All Questions
Tagged with dialects pronunciation
114 questions
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What’s the geographic distribution of different pronunciations of the word "experiment"?
ᴛʟᴅʀ: Which regions say the word experiment with its stressed syllable sounding like the word spare, and which regions say that word’s stressed syllable like the word spear?
PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a ...
- 137k
3
votes
1
answer
507
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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 ...
CommunityBot
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4
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3
answers
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I pronounce question as kweshtin. Is my pronunciation wrong?
I've lived in Houston,TX for about 10 years and after that I moved to the ME and I've made friends since then. Whenever they heard me say kweshtin they told me my pronunciation was weird. I told them ...
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22
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14
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When is it appropriate to use the original pronunciation of a foreign word versus the English pronunciation?
When reading to an audience, or speaking in conversation, when is it appropriate to use the original pronunciation of a foreign word versus the English pronunciation (assuming you know the appropriate ...
- 137k
6
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2
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Tour or Tore Pronunciation
In the past few years newsmen and sportscasters have changed the pronunciation of tour (rhymes with lure) to tore (rhymes with wore).
Why is this?
8
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2
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Do "hull" and "full" rhyme?— rules for "short U" sounds before L
I grew up speaking a variety of American English that merges the "short U" sounds before L. The "short U" sounds are the vowels in the words STRUT and FOOT. For me, before an L sound, all words have ...
CommunityBot
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6
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4
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Elision in the pronunciation of "probably"
A student of mine has pointed out that in casual speech, my tendency is to pronounce the word "probably" as something like prah-lee.
I am a native speaker of American English without a specific ...
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2
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Why is 'e' pronounced like 'a' in some words?
I'm not a native English speaker and I have noticed that 'e' in some words are pronounced like 'a' by native speakers sometimes. For example, "Texas" sounds like "Taxes", or "...
- 67.2k
-5
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1
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Do terms that end with 'mate' need to be clarified where people say 'mate'?
Do terms that end with 'mate' need to be clarified where people say 'mate'?
Like while playing chess, if someone says "checkmate" in somewhere like England or Australia, is it assumed they ...
- 137k
14
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11
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Regional pronunciation of “calliope”?
I’m watching Auction Kings and a lady from Atlanta (who does not have much of a southern US accent) is putting a calliope up for auction. What caught my attention was the way she pronounce it: /...
- 46.4k
3
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4
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Which dialect of English do people pronounce advertisement as ad-VER-tis-ment
I recently listened to an audio book in which the narrator had pronounced advertisement as ad-VER-tis-ment, and thought this was a strange way of pronouncing it, so I'm curious to know in which part ...
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5
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2
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Apparent trill in the "br" of "bridge"
I occasionally hear "br" in words such as bridge, bring or British, pronounced with almost a bilabial trill.
One example is the word "bring" in The Assumption Song by OneyNG, ...
- 19.6k
5
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2
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167
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Do "radiant" and "brilliant" rhyme for the purposes of poetry? Wiktionary says their transcriptions are /ˈɹeɪ.di.ənt/ and /ˈbɹɪljənt/
Is this a dialectal/idiolectal thing, where some merge /i/ and /j/, and others don't? I'm ESL and always thought they're merged until now.
- 1,898
5
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3
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1k
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Origin of pronunciation of "er" as "oi"
What is the provenance of this dialect, e.g. "soitainly" instead of "certainly," as often seen in old cartoons and Three Stooges films?
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3
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2
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380
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Me vs My in East Midlands dialect [duplicate]
In the dialect I grew up with (1960's Leicestershire/East Midlands), I'd say "me", when I meant "my". For example:
"That's me car."
vs
"That's my car."
What ...
- 137k
3
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1
answer
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How would you say (write) "Where are you going?" in a Yorkshire dialect?
I think that this might be close to: Wɪər ðæ gɔːwɪn? This would roughly be Wi-er tha gaw-in? In this example, the first word would be the two words where and are put together Wɪər, but somewhere in my ...
- 64.9k
-1
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1
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Is the 'au' phoneme on the decline?
I live in the midwest, grew up in Chicago. Here, altho there is usually a clear distinction between au like in 'auditorium' and o like in 'on', the 2 are often used interchangeably in ordinary ...
