The word tuple is derived from Latin and in mathematics means ‘an ordered set of elements’.
A tuple containing ‘n’ components is known as a n-tuple. For example, 4-tuple (or ‘quadruple’).
We are all familiar with these terms:
Single
Pair
Triple
Quadruple
Quintuple
Sextuple
Septuple
and so on..
We pronounce the ‘uple words with an ‘oo’ sound, like quadruple
kwo-droo-puhl
And not
kwo-druhp-uhl
Likewise, the pronunciation for ‘quintuple’ is
kwin-too-puhl
The only time the sound changes is when the suffix changes, like in quintuplet (to make it a noun), which is pronounced
kwin-tuhp-lit
In order for the ‘u’ in tuple to be pronounced as a ‘uh’ sound (like in supple) it should have a double-p. Just like ripple, tipple and of course, nipple.
But it doesn’t. It only has one.
Likewise, if the word as an ‘e’ on the end then the vowel is pronounced in full.
cap -> cape
met -> mete
sit -> site
dot -> dote
cub -> cube
So “tup” (pronounced “tuhp”), should be pronounced “tyoop” when you add an “e”.
Of course there are always exceptions to the rule in English (that’s what helps make English great!), but there is a similar Latin-based word that might shed some light, duple (from the Latin “duplus” meaning twofold or double). This word is only pronounced one way and that is with the full ‘u’ sound (doo-puhl).
If that’s not enough to convince you, here are some examples where the middle vowel (like in duple and tuple) is pronounced as a long sounding vowel
cable
fable
gable
ladle
maple
noble
ruble
sable
table
So don’t be a dupe, learn to say tupe! 🙂
17 thoughts on “Say tuple, not tupple?”
So now all you need to do is convince my Databases lecturer.
Dang, maybe that’s why I can’t get the hang of databases.
—
MC
But in n-tuple the vowel is proceeded by a single consonant. In your examples it is preceded by two or more consonants.
The Shorter OED (2nd ed) gives the following pronunciation for the tup in quintuple:
tj[upsidedown omega]p
Where:
j is y in yes
upside down omega is supposedly oo in good or u in put or ou in should and is described as a short vowel sound (at pg xii).
Exactly what this pronunciation sounds like I am not able to decipher.
The Shorter OED also gives the following as acceptable for the “tup” in sextuple:
‘s[backwards epsilon]kstj[upsidedown omega]p([upside down e])l and
s[backwards epsilon]ks’tju:p([upside down e])l
Where
u is oo in too or ue in glue
colon indicates length
‘ is a primary stress mark
upside down e is a in ago or er in gather or ah in cheetah
It gives the same alternative pronunciations for septuple and octuple. It doesn’t have nonuple. It gives similar alternatives for quadruple (with r instead of t though)
Frankly, I have never pronounced quintuple or sextuple with a y sound in it. Any my pronunciation of quintuple is closer to n-tuple than n-toople. I certainly don’t have any ah-as-in-cheetah before the l.
It may be that the pronunciation of these words is not as settled as you’re assuming.
Brendan
Thanks for the thoughts Brendan. Of course English is an ever changing language and so you can pronounce things however you like.
Words like ‘octuple’ are pronounced like ‘octopus’ with an emphasis on the ‘o’, and it should have a long vowel (see http://dictionary.com for an example).
Likewise, sextuple and septuple should have an emphasis on the ‘se’ not on the uple.
If you put an emphasis on the ‘uple’ it will sound wrong and you will want to say ‘upple’.
All these words should be pronounced with a long sounding ‘u’.
But even if you don’t agree, words of the same form as tuple, like duple, table, sable, etc are all pronounced with a long vowel. Why would tuple be the odd one out?
My points were:
* the dictionary gives multiple pronunciations (by the way, it says a primary stress (the apostrophe) on the second syllable is an acceptable pronunciation);
* the dictionary pronunciations all include a y and an ah sound – which I don’t recall ever hearing – ie the dictionary doesn’t agree with me (or you, since you exclude second syllable stresses and don’t have a y sound) on pronunciation;
* my usage of some of the example words (particularly quintuple, although the more I think about it others too) is not consistent with your pronunciation.
So your *tuple examples are at least uncertain.
I think your general argument eg supple is very appealing but not definitive. I suspect the reason it’s n-tuple and not n-toople is that the initial “n” makes the production of an oo sound more difficult.
