chimpanzee

Sorry, that should be:

<Both are found in the US, but I'm pretty sure that ultimate stress is predominant;>

>>Both are found in the US, but I'm pretty sure that initial stress is predominant; whereas in Britain I think initial stress is predominant, maybe even exclusive. I pronounce it [h@"r\{s], but I do hear the initial-stress version from some Americans. (Two that come to mind are Candice Bergen and Keith Olbermann.)<<

It's clearly an innovation. Back when I was growing up people said HARRass for "harass", at least those people on the East Coast. I think of the other pronunciation as a spelling pronunciation due to the fact that there's only one "r" in the spelling.

>>[h@"r\{s]<<

What on Earth is that?

I think I generally say "chim-PAN-zee", but I might sometimes say "CHIM-pan-ZEE", with roughly equal stress on the first and last syllables. I suppose which one I use might depend on which one flows better in a particular sentence. I would say "chimpanzees are a type of ape" with "chim-PAN-zee", but I might say "it's a chimpanzee" with either pronunciation, since it does have a rhythm with "CHIM-pan-ZEE". Oddly enough, I never even noticed this sort of subconscious stress shifting until I thought about it now.

I always say "harass" as "huh-RASS", and "HAR-ass" sounds very odd to me. Regardless of whether it was once the correct pronunciation, it just grates on my ear for some reason. M-W lists "huh-RASS" first.

- Kef

>>I always say "harass" as "huh-RASS", and "HAR-ass" sounds very odd to me. Regardless of whether it was once the correct pronunciation, it just grates on my ear for some reason. M-W lists "huh-RASS" first.<<

I have to say that this applies to me as well. I find the pronouncing of "harass" with initial stress to be quite strange for whatever reason, being used to only the version with final stress ([h@:"RE{s] in my own dialect).

I say emPLOYee and haRASS. And FInance and inSURance, for that matter. I think HARass always makes me giggle -- some guy named Harris is being bad again! FINance (short I) and INsurance always set my teeth on edge. EMployEE is just sort of more work than it needs to be, in my opinion.

<<It's clearly an innovation. Back when I was growing up people said HARRass for "harass", at least those people on the East Coast. I think of the other pronunciation as a spelling pronunciation due to the fact that there's only one "r" in the spelling.>>

Well, if it's just a spelling pronunciation, so are caRESS and creVASSE.... should I be CARessing your face instead?

<<Well, if it's just a spelling pronunciation, so are caRESS and creVASSE.... should I be CARessing your face instead?>>

No "caRESS" is not a spelling pronunciation as it was never pronounced otherwise at least to my knowledge. However "HARass" is the traditional pronunciation of "harass". Also "HARass" doesn't sound exactly the same as "Harris". The former has an "uh" sound and the latter has a short "i".

In most American accents, @ has shifted to I in many places.

>>In most American accents, @ has shifted to I in many places.<<

Or more properly, in many unstressed positions in North American English dialects, there is only one unstressed vowel, which is either [@] or [1], rather than two unstressed vowels, both [@] and [1].