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| '''[[C (letter)|C, c]]''' is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the third letter of most variants, being placed after B and before D, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈsiː], like ''see'' and ''sea'', and is occasionally spelt out as ''cee''.
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| C is also the Roman numeral representing the number 100.
| | ==Footnotes== |
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| ===Use in English===
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| Though very common in English, '''c''' has (as in French, Portuguese, Catalan and many varieties of Spanish) no sound of its own. It is either in the back of the throat, exactly like '''k''' ('''kíng''') and '''q''' ('''quêen''') or it is a hiss, like the most common sound of '''s''' ('''sô''', '''híss'''). (The accents show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings.)
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| '''c''' is actually more common than '''k''' - and much more than '''q''' - for the throaty sound. It occurs before back vowels '''a''', '''o''' and '''u''': '''cát, còme, còunt, cûre, côast''', and liquid consonants '''l''' and '''r''': '''clíck, crúst, clàss'''. In '''crícket, thícket, rácket, wícker, bícker, lócker, dócker, crácker, brácken, bráckish, lácking''', the '''k''' is needed to show the throaty sound of the second '''c''': without the '''k''', the '''c''' would sound like an 's' because of the following '''e''' or '''i'''. Also, -'''ck''' is more common at the end of words as in '''déck''' and '''clóck'''. But after '''í''', '''c''' is quite common finally: '''plástic, pánic, eléctric, frenétic, mûsic'''. Compare '''síc''' ''thus'' with '''síck''' ''ill''. Also: '''mâniác, lîlac, ålmanác, blóc'''. By contrast, words do not end -ec or -uc.
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| The hissing '''s''' sound occurs before front vowel letters '''i, e''' and '''y''': '''cïrcle, céntre, cŷcle, cínema, nîce, Lâcy, Trâcy, pâcy'''. For the hissing sound to remain before a back vowel, a cedilla is used in '''Bàrça''' (cf. '''Barcelôna''', where no cedilla is needed), '''curaçào, soûpçon, façàde''' and '''Provençàl''' (*Próvón-sàl).
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| The famous rule "'''i''' before '''e''' except after '''c'''" applies only to the '''ê''' sound (and not to '''èi''' as in '''vèin'''): '''cêiling, decêit, recêive, recêipt''' (-êet). And then, not only after '''c''', as it happens: '''sêize, wêir, wêird, Nêil, Kêith''' and '''Shêila'''. Compare '''vèil, vèin, fèint''' ''pretend'' (= '''fâint''' ''swoon''), '''dèign''' ''condescend'' (= '''Dâne''' ''Denmark''), '''rèign''' ''queen'' (= '''râin''' ''wet''), and also '''théir''' ''they'' (= '''thére''' ''here'').
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| Quite often, especially at the beginning of a word, '''sc''' is used for the hissing sound before front vowels: '''scêne, scéptic, scîence, scént, scíssors, scîon, scintílla, scímitar, scŷthe, sciática''' (*sŷáttica).
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| In the suffix -'''ésce''': '''acquiésce, effervésce''', and pronounced '''z''' in '''créscent''' (*crézzənt).
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| An exceptional '''c''' is found in '''encephalîtis''', pronounced '''k''' before '''e''' (enkéf-); otherwise '''c''' is always a hiss before '''e''', '''i''' and '''y'''.
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| There are silent '''c'''s in '''indî'''c'''t, Tû'''c'''son''' and '''Conné'''c'''ticut'''.
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| '''ch''' most typically sounds like '''t''' plus '''sh''' – not usually like '''sh''' alone. French, German and Portuguese do not have this sound, although the Germans write it in foreign words as ‘tsch’. Spanish does have it, whence '''mácho''' (*mátcho: it is sometimes mispronounced ‘macko’, as if Italian). '''ch''' is common in English, which has taken French words like '''chàrm''' ('charme' in French) and modified the sound of the French '''ch''', which has the English '''sh''' sound: '''chéck, choôse, chânge, Ríchard''' and also '''côach, bêach, chêek, chéss, chêer, cheŵ, escheŵ''' (which has a rare, separately sounded, '''s''' before it). Inside a word, there is often a superfluous '''t''' before '''ch''': '''ítch, dítch, cátch, mátch, bùtcher''' - but never after '''r''': '''tŏrch, lürch, àrch''', except in names: '''Pàrtch''' ''person'' = '''pàrch''' ''tongue''. And '''Tchaîkovsky''' has the '''T''' initially.
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| Uniquely, this sound is spelt '''Cz''', however, in '''Czéch''' ''Republic'' (= '''chéck''' ''determine'' = BrE '''chéque''' ''cash'').