- 19.6k
0
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0
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62
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*an unitary operator* or *a unitary operator* [duplicate]
The rule that I usually use in such cases is that *an* precedes a vowel sound, while *a* is used before a consonant sound. I understand sound as different from letter - conventionally u would be ...
- 251
0
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2
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909
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How are decimal numbers read or pronounced in different locales (different decimal separator)?
In the USA we use a period (dot) as the decimal separator. The word "point" is normally used for the decimal separator when reading such a number. For example, a number such as 3.14 would ...
- 3,299
1
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1
answer
196
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Y'all pronounced as "yah"
I grew up in Texas, and I've heard and often said "yah" instead of y'all. I've never seen it listed as an alternative word to y'all.
Has anyone else heard this pronunciation? I cannot seem ...
- 19.6k
5
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9
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4k
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Is Missouri called /mi.'zuɹ.ə/ outside of Missouri?
Here in Missouri, most people born here pronounce the state as /mi.'zuɹ.ə/ (instead of /miz.'uɹ.i/ or something like it). This is a lot more noticeable in the south/central, rural parts of the state. ...
- 90.3k
2
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1
answer
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Is it common to pronounce "machinations" with /sh/?
In the show The Sandman, Ep7, a character speaks "machinations" with a soft /sh/, as "mash-in-ay-tions":
You seek to snare him in your machinations again?
I expected the "ch&...
- 19.6k
4
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5
answers
3k
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Are the words "Aural" and "Oral" homophones?
Are the words "Aural" and "Oral" usually pronounced the same? Does it vary by dialect? Are there strategies that people use to differentiate them when listening to spoken English?
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4
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1
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224
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Why is ‘Gentiles’ considered a two-syllable word?
When I say the word Gentiles I make three specific vowel sounds. I posted a poem in a writing group recently and everyone gave the feedback that a particular line was missing a syllable, when in my ...
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6
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1
answer
1k
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Pronunciation of “tour”
Is the following pronunciation of the word “tour” attested in any common dialect of British English?
[tɔ˞]
This is approximately how I, a native British English speaker, pronounce it. However, it’s ...
- 48.6k
11
votes
4
answers
68k
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How common is pronouncing the past tense of beat as /bet/?
Personally, I pronounce the past tense of "beat" (to win at a game) as /biːt/, to sound identical to the infinitive. However, I have heard a few people under the age of 30 and from either the west or ...
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4
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1
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297
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American English region where "here" is pronounced "cheer"
On the Andy Griffith Show the characters from Mayberry (modeled on Mount Airy NC) pronounce "here" as "cheer".
This can be heard at second 29 of Andy Griffith Football Story from ...
- 169k
4
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1
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(Mis-)pronunciation of ‘accoutrement’ that ends in -L not in -NT?
I’m interested in the apparent mispronunciation of the word accoutrement [əˈkutrəmənt].
Although it’s not a word I encounter daily, when occasioned upon, I often hear the speaker pronounce it as [...
- 67.2k
4
votes
1
answer
446
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“One syllable” words ending in -re
I’m an American (in upper Midwest) teaching my child about one-syllable words ending in Silent E, such as kite, which makes gives first vowel a long vowel sound. You might know these as VCe syllables (...
- 84.5k
2
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1
answer
484
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Is she speaking proper Cockney (or whatever it is she's imitating)?
At one point in Witness for the Prosecution, Marlene Dietrich's character is at some pains impersonating a guttersnipe. I've been told that the actress spent quite some time working on her accent for ...
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0
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1
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Is it correct to pronounce the letter N as "ain" when spelling out words letter by letter?
I live in a non-English-speaking country. A lot of people around me pronounce the letter N as "ain" (/eɪn/ in IPA). I am very confused because in dictionaries the letter N can be only ...
- 137k
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1
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1k
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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).
...
- 1,436
9
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1
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Why the does 'tu' get pronounced 'tyu' in British English?
Despite being a native Brit, I've always found it an oddity that words like "tutor", "tube", "tumour", and "duty" are pronounced as "tyutor", "tyube", "tyumour", and "duty" in British English. For me, ...
- 137k
0
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1
answer
153
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How do I pronounce names that end with "t" in the standard American dialect?
For example, how do I pronounce the "t" in "Robert"? (Assuming nothing is said after it, or the thing after it starts with a consonant)
Is it a half-stop "t" or a regular ...
- 1,170
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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/....
- 137k
4
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2
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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 ...
