Tagged Questions
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votes
1answer
70 views
Pronunciation of “Oceania” in British English
How is Oceania properly pronounced in British English? Is it /ˌəʊʃɪˈɑːnɪə/, or /ˌəʊʃɪˈɑːnə/? I know a lot of people who use the latter, but I have always been taught the former.
0
votes
1answer
66 views
Which syllable is stressed in word “comparatively” in British usage?
British syllable emphasis on "comparatively"?
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votes
1answer
147 views
Where can I find a list of words whose pronunciation is irregular? [closed]
Most words in English follow certain rules of pronunciation for vowels (for example: "o" in a closed syllable is usually pronounced /ɒ/ while in an open syllable it's usually /əʊ/).
From time to ...
0
votes
0answers
27 views
English phonetics References [duplicate]
What are some great references on English pronunciation practices?
The book The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations was mentioned in an answer on this site.
Is it considered authoritative? What ...
1
vote
1answer
475 views
difference between American and British /ӕ/ sound
When I presented British /ӕ/ sound to three Korean English-familiar persons online - they are doing answering English-related questions activities [case 1; case 2], and asked what sound it’s like /ӕ/ ...
5
votes
1answer
160 views
Cardinal British Dates - A Kiwi Original?
I had never heard the use of cardinal numbers in dates when speaking until I moved to New Zealand. It seems particularly prevalent in TV and radio advertising, but doesn't seem to follow either ...
5
votes
1answer
160 views
Why is “accidentally” pronounced “accident-ly” instead of “accident-tal-y”?
Why is accidentally pronounced accident-ly and not accident-tal-ly?
Incidentally, some other adverbs have this same phenomenon, where some dictionaries show the second-to-last syllable as being ...
1
vote
3answers
385 views
Pronunciation of “lorry”, “worry” and “sorry”
I have always pronounced lorry as "lur-ee" (as if to rhyme with worry), for as long as I can remember. Everyone else I know pronounces it as "lor-ee" (as if to rhyme with sorry).
Which one is ...
7
votes
1answer
200 views
Where is “Wednesday” pronounced “Wedinzday”?
I recently heard a BBC radio announcer pronounce "Wednesday" in a peculiar way. The 'd' wasn't dropped, resulting in something like "Wedinzday" (wɛdnzde).
I've read some Scottish dialects use this ...
3
votes
1answer
271 views
pronunciation: question about dictionary phonetic symbol
I was looking up the word "meditative", and in one dictionary, the fourth letter "i" is pronounced "ə", but in another dictionary it is pronounced "ɪ".
I don't know which phonetic symbol I should ...
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votes
1answer
182 views
Pronunciation of 'Superman'
How do you pronounce the word, Superman?
For example the pronunciation of man seems equal in American and British English. But this is not the case for Superman. It seems that in American English, it ...
9
votes
3answers
766 views
British pronunciation of “plait”
Having only seen this word in writing, I assumed it's pronounced "plate". howjsay (whose author is british) suggests the pronunciation that rhymes with "flat", but also offers the "plate" one. This ...
5
votes
3answers
640 views
Difference in [ə] pronunciation at the end of a word in British and American English
I grew up speaking American English (San Diego to be specific). When I hear someone who speaks British English say a word that ends in [ə], like banana, I hear a weak but distinct 'r' sound attached ...
1
vote
2answers
211 views
How common is the short “be” in American English
A friend prompted me to look up the pronunciations of the homophones "be" (IPA: /bi/, /biː/) and "bee" (IPA: /biː/). We found that there are two ways to say "be" -- one is short and the other (the ...
6
votes
2answers
729 views
“Lambast” or “lambaste”
I looked up both lambast and lambaste in several dictionaries, but came up with no conclusions about which one is AE and which BE (if this distinction can ever be made). Moreover, the different ...
1
vote
2answers
179 views
Correct pronunciation of “Can”
How to correctly pronounce word "can" in British English and in American English?
Here's somehow related answer but it is more about differences between "can" and "can't", and I'm interested how to ...
6
votes
2answers
23k views
Why do British people pronounce “Ibiza” as “Ibitha”?
My brief overseas experience in Great Britain has taught me that British people tend to pronounce Ibiza as Ibitha. My questions are as follows:
Why is this the case?
How did this develop?
What are ...
6
votes
3answers
559 views
Should pronunciation of the r in “heart” be the same as r in “rabbit”, in UK English?
My 5 yr old daughter was given a task by her teacher to "find as many things as she can that have the sound r" with examples of rabbit, barrow, and ruler (all r's were underlined in the 3 words).
...
1
vote
1answer
570 views
Mixing British and American spellings in writing [closed]
I like color more than colour, but I like favourite more than favorite. For me it is better to write
My favourite color is blue.
Is it wrong to mix British and American spellings in writing, and ...
-2
votes
2answers
348 views
Pronunciation of “xenophobia,” “xenon,” and “Xena” [closed]
I've heard all of the above words with X as zeh. Is that an American English thing?
What's the correct way to pronounce each word?
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votes
1answer
761 views
How do you pronounce 'ate' in American and British English? [closed]
How do you pronounce 'ate' in American and British English? I cannot find it...
1
vote
3answers
2k views
Pronunciation of “i” in the words like “direct”, “organization”, etc
I'm a nonnative speaker of English and I've always been unsure about the pronunciation of "i" inside words like direct, organization, etc. I was thinking that it's a matter of choice between American ...
