of that word, but in a semtence only the last syllable of the whole sentence gets stressed.

[@Joaquim-nz9vp]

@@ryuko4478 I think it's actually 1 syllable stress per word, it's true that in sentences words are sticked together thanks to la liaison, but that doesn't mean words lose their stressed syllables. For example in "Les animaux se seraient échappés du zoo", every word still has a stressed syllable (caps): "LES aniMAUX SE serAIENT échapPÉS DU ZOO". Through that example you can also see that every word tends to be stressed on the last syllable. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me!

[@ryuko4478]

@@Joaquim-nz9vp I don't know about French dialects but in Standard Parisian French it would only be stressed on the zoo, but unlike in English where unstressed means it becomes schwa French vowelsstay relatively unreduced and are fully pronounced except schwa (and sometimes mid fromt rounded vowels) can be dropped or added to redine the rhythm.

[@sakamotosan1887]

Interestingly, in Japanese, "xenon" is called キセノン, which sounds something close to "ksenon", like the Greek pronunciation. And "xylophone" is シロフォン, something like shirofone (trying to use english phonetics here).

[@mikaelsza]

Maybe the portuguese have introduced the xylophone in Japan. Shirofone sounds like the portuguese pronunciation.

[@xXJ4FARGAMERXx]

xylophone xilophone xilofone shilofone shirofone

[@serakxi]

Xylophone in portuguese is Xilofone (and is pronounced like /ʃi.loˈfo.ni/) The portuguese were the first europeans to arrive in Japan, maybe the japanese got the word from portuguese

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

Latviski the pronounciation is clear from how we write it - ksilofōns. Also it pains me how most japanese people think that they are romanizing something when theyre actually anglisizing it. For example 夢子 蛇喰 I would write using the latin script as Jumeko Džabami. (How you write /d͡ʒ/ is really free pick as latin did not have such a sound, how ever in modernish latin J is always /j/, classical latin wrote /j/ with i and you can see how j was created from i to differentiate between /j/ and /i/.)

[@Unstoppable0810]

今まで生きてきた中で木琴と言わずにシロフォンと言ったことがない、、、

[@zeezee9670]

It's great that your explanations are often intuitive. Thank you.

[@aie007]

4:11 Not just Xalapa, Mexico is also pronounced as Mehico in Spanish

[@Alcam211]

I think it's worth mentioning that X is not normally pronounced as [x] in Spanish, that sound correspond to J (and ge, gi), and X is normally pronounced as [ks], as in English, México and Xalapa are one of the very few exceptions.

[@ruedigernassauer]

The original Spanish spelling was and is "Méjico". US Americans changed this to "Mexico". The same thing happened when "Tejas" was conquered by the US Americans: It became "Texas".

[@Checkmate1138]

@@ruedigernassauer Well, technically, that "Mex" spelling could be rooted in the old Nahuatl pronunciation of the Mexica people, pronounced as "me/sh/ika" (sorry for the improper writing symbols), which was transcribed with the "x" letter.

[@yeasr7781]

this channel needs more subs

[@dklimenok]

2:45 It's worth pointing out that those are not exceptions. The voicing occurred if the prefix ex- was followed immediately by a stressed vowel, which is not the case for exercise.

[@brasteryakintosh9418]

Something to note is that “x” is sometimes pronounced /ʃ/ because that’s what sound it made in Old Spanish before it was merged with “j” and still then became /x/ except in consonant clusters where it merged with “s”. This is why “example” is “ejemplo”. Still, using “x” for /ʃ/ spread to other languages on the Iberian Peninsula and this pronunciation was still in use when Spanish missionaries started transcribing Native American languages. Because Mandarin needed a romanization system that could write two different /ʃ/-like sounds and “x” was the only letter that could work on its own for a /ʃ/-like sound which was important because reasons, “x” became the grapheme of choice

[@kantoid6233]

I'm brazilian, and in portuguese, "x" has 4 sounds Sh: Xilofone (xylophone), xicara (mug) Z: Exato (exact), exótico (exotic) Ks: Taxi, complexidade (complexity) S: (it usually sounds "s" in words that have "s" or "c" after "x", but there's exceptions) Excelente (excelent), extremamente (extremely)

[@georgios_5342]

Wow! Really nice etymological travel! Thanks!

[@willgoodwin-moore947]

I hope this channel blooms, because i already love it!! on the other hand, however, you have made me realise “xanthic” is a real word…

[@vladislavkaras491]

Thanks for the video!

[@maxiapalucci2511]

Great video but the x in Xi’an represents /ɕ/ not /ʃ/

[@xXJ4FARGAMERXx]

It represents ʃ in the English pronounciation.

