Questions tagged [accent]

Pronunciation characteristics of a certain individual, location, or nation. Generally does NOT include learning to speak with various accents or identifying accents. Use [diacritics] instead for questions about accent marks on letters (such as "é" or "ü").

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5 votes
0 answers
38 views

How are /ɪ/ and /ʌ/ realised in the Nottingham (East Midlands) accent?

I've got a sample of a few words pronounced by a Nottingham accent representative: https://youtu.be/2fCSeDEZeVU My ear is far from perfect and this is why I'd like to ask for your help in this ...
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Do 'ration' and 'station' rhyme in any English accents?

In Kipling's Bridge Guard in the Karoo, there is a verse We stumble on refuse of rations, The beef and the biscuit-tins; We take our appointed stations, And the endless night begins. 'Ration' and '...
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What's the accent in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary?

Can someone please clarify if the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary uses General American English accent? I assume it uses General American English accent which is the accent I am learning. But ...
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2 answers
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What American accent pronounces color like collar?

I've noticed a few people (mostly encountered in Northern Virginia in the United States) who have an otherwise common accent for that area, but pronounce the word "color" more like "...
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1 answer
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Rounding of the START and PALM vowels

I’m a younger speaker from Chicago with a relatively standard General American accent. I have noticed that the vowels in the words “start” and “palm” sound like they have some lip rounding in my ...
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What accents 2-XL robot resembles? [closed]

2-XL is an interactive educational toy robot that asks questions using old cassette technology! (source) While watching clips about the toy, e.g. https://youtu.be/KpLkztVIJrc?t=35, I noticed it uses ...
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Is there a development in American English with an all-around flattening of vowels?

I am not a native speaker and my first contact with American English and English in general was through movies, and there I am pretty certain that I have never noticed this aspect until the late ...
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Term for different pronunciations of the same word

Does anyone know what it's called when a word's pronunciation changes based on context? I am not talking about different people pronouncing the same word differently (i.e. caramel). E.g. I say "I ...
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1 answer
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Is there a term for when in Indian English stress is placed on the word "the" before a noun?

I often hear speakers of Indian English place stress-accent on the word "the", with a pause before finishing a sentence with a noun. There's a raised pitch and stress on the word "the&...
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Reverse Tensing of the /æ/ Phoneme in American English?

I am a native speaker of a General American sociolect that realizes the /æ/ phoneme as [ɛə] before nasal consonants (e.g. 'fan,' 'stand,' 'ram'), and I've recently noticed that I've begun un-raising (...
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3 answers
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Which American dialect pronounces "heard" as "hu-yd"?

There is an American English dialect/accent that pronounces words like "heard" and "bird" as "hu-yd" and "bu-yd". One example of this would be CCR's song "...
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1 answer
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Unvoiced final "d" where it "should" be voiced -- regional accent question

Native speaker here. I don't have a problem with /d/, but somehow in words like "record", and in all -ed preterites, I voice it /t/, borderline aspirated. My English is native (think, dream ...
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Are Canadianisms like "aboat" equally common on the American side of the border, adjacent to it?

Most Canadians live close the the border. If you cross to the American side of border, in a rural area, do Canadianisms (1) like "aboat" (2) suddenly become much less common? Since this ...
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1 answer
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How to accent the 'a'/second syllable in Oscar?

If you had a character (male) called Oscar but the emphasis was on the second syllable how would you write that? With a macron on the a? For example, pronounced Oscarr or Oscaar (with the a sound from ...
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Do some people pronounce "women" same as "woman"? [duplicate]

This is something i've noticed lately. Example 1, example 2 (1:10). (...i do not necessarily endorse these videos). I can clearly hear them say "all woman"/ "why do pregnant woman"....
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1 answer
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When did the California Vowel Shift begin?

