Despicable

[Tdol]

I heard an American speaker say /despɪkəbəl/ on TV recently, which sounded odd to me as I would say /dɪspɪkəbəl/, and I have never heard the other form in BrE. Is this a common or normal pronunciation in the US?

 

[MikeNewYork]

I think the version with a short i sound is more common in AmE. It is difficult rule out the short e sound completely because they can be very similar in an unstressed syllable. If what you heard was a long e sound, that would be very unusual.

 

[probus]

I hear both in AmE. To me, the short e sounds more common than the i, and I would even prefer the schwa.

 

[emsr2d2]

It sounds like "di=spick-uh-bull" in BrE. (Sorry, I don't do phonetic symbols!)

 

[Tdol]

I think the version with a short i sound is more common in AmE. It is difficult rule out the short e sound completely because they can be very similar in an unstressed syllable. If what you heard was a long e sound, that would be very unusual.

It was a short e as in egg. I just hadn't noticed it before in any American English.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Because it is stressed, "egg" has more of an e sound than we use in despicable.