[@mikaelsza]

But is the closer pronunciation for a english speaker

[@Checkmate1138]

@@xXJ4FARGAMERXx Yeah, but it's literally incorrect to the original meaning. Oh well, you can't really speak Chinese clearly with only English pronunciation.

[@floraevoli3330]

"For example, the word example" beauty

[@elcanaldelucas6187]

4:08 i love how he did not use Mexico itself as an example

[@WhizzKid2012]

I like your thumbnails and your style.

[@silverwolfmillennium8428]

Hey Lingolizard, could you make a video about त, द, ट, and ड (hindi alphabets)

[@nuetarded]

2:27 that was so smooth

[@efenty6235]

in hungarian they make us spell existentialism as "egzisztencializmus" with a "gz"

[@andrzejkowalski6836]

In the Polish version of "Xena the Warrior Princess", her name was not pronounced z-ee-n-a but k-s-eh-n-ah.

[@ddnava96]

4:08. Fun fact: The x in Mexico should actually be pronounced as the x in Xalapa, but English speakers just decided to ignore that and make yet another exception Cheers!

[@izjemmr]

Supposedly the version of Greek that got borrowed into Etruscan and then Latin just did not use the existing xi (Ξ/ξ), opting instead to represent it with the digraph chi-sigma (ΧΣ/χσ), eventually abbreviating it as just chi (Χ/χ).

[@Dread_2137]

If we talk about X in english, let's also talk about why C is pronounced as K or S, or why PH is making F sound.

[@tfan2222]

Much simpler, the C has traditionally been the K and G sound (hence why G is a derivative of C), the whole “k s” thing comes from French. The PH is just sound change from an aspirated P to an F, pretty common. English spelling is based on etymology, so the original spelling is kept despite the sound change.

[@Dread_2137]

@@tfan2222 if C has been K, how did you get C in Citrus? Kitrus?

[@ryuko4478]

@@Dread_2137 Latin /k g/ palatalized to /t͡s d͡ʒ/ before front non-low vowels (/i e ɛ/) in Old French and English loaned that as /s d͡ʒ/, compare how Latin Caesar is /kae̯sar/ in Classic pronunciation, German /ˈkai̯zɐ/, Arabic /qajsˁar/ but in French it became /sezaʁ/ and in Ecclesiastical Latin it became /ˈt͡ʃezar/.

[@cmyk8964]

*jan Misali* has a great video about why C has 2 main sounds.

[@mikaelsza]

Basically, Lenition!! The Old Latin pronunciation to C and G was /k/ and /g/ respectively, but as time passed, C and G before I, E and Y got softened in most romance languages as Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese. English got many influences from Latin and Normandic French, also having lenition in C and G. PH had an aspirated /p/ sound like in Pet and Pot, but got softened to /f/ sound in both Latin and Greek. Something like that also happened in semitic languages like arab and hebrew.

[@Xnoob545]

1:32 I actually do say it with the "tsu"

[@U20E0]

because what the video should have said is that “ _some_ american speakers don’t pronounce the ‘t’ “ Bad example. And i also pronounce “pseudonym” with an audible “p”, which is just plainly incorrect.

[@glass_shard]

I think I'm missing a piece... if /ks/ can become /gz/ in between vowels, why would French change /ks/ to /gz/ at the START of a word?

[@gunjfur8633]

I was thinking the same

[@U20E0]

because French is not English. it’s not even in the same language family.

[@gunjfur8633]

@@U20E0 That doesnt answer the question

[@U20E0]

@@gunjfur8633 i don’t know french. and it wasn’t supposed to answer the question, just point out that it’s malformed.

[@lingux_yt]

I've always thought that the sound turned into a Z because the letters X and Z are similar in Greek!

[@pandaszan9310]

Random fun fact about Polish We also happened to loan that voicing, though I don't know from what language. Our word for "exam" is "egzamin", and "existence" is "egzystencja"

[@jan_Masewin]

Would it be correct to say that English voices /ks/ before a non-initial stressed syllable?

[@seneca983]

You shouldn't punish yourself for those puns. You should give yourself a trophy.

[@Sebax]

In spanish the letter X has gone through different pronunciations. First it was "sh", then "kh" and finally "ks". It's also pronounced "s" at the beginning of a word, I guess because "ks" would be awkward to pronounce

[@KingJellyfishII]

egzquisite choice of word egzamples

[@thepanremastered]

1:05 the english "i" sound as in "price" is actually spelled (in the IPA context) /ai/; not /aɪ/ which is something I feel a lot of linguists get wrong. Using general IPA distinction for english with /r/ instead of /ɹ/ would also be acceptable, or you could use \ with the backslash to be more distinctive.