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| In some words more recently taken from French, '''ch''' sounds exactly like '''sh''' in '''shê''': '''machìne, nìche, pastìche, '''BrE''' moustàche, '''AmE''' moústáche, párachute, créche, Chicàgo''' and '''nónchalant''', in which AmE French-style silences the '''t''': *nonshalàn.
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| In other words, mostly from Greek, '''ch''' is pronounced '''k''': '''chord, chémist, psŷchê, dichótomy, schême, àrchive, synécdochê, schoôner'''.
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| In various Celtic words '''ch''' can sound like the Arabic '''kh''', e.g. '''lóch, Dócherty''' - but many non-Celts simply make the '''k''' sound here. And in the variant spelling '''Dóherty''', the '''h''' sounds like itself alone - or like '''kh''' or '''k'''.
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| In yacht, '''ch''' is silent: *yót.
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| '''ci''' before a vowel can have the '''sh''' sound: '''atrôcious''' (*atrôshəss), '''précious''' (*préshəss), '''magícian''' (*məjíshən), '''Confûcius''' (*Kənfyoôshəss) - but never the '''zh''' sound, which is restricted to '''si''': '''confûsion''' (*cənfyûzhən).
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| In the musical term '''acciacatûra''', from Italian, '''cci''' is pronounced with the 'ch' sound.
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| Double '''c''' has the '''k''' sound before back vowels (but for this, '''ck''' is far more common medially and finally): '''accŏrd, tobácco, accommodâtion, áccolâde, sóccer'''.
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| '''c''' has the '''x''' sound before '''i''' and '''e''': '''áccent, accépt, áccident, fláccid, áccess, succêed, succéss, váccine, Óccitan'''.
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| '''c''' begins consonant clusters: '''accépt''' (x sound, while '''accŏrd''' has no cluster, only the k sound), '''acknówledge, táckle, clûe, ácmê, acquîre, cróss, áct'''.
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| ===='''Mc'''- and '''Mac'''-, etc.====
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| In names beginning '''Mc'''- and '''Mac'''- before another '''c''', '''k''' or '''g''', the '''c''' is silent, while the sometimes invisible '''a''' is in most cases pronounced with the schwa sound. It is as if the '''c''' itself were being pronounced schwa: '''McGóugh''' (*MəGóff), '''McCúrry, McCŏrmack, McKénzie''' = '''Mackénzie'''.
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| Either '''Mác''' or '''Mc''' can be stressed in a smaller number of names: '''MácIlvoy, McEnroe'''. In the latter the stressed syllable is an invisible '''a'''.
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| ''[[C (letter)|.... (read more)]]''
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1901 photograph of a stentor (announcer) at the Budapest
Telefon Hirmondó.
Telephone newspaper is a general term for the telephone-based news and entertainment services which were introduced beginning in the 1890s, and primarily located in large European cities. These systems were the first example of electronic broadcasting, and offered a wide variety of programming, however, only a relative few were ever established. Although these systems predated the invention of radio, they were supplanted by radio broadcasting stations beginning in the 1920s, primarily because radio signals were able to cover much wider areas with higher quality audio.
History
After the electric telephone was introduced in the mid-1870s, it was mainly used for personal communication. But the idea of distributing entertainment and news appeared soon thereafter, and many early demonstrations included the transmission of musical concerts. In one particularly advanced example, Clément Ader, at the 1881 Paris Electrical Exhibition, prepared a listening room where participants could hear, in stereo, performances from the Paris Grand Opera. Also, in 1888, Edward Bellamy's influential novel Looking Backward: 2000-1887 foresaw the establishment of entertainment transmitted by telephone lines to individual homes.
The scattered demonstrations were eventually followed by the establishment of more organized services, which were generally called Telephone Newspapers, although all of these systems also included entertainment programming. However, the technical capabilities of the time meant that there were limited means for amplifying and transmitting telephone signals over long distances, so listeners had to wear headphones to receive the programs, and service areas were generally limited to a single city. While some of the systems, including the Telefon Hirmondó, built their own one-way transmission lines, others, including the Electrophone, used standard commercial telephone lines, which allowed subscribers to talk to operators in order to select programming. The Telephone Newspapers drew upon a mixture of outside sources for their programs, including local live theaters and church services, whose programs were picked up by special telephone lines, and then retransmitted to the subscribers. Other programs were transmitted directly from the system's own studios. In later years, retransmitted radio programs were added.
During this era telephones were expensive luxury items, so the subscribers tended to be the wealthy elite of society. Financing was normally done by charging fees, including monthly subscriptions for home users, and, in locations such as hotel lobbies, through the use of coin-operated receivers, which provided short periods of listening for a set payment. Some systems also accepted paid advertising.
