3

It is very rare but I've heard some people from Great Britain pronouncing it like that for some reason.

For instance:

  • He said "However" pronouncing it as "Hoyiever".
  • He said "Let him down" pronouncing it "Let him doyn".
  • He said "He freaked out" pronouncing "He freaked oyit".

It's quite strange although they have numerous things in their accent!

(You may ask where I heard that one, it's from Jim Browning if you are familiar with him.)

Which dialects pronounce it this way? And what is this called?

Improve this question
8
  • 2
    I think it's more the diphthong /aʊ/ , and not just the consonant; asking why is probably not possible to answer. It's a regional accent, AFAIK., and dialects and accents are learned from the cradle.
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented May 9, 2022 at 18:14
  • 1
    @Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ I'm actually searching for someone British and who is well-acquainted with it ... if it sounds familiar to them, that's all xD
    – Takashi Hensi
    Commented May 9, 2022 at 18:26
  • 9
    Your examples sound like a Northern Irish accent.
    – Greybeard
    Commented May 9, 2022 at 19:08
  • 3
    @Greybeard That tracks—Jim Browning is from Northern Ireland. So the United Kingdom but not Great Britain.
    – Nardog
    Commented May 9, 2022 at 20:20
  • 2
    It is a common pronunciation in the North of Ireland.
    – Stephen Manistre
    Commented May 10, 2022 at 4:56

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

Linguists have noted the existence of pronunciations of the "mouth" diphthong with a "fronted" offglide at the end (one that sounds comparatively less like a "w" sound and more like a "y" sound) in several distinct accents of English.

The linguist John Wells wrote two blog posts in 2010 about the alleged usage of a pronunciation similar to this by Queen Elizabeth II:

Wells observes that even when fronting is not present, the vowel may not be very rounded. A blog post by the linguist Geoff Lindsay transcribes a pronunciation of this diphthong in Charles's speech as [ɐɤ] ("The King’s Speech: Charles III’s RP accent", Speech Talk blog, September 15, 2022)

More relevantly though to your example of Jim Browning, Wells also has a page titled "links to recordings of English accents and dialects" for his book Accents of English with some descriptions of the recordings, including the following note about Northern Ireland:

Among the special Ulster characteristics are a MOUTH diphthong which ends in a central, usually unrounded, quality, [ʌɨ]

That supports Stephen Manistre's answer ("It is a common pronunciation in the North of Ireland"), which a moderator deleted and converted to a comment.

(The audio on that page only works on some browsers. Wells advises Internet Explorer.)

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .