Is there an English accent which would distinguish these two sentences?
- He rode from the bridge to the pier.
- He rowed from the bridge to the pier.
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For most English dialects, there is no difference in pronunciation between rowed and rode, and so there would be no "way to pronounce these words unambiguously so a discerning listener could tell them apart." |
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The Lancashire English accent appears to be the same as the observation that Bidella has made of the Australian dialect - i.e. the "o" in rode is slightly shorter, and in "rowed" there is also a slight "w" sound in the word. On the other hand rode and road are pronounced identically. |
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Speaking as an Australian, I know that down here, there is a slight difference. Pardon me, I don't know how to use those symbols to depict pronunciation, but I'll try my best to describe the difference. The "o" in "rode" is slightly shorter. The "o" in "rowed" is slightly longer and more "rounded". That's the best expression I could come up with, "rounded". There's like a kind of slight "w" sound at the end of the long "o" sound. |
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