Do you know what Britney, Mickey and Disney have in common?
It's all about that /ɪj/ sound!
In English, when you see the “ey” spelling at the end of an unstressed syllable, it often* sounds like /ɪj/ ( traditional IPA /iː/). Think of 'three' or 'coffee' - that's the same sound you'll find in 'Britney', ‘Mickey’ and 'Disney.'
The majority of my Polish students tend to mispronounce the English words ‘hockey’ and 'jockey'. This is due to the Polonization of these English words. We even write them as "hokej" and “dżokej”.
Exception:
*However, exceptions exist. Consider ‘grey’ or ’gray’ - a classic case of British vs. American spelling for the same colour (or should I write ‘color’). While British spelling aligns more closely with older English, American 'gray' matches the expected pronunciation seen in words like ‘pay’, ‘play’, ‘say’ etc.
Here's a list of various words with an 'ey' ending.
Disney /dɪ́znɪj/ /ˈdɪzniː/
Britney /brɪ́tnɪj/ /ˈbrɪtniː/
Mickey /mɪ́kɪj/ /ˈmɪkiː/
Elvis PresIey /prɛ́zlɪj//ˈprezliː/
Hockey /hɔ́kɪj/ /hɒkiː/
Sydney /sɪ́dnɪj/ /ˈsɪdniː/
Jockey /ʤɔ́kɪj/ /ˈʤɒkiː/
And more:
Journey
Parsley
Monkey
Chimney
Honey
Money
Valley
Alley
Trolley
Enjoy learning!