say says

Guest   Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:40 am GMT
can't you pronounce "says" as [seiz]?
someone said you should say it as [sez]
i think its more correct to say [seiz] cause dictionary tells you "say" is spoken as [sei] so if "-s" is attached why not say [seiz]?
Raghav   Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:27 am GMT
>> i think its more correct to say [seiz] cause dictionary tells you "say" is spoken as [sei] so if "-s" is attached why not say [seiz]? <<

Then should <does> be pronounced [du:z] by analogy with <do> [du:]?

I think [sEz] is standard in most places, but IME a lot of people from the North of England use the other pronunciation. I think it's possible that older or conservative speakers of American English used [seiz], as it's given as an alternate pronunciation in Webster's Third and some books use "sez" in eye dialect, which implies that the authors didn't pronounce it that way.
Guest   Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:32 am GMT
<<i think its more correct to say [seiz] cause dictionary tells you "say" is spoken as [sei] so if "-s" is attached why not say [seiz]?>>

No. It's /sEz/ as it's irregular. Irregularities sometimes occur.
Guest   Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:52 am GMT
i don't understand..................
what's irregular??
furrykef   Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:06 am GMT
www.m-w.com lists both /sEz/ and /seiz/ - http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/say

That said, I rarely if ever hear /seiz/.

<< i don't understand..................
what's irregular?? >>

It's not any different from how other verbs change. "Am" becomes "is", "do" becomes "does", and "say" becomes "says". Just because it's spelled as if it were a regular verb doesn't mean it is one.

- Kef
Maldini   Fri Dec 14, 2007 8:51 am GMT
seiz is common here in Canada
Marc   Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:40 pm GMT
>> seiz is common here in Canada <<

I don't believe you.