Singular "analysis" becomes plural "analyses". The e has a long sound because otherwise the two would sound the same. This seems to be a pretty solid rule for nouns whose singular form ends in "is" and plural form changes the "i" to an "e". Some people do something similar to any singular noun that ends in "s". For example, "synapse" becomes "synapses". I pronounce "synapses" SIN-ap-suhs. Some people pronounce it SIN-ap-sees. Please tell me I'm right.
Learn English – Unnecessarily Using a Long “E” Sound in Plurals Whose Singular Form Ends in “S”
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Related Solutions
See the lot-cloth split section of Wikipedia. Here are two excerpts:
The lengthening and raising generally happened before the fricatives /f/, /θ/ and /s/. In American English the raising was extended to the environment before /ŋ/ and /ɡ/, and in a few words before /k/ as well, giving pronunciations like /lɔŋ/ for long, /dɔɡ/ for dog, and /tʃɔklɨt/ for chocolate.
The sound change is most consistent in the last syllable of a word, and much less so elsewhere. Some words that entered the language later, especially when used more in writing than speech, are exempt from the lengthening, e.g. joss and Goth with the short vowel.
Translating from IPA for those people who don't know it, the vowel is generally long before the sounds 'f', 's', 'th', 'g', 'ng', 'nk', especially in one-syllable words. There are exceptions both ways. For example, it's usually short in cog and long in chocolate. I don't believe there's any way to figure out which words are the exceptions.
For the, Follow the a/an Rule
To see what to do with the, look at what one does with a/an. It’s
- a ukelele
- a united front
- a wonder
- a one-dollar bill
- a yellow pen
- a yerba mate (also spelled a hierba mate)
Those are all without the article a changing to an. Those are all pronounced with a /j/ or a /w/ at the start of the noun, no matter how they are spelled.
So the same thing occurs with the: if and only if you would have an, then and only then you would have /ði/. Otherwise you have /ðə/. (I’m not considering the emphatic version /ˈðiː/ at this point, which is stressed and has a long vowel.)
What you are perhaps hearing with the is that the glide at the front of those words, which does not trigger an, also does not trigger /ði/.
However, it might be that there is some increased reduction of the unstressed vowel there, making it hard to hear the unstressed schwa and the blending into the /ju/. Maybe for you that makes that semi-vocalic /j/ seem like an /i/ in the previous word.
Glides Are Funny Things
That’s because the /j/ glide, just like the /w/ one, does ∫ count as a vowel sound, at least in English at the start of a falling diphthong like yak /jæk/ or feud /fjud/.
All that matters is that it does not trigger the switch from a to an, and so does not trigger the 1st alternate pronunciation of the either. So the union is /ðəˈjunjən/.
There does exist an emphatic pronunciation of the union as /ˈðiːˌjunjən/, but that is comparatively rare and used only for special purposes. I’m not convinced you can tell where one word ends and the next one starts for that, but nobody notices that because they “know” what you’re saying.
In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel (or glide) is a sound, such as English /w/ or /j/, that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.
They are normally called semi-consonants when they occur at the start of “rising” diphthongs and triphthongs, and where they get written with consonants. They don’t count as vowels there. So /j/ is the palatal approximant and /w/ is the voiced labio-dental approximant, and both can form syllable boundaries or the start of a rising diphthong or triphthong. They cannot form syllabic nuclei.
Yet when the same glide occurs at the end of a “falling” diphthong or triphthong, it’s now called a semi-vowel and gets written with a vowel instead. (Interesting side question is whether it can trigger intrusive r in such speakers as have that trait.) But it is still not a syllabic nucleus: it is glide following the same in a falling diphthong.
Consider the symmetric triphthongs yay /jeɪ/ and wow /wɑʊ/ for example. The /e/ and /a/ form the syllabic nucleus, and they have the same glide on their front side as their back side. But when it comes to IPA, the rising one gets written with a consonant (and is such, since you can’t say ٭an yay or ٭an wow), but with a vowel on the falling side.
Best Answer
Although the "es" ending of "analyses" may superficially and coincidentally resemble the standard English plural noun suffixes "-s" and "-es", there is a significant difference in etymology (and a corresponding difference in pronunciation). Far from being an arbitrary emphasis on the "es" syllable at the end of words like "analyses" and "synopses", the pronunciation reflects the Greek origins of the words.
For instance, the word "analysis" is an ancient Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek "ἀνάλυσις" (analusis), whose nominative plural was "ἀναλύσεις" (analuseis), which was transliterated into Latin as "analyses". The similarity to the "-es" plural noun ending in English (ultimately of Old English origin) is entirely coincidental. According to Merriam-Webster, the long "e" pronunciation of "analyses" is correct (the same is correct for "catalyses", "synopses", and other Greek plurals of this nature).
However, for "synapse" your short "i" pronunciation "SIN-ap-suhs" is correct, for one reason; in this specific circumstance, when the word "synapse" was taken from the transliterated Greek "synapsis", the "is" ending was dropped in favor of an anglicized silent "e" ending. Because this word was fully anglicized, the "-es" ending is the standard English plural noun suffix, and therefore receives the same pronunciation as any other ordinary English plural with "-es". Therefore, for this particular word, your pronunciation is completely correct (and reaffirmed by Merriam-Webster).
Unfortunately, that's not the end to the confusion. That same Greek word, "synapsis", was directly adapted into English, in addition to the modified "synapse". "Synapsis" is a distinct word meaning "the association of homologous chromosomes that is characteristic of the first meiotic prophase", while in contrast "synapse" means "the place where a signal passes from one nerve cell to another". However, the plural of both are spelled "synapses". Because (being a direct transliteration of Greek) the plural of "synapsis" is pronounced with a long "e", confusion with the plural of the much more common word "synapse" doubtless influenced this pronunciation conflation.
In conclusion, "synapses" as the plural of the relatively common word "synapse" is pronounced with a short "i" sound (SIN-ap-suhs). However, "synapses" as the plural of the rare word "synapsis" is pronounced with the long "e" sound (SIN-ap-sees). You are correct, but good luck trying to get people to distinguish between the "synapses" homographs.
For more information, look up "synapse" and "synapsis" in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.