All Questions
Tagged with american-english vowels
14 questions
37
votes
10
answers
36k
views
How are 'marry', 'merry', and 'Mary' pronounced differently?
The way I pronounce these words is the same. Similarly for other words like these: I pronounce ferry and fairy the same, carrot and caret. Yet, dictionaries show different pronunciations for these ...
- 68.9k
4
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Pronunciation of Bank, Tank, etc.: Bay-nk, Ray-nk or Baen-k or Raen-k?
What is the standard US pronunciation for words such as the following:
Bank
Rank
At least in my dialect of US English (Inland Northern), the following seem like close transcriptions:
Bank: bay-nk ...
- 4,602
16
votes
4
answers
18k
views
Pronunciation of "er" in "farmer" vs. "earth"
I'm confused about the difference in pronouncing "er" in words such as "farmer" and "earth". I hear them the same, but they have different phonetic symbols. Is there any difference in pronouncing "er" ...
- 261
6
votes
5
answers
159k
views
How Many Diphthongs Are There In English?
I was talking to a person who said that there were only two. I think she said that the "ou" in house is one of the two.
I told her that the way the letter "i" is pronounced is a diphthong, and she ...
- 255
7
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Vowel in "-ang" and "-ank" Words: Pronunciation and Dictionary Transcription
Has anyone found the vowel in "-ang" and "-ank" words transcribed differently than /æ/? The sound, to my ear, is not the same as the /æ/ sound in words like "ran." I hear ...
- 191
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
British [a] = American [ɑ] in certain words
There is a large group of words in which /a/ is pronounced [a] or [æː] in most American and some British dialects, but [ɑː] in most British dialects; this group includes past, can’t, fast, etc. This ...
- 71
4
votes
1
answer
496
views
caught-cot merger: can "lawyer" sound like "lier"?
"law" is pronounced as /lɑ/ if you speak with the caught-cot merger, so, logic suggests "lawyer" should sound like /lɑjɚ/, as "lawyer" is basically "law" + "yer"
For me, the difference between /lɑjɚ/ ...
- 906
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Where in the US are these vowels mispronounced? "got" -> "gat"
It is rather rare to hear a speaker pronounce vowels like this, so I would like to know where it comes from. I live in North America, so my only experience is with American English.
Most notably, I ...
4
votes
1
answer
8k
views
/ɑ/ vs /ʌ/ pronunciation
I've realized I don't actually understand the difference between ɑ and ʌ completely.
Background: I'm a Hebrew speaker.
for me, the ʌ is pretty much the short Hebrew Kamatz sound (Bet with kamatz - ...
- 906
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Vowel sound in *die* vs *dice*
Is it just me, or is the letter "i" pronounced differently in the words die and dice? In die, it sounds like the regular long I sound (ay), but in the word dice, it sounds closer to something like "...
- 1,178
2
votes
1
answer
613
views
Pronunciation of /æ/, when it comes before /m/ or /n/
I believe when /æ/ comes before m or n , it’s pronounced [ɛə] instead of [æ], (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//%C3%A6/_raising)
but is it always the case？For example, how about the main stress is not ...
- 31
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How to pronounce '-ing' followed by a vowel
I'm getting into English recently and I'm a little confused by the way people pronounce a word that starts in a vowel right after a word ending in -ing.
For example:
You have to bring it up now?
...
- 123
1
vote
1
answer
1k
views
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/....
user387044
1
vote
1
answer
2k
views
unstressed syllable in the middle of the word = always schwa sound?
I've noticed a pattern about pronunciation of words in American English -
an unstressed syllable in the middle of the word tends to have a schwa sound regardless of the actual written letter. examples:...
- 906