When did the California Vowel Shift begin: as soon as California was settled by English speakers? Or did it develop later?
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2 votes
3 answers
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Is there a term for the letter T not being pronounced when at the end of a word? [duplicate]

I thought it might be called a soft T, but upon looking that up, it seems a soft T is when T sounds like D, as in putty or letter. What I mean though is when Batman uses his second favorite cup, it's ...
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1 answer
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What makes Jacob Rees-Mogg's accent posh? [closed]

The accent of the British politician Jacob Rees-Mogg is often described as posh, with many people going as far as saying it is an affectation of his. To my non-native speaker ears, his pronunciation ...
-1 votes
1 answer
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Dialect using "woman" instead of "women"?

If you watch this VICE episode, the presenter sounds like a native speaker, but uses "woman" instead of "women" every time (probably over a dozen times in the 10 minute video). ...
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4 votes
2 answers
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Which groups of Americans pronounce -ing |ŋ| as -inG |ŋg|?

I have noticed that some American-born native English speakers pronounce -ing |ŋ| as -inG |ŋg| , at the end of a word, and I would really like to know why, or which groups have this characteristic. I'...
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1 answer
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-ment suffix reductions

I came across two different videos in which the suffix -ment was being pronounced in a way that the N sound was completely reduced and the T sound was a stop T. The words were bewilderment and ...
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English dialect/accent that switches out the letter "p" with a voiceless bilabial trill (ʙ̥)

Just to clarify the title: not sure if this dialect always switches the "p" out with the "ʙ̥". For example, if the p is in the beginning of word, maybe this doesn't happen. Also, I'...
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1 vote
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What type of accent does this person have?

My friend has lived in Kenya for the first 8 years of his life and the United States for 2 & 1/2 years. He's been in Ireland since 2009. He is auditioning for a voiceover job on the radio and they ...
1 vote
1 answer
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Is "awe" pronounced as /ɔː/ or /ɑː/ in American English?

I have an American friend who pronounced the word "awe" with the same vowel as British people pronounce Thought: /ɔː/. But when I look up this word in dictionaries, they pronounce it as /ɑː/....
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6 votes
1 answer
467 views

Why do they use "received" in "received pronunciation" instead of "official pronunciation"?

I’ve just learned the expression received pronunciation: the official standard queen style or accent! I'm not native speaker, but why use the word received here instead of standard or officially ...
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1 answer
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This RP accent makes me confused and mad

I'm trying to choose between RP and my current conventional accents/pronunciations. For already two weeks I've been looking for some proves that RP is worth something and it's well-accepted everywhere....
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15 votes
1 answer
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Char a baby sheep?

I was watching a video called "Amnesia day" by Juice Media and I heard this phrase: Come on straya! Crack a tinnie! Char a baby sheep! Stick a flag on your car! Or on your knob! I was ...
1 vote
1 answer
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Comment on the accentual structure of the following word: overvalue

I tried to describe the stress pattern of the word overvalue, but the only thing that I found is that it has the secondary stress. How to describe it fully? Thanks in advance!
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1 answer
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What kind of accent is [closed]

There is a video from someone on youtube. The voice is beautiful. I'm not a native English speaker, so I wonder if anyone could define his accent. It sounds like Scottish, like Sean Connery if I’m ...
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2 answers
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What accent is it? [closed]

Came across a video from someone on youtube. It's a cover of a song. I like his pronunciation. I'm not a native English speaker, so I wonder if anyone could place his accent. Where is it from? He ...
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2 votes
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Opposition between the LOT vowel and the STRUT vowel

I've noticed that some UK accents have the LOT vowel in words like nothing, none or one, whereas others have the STRUT vowel. The Lexico and Cambridge online dictionaries only give the STRUT ...
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2 answers
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In which US accent is “again” pronounced /əˈɡeɪn/ with the FACE vowel, not /əˈɡɛn/ with the DRESS vowel?

Most dictionaries provide the US pronunciation of “again” as /əˈɡɛn/ (uh-gen) with the DRESS vowel. This is the most common pronunciation in the USA. However, I think I might have also come across /...
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2 answers
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Which British accent is closest to the standard Australian accent? [closed]

Which British accent is closest to the general Australian accent? Does this correlate with where the majority of British Australians originate? Any comments on the variations of either accents by ...
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0 votes
1 answer
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What word is used to describe speech patterns?

