Why "ci" is pronounced as si and "ca" is pronounced as ka?If so,how can you differentiate between "ci" and "si

Question

Why "ci" is pronounced as si and "ca" is pronounced as ka?If so,how can you differentiate between "ci" and "si"?
How to explain to kids,why we use "C" for cat and not "K"?

Answer 1

You've brought up a fundamental flaw in modern English, that dates back to the creation of the first dictionary.

The first printed dictionary essentially codified London English as the standard for the English language.

Within this codification the alphabet used included 'c' pronounced either as 'k' or 's', 'k' always pronounced as 'k', and 's' always pronounced 's'.

This essentially leaves a useless and confusing letter - 'c'. It is unnecessary as its pronunciations/sounds are covered by 'k' and 's'... the confusion has remained ever since, and is one of the reasons why English is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn.

The only explanation there is really, is that that's how it is... sounds lame, and remains confusing... but unless we perform a radical change in English - parents are going to continue having to say 'that's just how it is...'

Sorry...

-dh

Answer 2

English is a language that has several roots. It has also inherited some of the rules of the contributing languages. The characteristic you refer to is from Latin and is shared by the romance languages.

When the vowels A, O & U immediately follow the letter C in a word, the C is pronounced as a K. When the vowels E, I or Y follow a C the sound is like an S.

This also holds true for the letter G....GA, GO, GU make the "hard" sound while GE & GE are soft sounded. There is a break in the rule for GY words. Some are hard sounding...gynecology while others are soft sounding...gymnasium. Fortunately there are not many words with GY that are pronounced with the hard G. It seems like the GY words have Greek roots...not a romance language, therfore doesn't follow the general rule. It is an exception as are other such words.

You actually have another question about differentiateing between "ci" and "si." There is no difference in pronunciation. The problem comes when you have to spell the sound not say it. This involves knowing the root or morpheme of the concept. These have to be memorized because English has about 100,000 words. Most of these are derived from other language sources. This is why we have many homonyms or homophones. Cite, site, sight have the same sound but different spellings and meanings because they have different roots.

Small children don't need to know all the rules, reasons and histories. I presume they are working on Reading. Don't confuse them at this point in time.

Answer 3

That is precisely what makes English so hard to learn, so many irregularities and inconsistencies.

You can really only differentiate by experience, you read and learn the appropriate sound via context or you use the dictionary.

Answer 4

because the spanish want si instead of ci tell kids the americans wanted cat instead of kat

Answer 5

there is no rule, at least for this part, we have to learn it .
but while you are teaching kids, when you are teaching alphabets, you have to tell them that "c"sounds differently ,sometimes/k/ and somethimes /s/. i have done this before