- 137k
11
votes
6
answers
14k
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Pronunciation of vowel in vague as [æ] instead of [eɪ]
I have a friend who pronounces the vowel in plague, vague, and bagel as [æ] instead of the standard [eɪ] (so plague rhymes with flag, for instance). Interestingly, he apparently can't tell the ...
- 137k
0
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0
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194
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GROCERY or GROSHERY [duplicate]
I am from Minnesota and have always pronounced GROCERY as GROSH-RY. I teach grammar and pronunciation online, and I recently encountered much controversy regarding what is the correct or incorrect ...
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Differing pronunciations of "divisive"
I've always pronounced it dɪˈvaɪsɪv (rhymes with incisive). Today at his press conference, President Obama pronounced it dɪˈvɪsɪv (rhymes with dismissive).
I've heard the latter pronunciation off ...
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2
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What accents pronounce "quarter" as "korter"? Which other words can drop /w/ before /ɔr/ like this?
Many people drop the "w" from words like "dwarf," changing the pronunciation from /dwɔrf/ to /dɔrf/. This has led to the re-spelling "dorf" being used in some informal contexts, e.g. "Dorf Fort."
My ...
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1
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1
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"hundred" and "pretty" pronounced respectively as [ˈhən-dərd] and [ˈpər-tē]
Merriam-Webster's A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English gives [ˈhən-dərd], [ˈpər-tē], [ˈtem-pə(r)-ˌchu̇r], [ˈse-kə(r)-ˌterē], etc., as alternate ways to pronounce "hundred," "pretty," "...
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12
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4
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32k
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Spicket or spigot?
I recently was making a list and for the first time using a digital device, typed in what I grew up referring to an outdoor faucet 'spicket' as into my iPad.
My mother grew up in Utah and my father ...
0
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2
answers
599
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On the pronunciation of 's' in 'dislike' (/s/ vs /z/)
With a bit of a surprise I have recently learnt that most(all?) native English speakers pronounce the 's' in dislike (and similar words with the dis- prefix) as /s/, not /z/.
However, the /z/ ...
CommunityBot
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24
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2
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3k
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Is there such a thing as Intrusive-L (as opposed to Intrusive-R)?
Most of us have heard plenty of examples of the so-called Intrusive-R. It is a feature of non-rhotic dialects, including British RP and some New England dialects. It occurs between two vowels that are ...
CommunityBot
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3
votes
1
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536
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Pronouncing "warrior" to rhyme with "lawyer" ... is this a feature of any dialect of English?
I've been listening to a section of The Great Courses: Medieval History, an audiobook narrated by Kenneth W. Harl. From his accent, Prof. Harl is clearly American, with what I would describe as a ...
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18
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2
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55k
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Hwat, hwere, and hwy?
In which English accents do they put an h before every word that starts with wh?
Example from Youtube. Notice his pronunciation of whisky.
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vote
1
answer
3k
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Difference between "greater than" and "greater then"? [closed]
What are there a difference between the following sentences?
They are pronounced the same or? Maybe it depends on the dialect?
A: Are you sure 'x' is "greater than" 'y'.
B: Are you sure 'x' is "...
- 29.2k
-1
votes
1
answer
112
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Is "one in the same" only a bad transcription of "one and the same"?
Trump suggested the lack of communication was justified because European countries don't inform him when they raise taxes on the US.
"When they raise taxes on us, they don't consult us and I think ...
3
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0
answers
105
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Is the varying pronunciation of "schedule" using "sh-" vs "sk-" regional or individual? [duplicate]
‘Hard’ /ˈskɛ.djuːl/vs ‘Soft’ /ˈʃɛ.djuːl/
Is one of the two variants
/ˈʃɛ.djuːl/ with ‘sh‑’ (so including [ˈʃɛ.djɫ], [ˈʃɛ.dʒɫ̩], [ˈʃɛ.dʒu.əɫ], [ˈʃɛ.dʒuːɫ])
/ˈskɛ.djuːl/ with ‘sk‑’ (so including [...
- 137k
2
votes
2
answers
206
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Dialectical differences in pronunciation of the 't' sound in “it”, “its”, and “it's”?
There are many cases where different words are pronounced differently in some English dialects, but not others. A commonly cited example is -- Mary, marry, and merry.
In English, the letter 't' may ...
- 84.5k