Quote:
Originally posted by BlondeGurl
What I have heard is that if Phi has a greek letter that starts with a vowel in front of it then it is pronounced "phee" (ex Alpha Phi) but if it starts with a consonant or if there is another greek letter behind it then it is pronounced "phi" (ex Phi Delta Theta or Sigma Phi Epsilon) ... I heard this from an Alpha Phi ... so I assume it is true.
|
You, and many others, assume incorrectly. This is an old Greek urban legend.
Yes, sometimes the
pronunciation of the sounds that letters represent changes based on what is around them -- "C" is typically pronounced "s" before i or e and "k" before a, o or u. But "fee" (or "fie") is the
name of the letter
F -- the sound is simply "ff." The idea that the pronunciation of the name of
F changes beased on whether a vowel is in front of it is the equivalent of saying that the letter F is called "eff" if a vowel precedes it "eeff" if a consonant precedes it.
It's very simple -- "Fee" is the Greek pronunciation, "Fie" is the American Anglicized pronunciation. Most GLOs use the Amercian Anglicized pronunciations for Greek letters, but some GLOs, such as Alpha Phi, use the Greek pronunciations, at least in some instances such as their names.