Yoong Liat“If you hadn't told me,I wouldn't have known that Mr P was referring to pronunciation”
Sorry, YL, I should have said.
Cool Breeze “
However, at least according to dictionaries some similar words can be pronounced in two ways. Long-legged is one example: [legd / legɪd]. I have only heard the latter pronunciation, though. I wonder if the first alternative is actually used at all even though it is given in dictionaries?”
That's an interesting one. For the long-legged myotis, I would naturally say "leggd"; though they may say it differently in the US. For Dylan Thomas's "long-legged bait", and Yeats's "long-legged fly", on the other hand, I would say "-leggèd":
That civilisation may not sink,
Its great battle lost,
Quiet the dog, tether the pony
To a distant post;
Our master Caesar is in the tent
Where the maps are spread,
His eyes fixed upon nothing,
A hand upon his head.
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
His mind moves upon silence.
Going back to your previous comment: I note that "a learnt trait" is much less popular than "a learned trait".
All the best,
MrP