A trivia book I recently read mentioned "polish" as the only English word which needed context before you could pronounce it correctly. Said as pah-lish it signifies to buff, while po-lish describes a native of Poland. I think the author errs (a synonym for “is full of it”) because I can, offhand, think of at least two others: "minute" (min-ut, my-newt) and "putting" (a golf action, and placing an object). Are there more such words that you can think of? And is there a name for this phenomenon?
As I was posting this, I noticed the Potpurri list has "Special" in one title. That word is pronounced one way to mean exceptional but another when referring to an animal grouping. Or at least I have always believed this was so.
During several lectures at the local zoo, instructors have used it, pronounced “spee-cee-al” to describe a “special adapation.”
However, the OED and several other dictionaries don't mention this “spee-cial” usage as the animal definition or give an alternate pronunciation. Yet there is the dictionary-recognized word “specialization (spee-see-al-iz-a-shun).” Is this use of "special" a back-formation of “specialization” as yet unnoticed by dictionary-makers?
That confirms my opinion of that particular author.
However, I'd still like to know about "special" in the sense of species. After thinking about it, I have convinced myself that it is probably an oral usage, since even in context on a printed page, it is still ambiguous. If you say an animal has a "special adaptation," there might still be the the question of whether it is an ordinary genetic trait, or if it's an extraordinary one, which would require further clarification. During a spoken lecture, there's no doubt.
I've never heard special used in the way you mention, and I've never heard specialization pronounced spee-see-al-iz-a-shun. I've only heard it pronounced spěsh'ə-lĭ-zā'shən. Special did come from species according to the Online OED and the Online Etymology Dictionary, though species at that time had a much broader meaning than the taxonomic one. That surprised me.
Special, attested from around 1225 was joined to -ize to form the verb specialize. Specialize was first attested from 1613 (OED Online) and, in a biological sense, from 1851.
Specialize was combined with -ation to form the noun specialization, attested from 1843 in the general sense, from 1862 in the biological sense, and from 1918 meaning "A specialized character or adaptive feature in an organism."
The name of the animal grouping, as you know, is species. Combining forms for species are specie- (e.g., speciegraphical, 1888) and specio- (e.g., speciographic, -graphy, -logic, -logy, all attested from 1882). I suspect the word you heard was an attempt to create a word meaning "pertaining to species." That word should logically be specieal, not special. I don't know if the word specieal even exists. I've found it on the Internet, but all cases appear to be mispellings of special. But we already have a word with that meaning: specific
quote:
6. Biology. of or pertaining to a species: specific characters.
Of course, specific has different meanings, too (dictionary.com gives 12), and specieal presumably would have only one. But the intended meaning of specific is usually clear from context, so I see no need for a new word. Need, however, often has nothing to do with it.
We have a word for "special adaptation," too: specialization.
quote:
2. Biology. (of an organism or one of its organs) to be adapted to a special function or environment.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,
As I said, I'm beginning to think the pronunciation (and odd terminology) I mantioned is only used in oral presentations here and seems to be only used by those in some way connected with the local zoo. Whether it will spread further or remain a localism, only time will tell.
