Re: Brilliant

On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:04:18 -0800, Evan Kirshenbaum
<kirshenbaum@xxxxxxxxxx> said:

Bob Cunningham <exw6sxq@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

The _Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary_, at
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=6790&ph=on
shows two pronunciations, a US one and a UK one. The only
difference is in the last syllable, which they think is
pronounced with the British vowel in "cot" or the American
vowel in the first syllable of "father".

Otherwise, both pronunciations have "bi" as in "bit", "he" as in
"he", with the stress on the first syllable.

I erred. _CALD_ shows the stress on the second syllable.

Never having heard the word pronounced, so far as I can
remember, and having assumed when reading that it had stress
on the first syllable, I somehow failed to grasp what the
dictionary was telling me.

I would pronounce it
that way, except that I would make the first syllable "be" as in
"be".

How would you pronounce it?

The two pronunciations in the OED (differing only in final vowel) both
have stress on the second syllable. The first one is the one I
learned and is the first one shown by MWCD11 as well.

I see now that the online _Collegiate_ (m-w.com) has a
pronunciation with the stress on the first syllable,
['bi:@m@th]. I'll probably say it that way if I ever want
to say the word at all. It seems to take a little less
effort than the other one, so it's the more sensible of the
two.
.

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