Words like CODE that are turned into CODIFY that don't sound alike

[Whyte92]

This is something that has always bothered me in the English language. There is many examples of this but one that particularly comes to mind is CODE being used as CODIFY. When CODIFY in pronunciation actually sounds like COD the fish. Why is this? why is this so apparent in English? seems to me it would make much more sense to pronounce it CODE-IFY rather than COD-IFY. Anyways, what do people think of all this?

Thanks!

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never heard it pronounced with "cod" as the first syllable (ie sounding like the fish). On the rare occasion that I say the word, I say "code-iff-eye" so the first syllable is "code".

Click on the pronunciation button on this link to hear an example.

 

[PHenry1026]

Greetings,

The pronunciation of codify varies regionally: In the UK, it is pronounced much the same way as code, while in much of the U.S. it has the cod sound you allude to. See the following link for the general UK and US pronunciation of codify: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/codify?q=codify

;-) Percy

 

[Tdol]

There is many examples of this but one that particularly comes to mind is CODE being used as CODIFY.

Note/notify follows your logic.

 

[emsr2d2]

I thought the OP's point was that there are lots of examples where the two words don't sound alike. "Note" and "notify" both have "note" as the first/only syllable.

 

[Tdol]

The OP said that it would make more sense to pronounce codify the BrE way- notify follows the OP's preferred pattern, which is what I meant to say.

 

[emsr2d2]

Ah, yes, I see your point. I read it backwards.

Out of curiosity, I checked forvo.com. It has 4 pronunciations of "codify", all by AmE speakers. Two pronounce the first syllable as "cod" and two pronounce it as "code". There was no BrE version on there but I will record one later.

The only example of "notify" on that site is by an AmE speaker and gives the first syllable as "note".