When is the "しりつ" reading of "市立" used?


In various dictionaries, the word "市立" has "しりつ" listed as the main reading.
However, they then go on to list the reading "いちりつ", with a note saying "when
spoken to avoid confusion with 私立【しりつ】". This makes sense, as having the same
pronunciation for two words that are completely opposite to each other would
be... confusing, to say the least.

But in that case, when is しりつ actually used for 市立? If people pronounce it
いちりつ "when spoken", is there at _all_ a case where しりつ is used? And why is it
listed as the main reading in dictionaries?




If I encounter unprefixed 市立大学, I would probably read it as いちりつだいがく to avoid
any confusion. But when I read 市立 as part of a longer proper noun including
the city name, I would use しりつ.

>   * 横浜市立大学 よこはま **し** りつだいがく
>   * 川崎市立川崎高等学校 かわさき **し** りつかわさきこうとうがっこう
>

Private schools never have the word 私立 as part of their proper school names.
So whenever you hear Xしりつ, it should mean X市立, and you don't have to use いちりつ.
(Reading it as いちりつ is not wrong, though)

By the way, in conversation, if you hear a mother say うちの子供をシリツの学校に行かせたい, it
usually means 私立の学校に行かせたい. The opposing idea of 私立 is 公立 (government-run
schools) in general, and people usually don't say something as specific as
子供を市立の学校に行かせたい.

The same is basically true for 科学/化学, etc. While it's common to read 化学 as
ばけがく, longer compounds like 化学反応式 are almost never read as ばけがくはんのうしき or such.




If I encounter unprefixed 市立大学, I would probably read it as いちりつだいがく to avoid
any confusion. But when I read 市立 as part of a longer proper noun including
the city name, I would use しりつ.

>   * 横浜市立大学 よこはま **し** りつだいがく
>   * 川崎市立川崎高等学校 かわさき **し** りつかわさきこうとうがっこう
>

Private schools never have the word 私立 as part of their proper school names.
So whenever you hear Xしりつ, it should mean X市立, and you don't have to use いちりつ.
(Reading it as いちりつ is not wrong, though)

By the way, in conversation, if you hear a mother say うちの子供をシリツの学校に行かせたい, it
usually means 私立の学校に行かせたい. The opposing idea of 私立 is 公立 (government-run
schools) in general, and people usually don't say something as specific as
子供を市立の学校に行かせたい.

The same is basically true for 科学/化学, etc. While it's common to read 化学 as
ばけがく, longer compounds like 化学反応式 are almost never read as ばけがくはんのうしき or such.

