When I read a word that I don鈥檛 know how to pronounce, I can鈥檛 remember it. Why do I need to be able to pronounce a word for my brain to recall it?
Guy Cox
Sydney, Australia
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Humans had been using language for a very long time before writing was invented, so this isn鈥檛 really surprising. We have evolved to remember sounds, not letters.
But the funny thing is that we only have such poor memory for written words when we can鈥檛 guess how to pronounce them. We can perfectly remember words for which we have conceived an incorrect pronunciation.
For example, up to age 9, I thought that 鈥済esture鈥� had a hard 鈥済鈥� 鈥� I had read the word often enough, but had never heard it spoken. This can have hilarious consequences. The story of the radio announcer who referred to Pyotr Tchaikovsky鈥檚 opera as 鈥測ou gene one gin鈥� may be apocryphal, but I have heard many broadcasters announce Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart鈥檚 鈥淒on Geo Varney鈥�.
The funniest one (and I swear this is genuine) was a volunteer announcer on a community station, who referred to the Kyrie movement from a Mass setting 鈥� but as you would pronounce Kylie!
David Bortin
Whittier, California, US
The pronunciation of a word is a single, easily memorable fact 鈥� or, at most, one fact per syllable. Its spelling, however, is a sequence of independent facts that must be separately recalled and correctly ordered, with exponentially greater opportunities for error.
To answer this question 鈥� or ask a new one 鈥� email lastword@newscientist.com.
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