Mr. Tom

“The two pronunciations for the word opportunity [oppor-too-nity and oppor-chu-nity] are available in English Pronouncing Dictionary by Daniel Jones.”

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=55715&ph=on

Cambridge represents the pronunciation of the third syllable phonetically as "tju", which is exactly the sound I was talking about when I wrote "tyu". To me, there is very definitely no CH sound there -- the "tju" pronunciation would have a T sound followed by something that sounds like the word "you".

I guess I just can't fathom anyone saying the word "opportunity" with a CH-sound rather than a T-sound.

EDIT:

I can imagine describing the "tu" part of the word "fortune" as having an initial "ch" sound, but not the "tu" part of the word "opportunity".

Mr. Tom

“I would also  like to add that many educated people in Pakistan overpronounce the chu -sound  in words like stupid, attitude, students etc.”

Tom, are you saying that the pronunciations common in Pakistan would be like (a) and never like (b) in both of the following? Or are you saying that (a) would be the "overpronunciation" you mentioned?

stupid:

(a) s-chew  pid

(b) st-you  pid

students:

(a) s-chew  dents

(b) st-you  dents

For some reason the idea of saying "atti-chewed" hits me squarely in the funny bone.

This has got me thinking of all sorts of possibilities for alternative spellings as well as alternative pronunciations. 

We could start spelling Massachusetts as "Massatusetts" and still end up with the same pronunciation on the right side of the pond.

And wouldn't the name Tucson, Arizona sound interesting if it begain with a "Chew"?

Three common pronunciations for the students in my neck of the woods are:

*stoo-dents

*schoo-dents

*styo-dents.

Can I swerve a bit?

Here we pronounce maximum and absorb with a z-sound.

Maximum: mag-zimum

Absorb:  ab-zorb

But, of course, eraser can be pronounced with either a z-sound or s-sound...right?

Tom