iotacism
/aɪˈoʊtəˌsɪzəm/
noun
- The excessive or incorrect use of the letter 'i' or the sound /iː/ in speech or writing.
- The poet's iotacism made his verses sound overly sing-song to modern readers.
- The teacher corrected the student's iotacism when he kept saying 'heep' instead of 'heap'.
- In some dialects, iotacism causes words like 'pen' to sound like 'pin'.
- A tendency to pronounce certain vowels as a long 'e' sound (like the 'ee' in 'see'), especially in historical or regional speech patterns.
- The actor adopted a slight iotacism to sound more like a character from the 18th century.
- Linguists study iotacism to understand how ancient Greek pronunciation changed over time.
- Her iotacism was noticeable when she said 'fleet' for 'flat'.