How do you say 'mosquito'? According to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, the most common pronunciation is [məˈskiːtəʊ]; but an alternative is [mɒˈskiːtəʊ], with a full vowel rather than a schwa in the first syllable.
According to Lindsay (2019), the second variant, with a full vowel in the first syllable, is becoming more common. Indeed, he claims that this is an instance of spelling pronunciation, something that is becoming increasingly widespread in the pronunciation of English.
My guess is that none of my students in Brunei has [ə] in the first syllable of this word, and they all have a full vowel [ɒ]. This is one of the many ways that the pronunciation of English in Brunei is following international trends, or maybe it is at the forefront of developments.
I will discuss some more instances of spelling pronunciation in modern English in my next post.
Reference
Lindsay, G. (2019). English after RP. Palgrave Macmillan.
