Product Code Database
Orthoepy is the study of pronunciation of a particular language, within a specific oral tradition. The term is from the Greek language ὀρθοέπεια , from ὀρθός () and ἔπος (). The antonym is cacoepy "bad or wrong pronunciation". The pronunciation of the word orthoepy itself varies widely; the OED recognizes the variants , , , and for British English, as well as for American English.
The pronunciation is sometimes clarified with a diaeresis: orthoëpy, such as in the title of Edward Barrett Warman's Warman's Practical Orthoëpy and Critique, published in 1888 and found in Google Books.
Warman states on page 5: "Words possess three special characteristics: They have their Eye-life—Orthography. Ear-life—Orthoëpy. Soul-life—Significance." As with Warman's book, the purpose of this article is "to deal exclusively with the ear-life, or orthoëpy".
In ancient Greek, ὀρθοέπεια orthoepeia had the wider sense of "correct poetic diction" (cf. LSJ ad loc., or the etymology in the OED), referencing correct pronunciation not just of individual words but also of entire passages, especially poetry, along with the distinction of good poetry vs. bad poetry. The archaic English term for this subject is orthology, and in this sense its opposite is solecism. The study of orthoepeia by the Ancient Greece of the 5th century BCE, especially Prodicus (c. 396 BCE) and Protagoras, also included proto- concepts.
|
|
