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"Bal uhn" or "bayl uhn"?
On 7/27/2015 6:44 PM, John S wrote:
On 7/27/2015 4:05 PM, rickman wrote: On 7/27/2015 4:45 PM, Wayne wrote: Just today I got a question from a new ham on the pronunciation of balun. He has been around the scientific community a lot (physicists, etc.) but not many RF types such as engineers or hams. He claims that he rarely has ever hear the pronunciation "bal uhn", and I've rarely heard "bayl uhn". Anybody want to weigh in on this, heh heh Where does the "y" come in? The word is a contraction of balanced and unbalanced. So I figure it should be pronounced "bal uhn" just like the beginning of the two words it stands for. Maybe the 'y' is added further south than Virginia. I think Wayne added the 'y' to indicate that the 'a' is pronounced as in 'ace' rather than as in 'father'. I don't want to be nitpicky, but the a in 'father' is pronounced a bit differently, like the a in 'all', while the first syllable in 'balance' is pronounced as the a in bath. The a in 'father' uses the letter a as the pronunciation symbol (or internationally the ä). The a in 'balance' is represented by the symbol æ (looks like an a squished with an e). I expect the people who are pronouncing it like 'bailiff' are thinking the proximity of the vowel 'u' is making the 'a' long. But the rule is really just a guideline and only applies when the word ends with an e, if I remember. So while this is certainly a subject for debate, everything I have found (other than a single web page - By Gary Altunian "Stereos Expert") all say it is balun or bælən. -- Rick |
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