Miriam Webster gives “tuh”-ple as an acceptable pronunciation of quintuple (and sextuple).
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quintuple
Maybe it’s a US thing?
Brendan
Yeah, could be.
Yes, some of those ‘tuple words could be pronounced with ‘tuhple and indeed the dictionary sometimes gives this as a secondary pronunciation. If you change the emphasis you kinda have to change the way you say the suffix.
Anyway that aside, tuple (tyoople) on its own sounds more correct to me, especially when you consider other words like ‘duple’ (and any other similarly constructed word in English). I can’t think of any example words where the vowel is short.. battle, cattle, cuttle all have double-t to make the vowel short again (after the ‘e’ made it long).
To say “tuhple” I have to spell it ‘tupple’. So to me, ‘tuple’ simply can never be ‘tupple’.
But, so long as we don’t all confuse a tuple with a list, I guess we’re all good 🙂
-c
Wrong. First, Latin “u” is always pronounced “uh”. Second, dictionary IPA pronunciation is /tʌpəl/, and ʌ is pronounced as in run, won or flood. The rule of thumb that the e after a single consonant lengthens the vowel does not apply here, because there’s an “l” in the way. As others have pointed out, pronunciation of words like sextuple and quadruple varies (former being “uh” – as in sextuplets – and the latter being “oo”). The “oo” ones are pronounced that way for articulation reasons.
You can’t infer the pronunciation of “tuple” from words ending -tuple.
That said, there is a strong minority that says “toople”, so it is often listed as an acceptable alternative pronunciation.
I always say it as “too-puhl,” because it sounds so cute that way!
OED provides the pronunciation argued for by Chris:
/ˈtjuːp(ə)l/
OED normally provides both British and American pronunciations when they differ. For this word, it provides only the one pronunciation implying it should be the same for both dialects.
However, Chris defers to dictionary.com in the post as well as in the comments, and there we find these pronunciations:
/ˈtjʊpəl; ˈtʌpəl/
The second one is the one he argues *against*.
Merriam-Webster declines to weigh in on the controversy, providing no pronunciation whatsoever.
Sometimes dictionaries serve to protect language as it is or should be. Sometimes dictionaries must adapt as the language evolves despite the best efforts of language disciplinarians (it is long since time we should accept ‘may’ as another definition of ‘can’, for example).
For tuple, we have three different definitions provided by two dictionaries and none from a third, so it really seems like there’s no wrong way to say it. As a computer scientist, I hear this word much more frequently than the average person, and /ˈtjuːp(ə)l/ and /ˈtʌpəl/ are both heard in roughly equal measure.
So let’s agree that whatever the correct pronunciation is, it probably isn’t /ˈtjʊpəl/.
Thanks David! In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have posted this one at all 🙂
“Likewise, the pronunciation for ‘quintuple’ is
kwin-too-puhl”
kwin-tuh-puhl is an alternative pronunciation. Buy a dictionary.
Sorry, I’m calling bullshit on this. Tuhple is as perfectly a valid pronunciation as toople.
Hi Seth,
Yeah, it was not really meant to be taken particularly seriously, English is a flexible language 🙂
Meh.
To-may-to. To-mar-to.
Or just snigger (*) if someone says “tupple”, till they say it properly 😉
* British term. Apparently Americans use snicker…
Tohmaytoh, toemarrtoe
Pohtaytoh, pohtartoeee
Let’s call the whole thing off!
Great article Chris. These damn Yanks break everything. :p
One ‘p’ and an ‘e’ at the end…. so should triple be pronounced TRY-ple?
Going way back to grade-school grammar books and class-taught grammar rules: Vowels separated by more than one consonant will have a ‘short’ sound. Words like ‘supper’, ‘eschew’, and ‘escape’ all have double consonants and therefore, respectively, the first vowel letters of ‘u’, ‘e’, and ‘e’ are all short sounds in these words. There is no requirement for the double consonant to be of the same letter, as in ‘supper.’ So, yes – the word ‘tuple’ by English grammatical rules should in fact be pronounced, ‘tuh-pul’, not ‘too-pul.’ Sorry, OP – you are incorrect. Case closed, End of Line
I hear qua-droo-ple and x-tuh-ple for everything thereafter all the damn time. I don’t get it. But I get it cuz the people have spoken. And people are sing-songily inconsistent. Besides, since when have English’s grammar rules followed logic? Lastly, no need to be a dick, mcp.