On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 21:08:32 +0200, Erik Haugan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>* Wilkinson Jens <[log in to unmask]>:

>It's amazing how long this thread has gone before anybody looked it up
>in a dictionary.  According to the Webster (look up "paleolithic" or
>"Paleo-Indian" at www.webster.com) the first syllable is pronounced like
>"pale" or "pal", the latter especially in Brittish.

In Australia, the word is used in two overlapping realms of discourse: the
academic (where the first syllable generally rhymes with "pal") and the
more popular - sometimes as an insult: as the words "caveman"
and "Neanderthal" are used. (In this second case, the pronunciation may be
as in "pal" or as in "pale".  I have never heard it pronounced with
the "a" as in "Karl", "gnarl" "darling").  In either case, the word does
not exist on its own, but only as a prefix to Paleolithic, Paleobotany etc.

Erik makes the obvious point well: language is transmitted orally.  The
Greek origins are less obvious when it it spelled "Paleo" rather
than "Palaeo" and most Australian and British uses take the "Palaeo"
spelling - as I did, unil I joined this list.

Keith