5
votes
2answers
285 views
How would a native British speaker say “Betteredge”?
I am reading Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, and a prominent character in the story has the name of Betteredge. My question is (since I like to imagine the dialogue in a British-English book as if ...
10
votes
4answers
882 views
The mysterious, unenunciated “w” in the “-wich” of English place names
Doing some reading lately, I've been pondering the strange pronunciations of English place names — namely, that of the 'w' in the "–wich" suffix, which, as I understand it, is not ...
14
votes
4answers
5k views
When did Greenwich begin to be pronounced as “Gren-ich”?
I just read an interesting question here on Greenwich Mean Time.
I'm interested to know when Greenwich received its peculiar pronunciation. Has it always been pronounced as "GREN-ich" (/ˈɡrɛnɪtʃ/), ...
5
votes
3answers
261 views
Does “fathers” in RP exclude R and unvoice the S?
In received pronunciation, the word "father" ends in /ə/. I haven't found an IPA transcription of the plural form, and am wondering:
RP being non-rhotic, is the "r" here excluded?
Is the S voiced ...
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votes
2answers
404 views
Is 'r' in Br/Amr pronunciation of Arjmand (Persian word) silent?
Is 'r' in Br/Amr pronunciation of 'Arjmand' (Persian word) silent?
(In other words, how is this word pronounced in Br/Amr English?)
7
votes
4answers
654 views
What is the name of the phoneme produced in an upper-class Briton's pronunciation of the word “Duke”? What's different in the articulation?
When someone with a Received Pronunciation accent pronounces the word duke, as in The Duke of York, he doesn't pronounce it with a "hard" 'd', as one might pronounce the word duh, but a softer type ...
10
votes
4answers
2k views
Is a schwa ever stressed?
Is there a word in RP (Received Pronunciation) where the stressed vowel sound is a schwa?
6
votes
2answers
985 views
British upper-class pronunciation of words like “what” and “when”
More from the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House.
I've noticed in these sort of movies, when some very upper-class speakers talk, like the lawyer in the series, Mr. Tulkinghorn, they have ...
6
votes
1answer
2k views
Why is The Mall (Westminster, London) pronounced like mawl?
Why is The Mall pronounced differently even though it shares the same spelling as mall (shopping)?
11
votes
2answers
11k views
The British pronunciation of the word “schedule”
Is pronouncing the word "schedule" as "shed-ule" only an upper class thing in the UK? Which pronunciation, "sked-ule" "or "shed-ule" is more faithful to the original etymology of the word, i.e. which ...
5
votes
2answers
460 views
Pronunciation of GUI in British English
I've heard a lot of Americans pronounce abbreviations like GUI as goo-ey. Is this the same with British English, or is it more common to spell out the word, like gee-you-eye?
4
votes
2answers
726 views
Are any of the t-glottolization, th-fronting, h-dropping, etc. in English a phonological complex?
Wikipedia gives the following, with plenty others ommitted by me, as some of the features of Cockney English:
T-glottalisation: Use of the glottal stop as an allophone of /t/ in various ...
2
votes
1answer
695 views
What is the difference between American and British pronunciations of “world” and “girl”?
I can definitely hear a distinct difference but I am not sure if it is from the long vowel or from the "r".
5
votes
3answers
780 views
Pronunciation of 'cos' (as in the mathematical term)
What is the correct pronunciation for the mathematical abbreviation 'cos' when it is not pronounced in its complete form 'cosine'? I pronounce it as 'k-aw-ss', but a couple of Canadian friends I have ...
16
votes
4answers
1k views
Reason for different pronunciations of “lieutenant”
While Americans (and possibly others) pronounce this as "loo-tenant", folks from the UK pronounce it as "lef-tenant".
Why?
9
votes
3answers
533 views
“I park my car in the yard”
What is the origin of the different pronunciation of words like park, yard,
cartoon, margarine in American and British English?
In other words, why doesn’t British English generally pronounce the r ...
3
votes
4answers
1k views
UK emphasis on the second syllable vs US emphasis on the first
Why do some British speakers of English emphasize the second syllable of words such as con-TRO-versy. One British woman I knew (living in Oxford) did this to many words including (unbelievably) the ...
2
votes
7answers
9k views
Is there a rule in British English about how to pronounce “either”?
There are two common pronunciations of "either": British /ˈaɪðər/ and American /ˈiːðər/. If Americans are more or less consistent in this regard, then the Brits seem to be freely using both. In fact, ...
6
votes
2answers
862 views
Dropped g's in upper-class 1930s Britain
‘Now take huntin'…’ ‘Oh, bull-fightin' — that's quite a different kettle of fish.…’ Italics bred italics. Dropped g's fell as thick as confetti.
(Jan Struther, Mrs Miniver, 1939; 4th chapter, ...
2
votes
2answers
235 views
How unusual are Nancy Gribble and Nero Wolfe?
Nancy Gribble and Nero Wolfe (at least the TV version played by Maury Chaykin) both use British pronunciations like "tomahto" and "shedule" rather than "tomayto" and "skedule", and yet both seem to be ...
18
votes
5answers
1k views
What is the pronunciation of “the”?
I read that the definite article is pronounced differently depending on the word that follows it.
Which is the exact pronunciation of the?
6
votes
2answers
1k views
Why English pronunciation differs so much from written language, compared to German?
Given that English is derived mostly from German, when Anglo-Saxons (German tribes) migrated to Britain, how do you explain that
although German has a strict correspondence between written language ...