[@SlyHikari03]

Clicked because xylophone, styled for language learning. (Yes am a musician)

[@Kateuno]

In russian its still sounds like [Ks]ylophon - (Ксилофон)

[@heironic8547]

0:54 shows pictures of a marimba and a glockenspiel, everything but an actual xylophone.

[@mep6302]

Interesting. I remember I used to pronounce x in Spanish as ks even at the beginning of words. I've read words like "xilófono" as "ksi'lofono". So according to Greek I was right 👍

[@mewdolfkittler5630]

Same thing in Portuguese, except that X can have 4 different sounds

[@fambamnetwork4388]

What are those sounds

[@mahhalph3064]

@@fambamnetwork4388 X may sound like /sh/, /s/, /z/ and /ks/ in Portuguese. There are some rules, but It really depends on the origin of the word!

[@fambamnetwork4388]

@@mahhalph3064 ā ē õ x is stealing jobs over here

[@matthisdupre3487]

Oh, I'm French and it's true, that we pronounced "x" it that way I had never realised hahaha

[@lufax]

And then, people like me suffer with no one knowing how to actually pronounce my last name

[@ilghiz]

X turns into gz if the following vowel is stressed: éxit - ks exíst - gz éxhibition - ks exhíbit - gz (h is silent) exhále - ks (h is not silent)

[@gunjfur8633]

I thought it was éxhale

[@ilghiz]

@@gunjfur8633 , nope, the stress is on the second syllable, I've just checked it out to make sure. However, some people can stress the first syllable too, or give it a secondary stress. I've also found that some people can drop the [h] sound but it's still [ks] regardless of the stress.

[@BBarNavi]

…Are you even a native speaker? Because half of those were just completely wrong.

[@gunjfur8633]

@@ilghiz I also forgot to mention exhibítion

[@ilghiz]

@@BBarNavi, I’m not a native speaker but I am a professional linguist. “Wrong” is not the right term here, you can’t use it for the English language cuz it allows for countless varieties. There are too many English speaking countries, there’s no way for them to come to a strict uniform standard even within their respective borders. But I do believe that they will split into separate languages like Latin did. The world is much more connected for mutual influence than it was after the fall of the Roman Empire. And it will probably stay this way for millenia to come.

[@felipebranchesi597]

chuawɔ peaɛkaai aai laxma

[@williamedwardhackman4695]

I call the letter X making the KS sound the hard X and X making the Z sound the soft X.

[@tricky_english]

The sound /ks/ never ever comes at the beginning of any word

[@StealthySceptile]

missed opportunity to say xD

[@procrastinaterayquaza]

Nah those puns at the end were rather fine to me I know, I'm a strange person

[@XaaviWillow]

I am the example of this.

[@felipebranchesi597]

malaɔ pazɛasi nyauaw ŋuaaiz 🇸🇱 jaŋuaaj yajay

[@luizoli7268]

As mentioned in another comment, in portuguese language, X has 4 sounds.

[@danielbickford3458]

With my limited linguistic knowledge I'm going to guess blame Greece

[@LSHV]

My name on my PC once was "Xenoo", yes i said "Zenoo", cuz i was a smart guy

[@syldaviaball9545]

hehe... I sometimes say tsylofoné...

[@gunjfur8633]

But you didnt explain how /ks/ became /gz/ at the beginning of the word

[@pedromenchik1961]

In Portuguese, x can be pronounced as 'ks', 'z', 's', or 'sh'

[@user-fl1dc9ju3g]

That's why Albanians use X as [dz].

[@U20E0]

makes perfect sense

[@falliblefalinks7239]

e*x*cellent video!

[@jeff__w]

1:31 Huh? I’ve always said _tsunami_ pronouncing the _ts._ I’d regard “sunami” as a mispronunciation (not saying I’m right-that’s just how I’d view it).

[@Alesti5]

you're been mispronouncing it for a long time.

[@jeff__w]

@@Alesti5 Ha, maybe not. Merriam-Webster, American Heritage, Collins, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Cambridge, and Webster's New World College all have the pronunciation beginning with _ts._ Macmillan and New Oxford American give both the _ts_ and _s_ pronunciations. Bill Poser in _Language Log_ (in 2011), consistent with the video, said “In English the word is pronounced [sunami] rather than [tsunami] since English does not allow syllable-initial [ts]”-not that people who talk about _tse-tse flies_ care about such things-with plenty of commenters disagreeing. I’d surmise that _tsunami_ with an initial _ts_ is pretty standard, given the pronunciations in the various dictionaries.

