And so the repetition of ‘says’ will have the effect of streamlining the way we articulate it.

The ‘he/she/it’ forms of verbs are used more often than other forms.

Frequency has to be the trigger for the change here. The pronunciation shift from ‘says’ to ‘sez’ must have occurred some time ago - writers were already commenting on it as far back as the mid 1600s. So it’s the shortened version ‘sez’ that is standard the full form ‘says’ is now considered non-standard, dialectal.

In Standard English this is pronounced as ‘he/she/it sez’, and not ‘he/she/it says’. It’s the so-called third person form that is the problem - this is where the verb falls out of kilter. The verb to 'say' is a good example of a mundane verb that is used a lot and that does exceptional things. The former appears to have survived as a non-standard dialectal form:Īs the linguist Fidelholtz wrote back in 1975 - ‘Frequent words can do exceptional things’. But pompous broadcasting twits, especially across the pond, have never let standard pronunciations get in the way of on-air affectations.Īccording to the following extract from Wise Words, /seiz/ used to be the standard pronunciation of 'says' which was gradually replaced by the shorter /sɛz/. Is it just a quirk of English?Ī: The third-person singular of the verb “say” should be pronounced “sez” on both sides of the Atlantic, according to American and British dictionaries. Q: I hear BBC correspondents pronounce “says” with a long “a” to rhyme with “prays.” Why do Americans pronounce it like “sez” instead of like “pays,” “lays,” and other “ays” word that come to mind. The following extract from Grammarphobia (2008) seems to suggest that 'says' pronounced /seiz/ can still be heard: Or could it be an 'emergent usage', reflecting the general tendency to 'regularise' irregular verbs? I'm only really asking if there might perhaps be a surviving 'dialectal pocket' of some kind (assuming the orthography represents an original pronunciation). I don't want to get bogged down in how non-native speakers affect things. I've just heard Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, at 10:13 here (about a quarter of the way through Prime Minister's Questions, UK Parliament, Thurs 27 Oct) saying.Īmnesty International SAYS, and I quote, Īpologies to anyone who can't access the video (it's a BBC link, which I suppose gets tricky if you're not a license payer), but obviously the point is he clearly says SAYS (/seɪz/), not SEZ (/sɛz/).Īs it happens, while saying those words Corbyn is constantly looking down on what are presumably pre-written notes/quotes, so I'm inclined to suppose it's actually just a one-off enunciation error (because sometimes reading and talking is like walking and chewing gum! :)īut seriously, does anyone talk like that today if they're not distracted by orthography?

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