By speech patterns I mean writing out how an accent sounds. The form of writing used to analyze accents and ways of speaking in the past. I was watching The Lighthouse yesterday and I remember hearing ...
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1 answer
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Where is this accent from?

Where does the accent used by the actor who plays Mazikeen in the Lucifer series belong to? I can tell it is American, but I don't know what region in there. Here is a scene from the series where she ...
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1 vote
0 answers
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Is there any well-known British accent which aʊ is pronounced like əʊ in?

I think I've heard the word "about" pronounced with əʊ (as in "Poland"). Is it just me or there's indeed such an accent in Great Britain or, more specifically, in England?
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“Tizzarget Acquizzired”; What's the deal with the Z's when imitating divers?

When imitating scuba divers, especially "old-timey" ones, extra Z's or "izz"es get added to the middle of words. What is the origin of this? I have heard this in a few older shows, including the ...
1 vote
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Is there a word that has the same -er sound pronunciation in all both British and American accents

Most words with -er ending, sound different in British and American accent. In British it’s “a”, in American it’s “e”(don’t know how to correctly write transcription ). But is there word, that has ...
2 votes
2 answers
510 views

What accent did 'kewl' (cool) originate from

I've been hearing 'kewl' for a long time excessively on social media (mostly used by Americans). I wondered what accent it came from. I searched, but only found the following information about it: ...
7 votes
4 answers
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What is it called when people who speak with a Connecticut accent cut off "t"s at the end of words or skip them in the middle of words?

Many people raised in the US state of Connecticut have a distinctive accent that I have never heard anywhere else in New England. They cut off their "t"s when they pronounce certain words. One place ...
4 votes
2 answers
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Am I imagining the Warshington (Washington) accent?

So my wife grew up around Vancouver, Washington, USA. Every once in a while she will say words in peculiar ways that I have jokingly taken to call her "Warshington accent" because it makes the ...
28 votes
6 answers
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What accent is 'noice'?

Recently, and for me beginning with the series Brooklyn 99, I have been hearing "noice" used for what I guess is an extreme "nice". I was assuming this was just a mocking of Brooklynese (e.g. "toity ...
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1 answer
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Liverpudlian Accents and The Beatles

The Beatles all have/had a Liverpudlian accent, but it wasn't very strong, especially if you compare it to the accents of Merseyside personalities from similar backgrounds (such as Steven Gerrard, ...
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4 votes
1 answer
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What dialect/accent in the UK do people not say the word "the"

I know a decent amount about different dialects in the UK, and usually recognize and identify them, but I heard one today that took me by surprise. I was watching a TV show, and this family, who I ...
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What kind of accent is this one (possibly from Kentucky)?

Is this one of regional accent in the USA or simply a defect in speech? If it's a regional accent, is it a typical Kentucky accent? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oKlERHhPt0&t=490s
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2 votes
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Why do some speakers pronounce the aɪ sound as ɔɪ?

Essentially, I'm referring to how some British English speakers pronounce words like "time", "right". That first vowel changes and ends up sounding like "toyme" or "royght". Americans seem to have ...
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1 answer
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accent mark question about american names [closed]

ok what accent mark should be on the name chloe for an american, e, è, é, ê, ë? I am an argument with a peer and would like some outside opinions. Please help
1 vote
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What accent does David Gower speak with?

According to this meta post accent questions, especially those that are well researched and about real-life public figures are on topic. I'm just curious as to what accent the English cricket ...
2 votes
0 answers
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Daniel Craig's accent in Knives Out trailer (Southern, RP, different?)

What is his accent in this trailer? https://youtu.be/sL-9Khv7wa4?t=71 https://youtu.be/sL-9Khv7wa4?t=86 Would you call it Southern? I'd say it's a mix of RP and Southern at best. He seems to have ...
1 vote
1 answer
542 views

Texans speaking with a slurring "s"?

Some Texans speak with slurring "s" sounds, sometimes making a soft rasp or even a "sh" sound? example "Shtudent" instead of "student". Is this traditional or a new affectation?