[@ryuko4478]

@@jeff__w the pronunciation with [ts] is more accurate as loan but it isn't standard in English, some dictionaries may encourage it but the standard pronunciation is still with an initial [s]

[@---iv5gj]

"sunami" is just fucking wrong and ignorant

[@bloofrozo]

Since X makes a completely different sound at the beginning of words, then it should've made a 'sh' sound instead if a z sound. It makes more sense and there would be more words starting with x

[@maritoguionyo]

eks X

[@felipebranchesi597]

xifoaeɔ

[@noibat9112]

why is there no xylophone emoji

[@jatinore4626]

3:33 fortnite mentioned🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@NootNooter]

I thought you'd mention xeno but I didn't see it.. what about this word then

[@NootNooter]

@@gregoryford2532 Oh.. I must've been blind, I apologize. And yea you're right it isn't a word, I must've been at the beginning of my linguistics journey back then.

[@kirilvelinov7774]

We want a latin letter Xi!(pronounced chee) 1:04 this would be pronounced "chylophono"

[@xolang]

but X in xylophone is not between vowels. it's at the beginning of a word, followed by a vowel.

[@elesvazul]

X can also sound like 'g+z' like exit. you pronounce 'aegzit' not 'aeksit'

[@kirilvelinov7774]

Balkan Spanish X=z It has 18 letters H=aspiration(Qh,Ph,Th)

[@kirilvelinov7774]

Ydrogono lol

[@kirilvelinov7774]

Two new voiced letters in Greek! Ksi=Gzi Psi=Bzi

[@kirilvelinov7774]

Spelled vps,not mpz Spelled gx,not gkz

[@tricky_english]

The first sound of X-ray is the sound ĕ not /ks/

[@apia46]

i hear it pronounced more like "eks-zie-lo(or uh)-foen"

[@Checkmate1138]

Those people are probably pulling your leg, lol.

[@apia46]

@@Checkmate1138 shih-zih-low-puh-hone

[@maxk1583]

I think I say example the wrong way

[@user-bv7zo6vd4m]

I think a better question is why exactly J makes a tz sound or even a Z sound. And what the hell are you supposed to do with c k and q!? It's such a shame English is the global language

[@TaxEvasionUS]

I love tax evasion

[@19n05k83]

xanax 👍

[@donolsen7634]

Also in Greek we pronounce the ksilo-fonia . Also why do we change the Greek F. To Ph in English? Our Greek letter Fee. Is just fine. You guys call the letter Phi ?????

[@felipebranchesi597]

🇸🇱 ɔkaaɔ pazŋia ywirry

[@EdwindePaula]

...... kalaallisut

[@brokenursa9986]

Really weird pronunciation for X, I pronounce the X in “luxury” as a /ɡ͡ʒ/. X is a silly letter.

[@U20E0]

that’s how it’s supposed to be pronounced in AmE, but it’s two phonemes [gZ], not an affricate [g_Z]

[@blinski1]

That's very logical to pronounce it that way. First, you got your X between two vowels after stressed syllable, so it makes the 'gz' out of 'ks' sound. Then, you got something called 'yod coalescence' which makes fricative out of every consonant that can be turned into one when it's positioned before letter U being pronounced as 'yu'. So 'z' before U becomes 'ʒ', just like S in 'sure' becomes 'sh' or D in 'endure' becomes 'j' (but doesn't have to, just like you can say 'lugzury' with 'z').

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

In my dialect it's /kʃ/, possibly with a glide too.

[@josephschubert6561]

0:58 You fool. You don't even know who you've insulted. (Those are bells, or a glockenspiel in German. It is small and looks about the same as a cheap aluminum toy xylophone because they are meant for really high notes with a piercing timbre.)

[@felipebranchesi597]

🇸🇱 saiɔpn aidaɡ ɔkwef ɡay fanx

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

You pronounced the x in Mexico incorrectly.

[@ilghiz]

Xebra, xoology, xodiac...

[@PlatinumAltaria]

It feels so good to not speak a dialect where x is /gz/, that makes no sense at all.

[@tfan2222]

The /gz/ sound dates ALL the way back to old English.

[@PlatinumAltaria]

@@tfan2222 And AFAIK the elimination of /gz/ dates to Middle English, and is quite common across English speakers.

[@Bancanana]

I thought xylophone was pronounced ex ylophone?

[@nick3805]

And people say German is confusing!

[@OOoOski]

For someone learning English that complete fucking mess of English pronunciation is a pain. Basically you have to learn most of the words twice, because you can’t figure out how to pronounce them by looking at them.

[@suranumitu7734]

you say it's from ancient greek, but you're showing and saying the modern greek pronunciation. not really relevant but it did bother me.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

Because the english cant read. A xylophone is to be pronounces ksilophone. And ph is not f its an asperated p.

[@pianogang2273]

1,000 viewer

[@judymunn5342]

Anyways???

[@youtubeuser3819]

It’s a little annoying to hear you mispronounce the word “pronunciation “, especially being that this is a linguistics channel.