Why is the y in bicycle pronounced differently from the y in motorcycle?

Answer 1

Well, darling, the reason the "y" in "bicycle" is pronounced differently from the "y" in "motorcycle" is because of the company they keep. In "bicycle," the "y" is followed by a short vowel sound, so it sounds like an "i." In "motorcycle," the "y" is followed by a long vowel sound, so it sounds like a "y." It's all about the vowels they're hanging out with, honey.

Answer 2

The pronunciation difference between the "y" in "bicycle" and "motorcycle" is due to the preceding vowel sound. In "bicycle," the "y" is preceded by a short "i" sound, which causes it to be pronounced as a long "i" sound. In "motorcycle," the "y" is preceded by a schwa sound, resulting in a short "i" sound pronunciation. This phenomenon is known as vowel-consonant interaction in phonetics.

Answer 3

Oh, dude, you're hitting me with the tough questions now, huh? Well, the reason the "y" in "bicycle" is pronounced differently from the "y" in "motorcycle" is because of the different sounds they make in the English language. It's like asking why a cat meows but a dog barks, you know what I mean? Language is weird like that.

Answer 4

The long i sound in motorcycle is from the base word cycle. The short i is the preferred pronunciation for bicycle (by-sickle) and tricycle (try-sickle), probably due to the existing long i in the prefixes, which become the stressed syllables.