Community Corner

Father of Spelling Bee Contestant Explains Rule

He says pronunciation of words is right from one official dictionary.

The father of Chesterfield's champion speller Gokul Venkatachalam told Chesterfield Patch Monday that all the words in the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee were pronounced by officials according to one dictionary, as per the contest rules.

Eleven-year-old Gokul tripped up on a word of Maori origin and was eliminated in the final rounds May 31. He left out the "h" in "kahikatea." It is a type of tree.

Several New Zealanders who said they saw the televised Spelling Bee on ESPN, said the word was misprounounced.

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But Gokul's dad told Chesterfield Patch Monday that the Bee officials are guided by one dictionary for the competition, and that was Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.

"In my opinion, it is not fair to say that Spelling Bee officials pronounced "kahikatea" incorrectly," Venkatachalam wrote in an email. "The only source for Spelling Bee officials to pronounce a word (for the contestant to spell) is Webster’s Third New International Dictionary."

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Gokul competed against 278 other students nationwide. He was eliminated with a mere nine people left to go. He qualified for the national competition by winning the St. Louis Post-Dispatch annual spelling bee among 36 other students.

He is a fifth-grader at Claymont Elementary School, in the Parkway District. He has several more years to compete.


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