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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010Spelling of "jail" as "gaol"?
It seems that the American spelling "jail" has been universally adopted outside of the US. Just wondering how the British "gaol" , despite the numerous inconsistencies of English readings, could possibly be pronounced as /dʒeɪl/ ?! > It seems that the American spelling "jail" has been universally > adopted outside of the US. Just wondering how the British "gaol" , > despite the numerous inconsistencies of English readings, could > possibly be pronounced as /dʒeɪl/ ?! It all goes back to a sound change in Old French that did not happen in Normandy. Palatalisation of velars before "a" did not affect the French that the Normans brought to English, but England was later influenced by the French of Paris where the sound change did occur. That's why we have two variants of what was originally the same word in Norman-derived "catch" and Central French "chase". In the case of "gaol" we have a spelling that reflects the Norman word (gaiole, gayolle, gaole) while the pronunciation is that of the Central French word (jaiole, jaole, jeole, geole), better reflected by the spelling "jail".  SignatureJames Ahhh I see, thanks for the explanation! : ) > It seems that the American spelling "jail" has been universally > adopted outside of the US. Just wondering how the British "gaol" , > despite the numerous inconsistencies of English readings, could > possibly be pronounced as /dʒeɪl/ ?! I don't know how to use the proper symbols, I'm sorry, but I wanted to point out that "gaol" does sound very like "jail" when I pronounce them. JAY ill or JAY 'll versus the "g" I would use in "genie" or "george". So gaol is JAY oll or JAY 'll when spoken quickly in normal speech. That is, virtually identical for me with my hybrid New Zealand/Australian accent. |
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