Questions tagged [phonology]
Technical questions about the sound patterns of English.
282
questions
2
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0answers
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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 [...
0
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0answers
9 views
Phonemes or allophones? how to chose the underlying structure? [migrated]
In our coursebook, introducing phonology by David Odden, one of the exercise questions asks us to decide if the obstruents of Thai are phonemes or allophones.
My teacher says they are allophones but ...
0
votes
1answer
88 views
Voiceless noun endings with voiced verb endings
We can use that idea.
That idea has no conceivable use.
It is necessary to house these students.
The will reside in that house.
I cannot prove that.
I have no proof.
I can breathe.
Every breath I take ...
3
votes
0answers
90 views
Which words have historically had a final n only before a vowel?
In Modern English, the only word that has a final n only before a vowel is a/an:
a face
an eye
In Middle English, there was the pair my/mine:
my face
mine eye
Also, the was then ...
0
votes
1answer
103 views
Number of syllables. Nuclear vs Linear. Is there a difference
I just looked up the syllable description of the words linear and nuclear. On that website, it says linear has 3 syllables and nuclear 2. This is despite the 'ear' of both words being pronounced the ...
19
votes
2answers
2k views
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 ...
0
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1answer
106 views
Rendezvous with Ray [closed]
Rendezvous is one of the English words whose pronunciation is nothing to do with its spelling .I have come across the word in the lesson Rendezvous with Ray
I have understood ...
1
vote
2answers
269 views
Do /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/ diphthongs actually exist in General American as phonemes?
The Handbook of English Pronunciation. (Marnie Reed, John Levis referring to J.C. Wells)
Аs the pronunciation of most speakers is rhotic, there are no centring
diphthongs, because the vowels /ɪə,...
2
votes
3answers
153 views
Example words with ɛ: + difference between ɛ: and ɛ [closed]
I've just started studying phonetics and phonology of English and I'm currently trying to find words with the vowel ɛ: as examples for a homework. Also, is there a difference between ɛ: and ɛ, as in, ...
1
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1answer
82 views
phonological process
We can form negative versions of words such as audible and edible in English by adding in- to produce inaudible and inedible. How would you describe the special phonological processes involved in the ...
1
vote
1answer
147 views
“already” pronounced as [ˈɔʋɪ]
What is the pronunciation of already in the song Without Me by Halsey?
What phonological processes take place resulting in such a pronunciation?
(min 3:03) https://youtu.be/ZAfAud_M_mg?t=183
0
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1answer
79 views
Why is the word “phonics” pronounced /ˈfɑnɪks/ instead of /ˈfoʊnɪks/?
Is there any etymological reason for this? Normally, an o in a stressed syllable followed by /n/ and a vowel would be pronounced /oʊ/. And phoneme is pronounced /ˈfoʊnim/. Why does the pronunciation ...
2
votes
1answer
112 views
Can /æ/ raising produce homophones in American English?
Can words like "bend" and "band" merge in AmEn? I always thought they should not but here's a confusing example:
https://youtu.be/_C0mc7ZOMF4
To my ear this gentleman pronounces "bend" as [bɛənd] and ...
3
votes
2answers
230 views
Where in Ireland, if anywhere, at the time of James Joyce, would “hoe” and “whore” sound similar enough to pun?
Where in Ireland, if anywhere, at the time of James Joyce (1882 – 1941), would "hoe" and "whore" sound similar enough to pun?
This question pertains to Does Joyce, in Finnegans Wake or Ulysses, ...
0
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0answers
30 views
I dont understand ‘Stressed schwa’ [duplicate]
how can a ‘stressed schwa’ exist?
In ‘Applied English Phonology 3rd edition’ (page 85), ‘herder’ is the example of the stressed schwa and it is manifested as ‘3’(with r-coloring tail).
As I’ve seen so ...
2
votes
1answer
246 views
On the velar nasal /ŋ/ sound followed by /k/
I'm a non-native speaker and I have always pronounced all words with syllables ending in 'n' followed by a /k/ sound with the velar nasal /ŋ/. For example:
think / increase (v+n) / income / ...
10
votes
4answers
3k views
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 ...
3
votes
1answer
164 views
Happy tensing after /l/
Happy tensing is claimed by Wikipedia to occur in General American and Australian English in words like "happy", "money", "valley" etc.
Here's an American lady saying "realy badly" as [ˈriɫɪ ˈbædɫɪ] ...
0
votes
1answer
42 views
a/an expected completion date? [duplicate]
Question is pretty self-explanatory. Either way, a date on a calendar is a date. When it becomes unexpected, it sounds right to me to say an unexpected date instead of a unexpected date. Same for when ...
10
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1answer
2k views
Why do American speakers pronounce “the” as “/ðə/” before vowels?
I learned that we have to pronounce /ðə/ before consonants & /ði/ before vowels.
For example, the /ðə/ car, but the /ði/ earth.
But it seems that a lot of American people pronounce the /ðə/ ...
1
vote
0answers
86 views
How should you pronounce the word “wolf ”?
If the dictionary’s IPA for the word wolf is /wʊlf/, then why do I sometimes hear people pronounce it /wolf/ instead of /wʊlf/?
Aren’t /ʊ/ and /o/ different phonemes?
3
votes
1answer
178 views
How do people actually pronounce “Orange”?
There are questions on ELU about the phonemic transcriptions of orange in both British and American English in dictionaries.
However, this being a site for linguists and all that, I thought I would ...
asked Apr 7 '19 at 22:25
Araucaria - Not here any more.
40.4k11 gold badges82 silver badges164 bronze badges
6
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1answer
427 views
Trump's pronunciation of “origins” as “oringes”
President Trump pronounced the word origins [ˈɔ:rɪʤɪnz] as oringes [ˈɔ:rɪnʤəz] in a meeting with NATO secretary general Stoltenberg at the White House on 3 April 2019.
See this clip on Youtube.
...
1
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1answer
51 views
How often does assimilation take place?
I have a doubt question. Whenever native speakers speak, do they always assimilate?
For example, for She has used you, might we hear any of these?
ʃihæʒuːzdju
ʃihæʒuːʒu
ʃihæʒuːʤu
ʃihæzjuːzdju
...
3
votes
4answers
260 views
English minimal pair words by syllabification [closed]
Are there English minimal pairs created by different syllabification, specifically of lexical words?
2
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0answers
73 views
Does the change of “y” to “ies” in plural form of words have a phonological explanation?
I've been looking for phonological rules or explanation for the change that occurs in -ies ending plural form but all I found was : When we have a vowel before "y" we add "s", such as "boys".
When we ...
7
votes
2answers
350 views
The Newjersey Turnpike
In pronunciation of the name of the New Jersey Turnpike, there is no stress in either syllable of the word "Jersey," as though New Jersey were actually one word. Is this a common phenomenon that ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
You becoming 'CHU' and 'JU'
I know for over a fact that the word "YOU" when the word before its a T or a 'D' sound it can change to a CH sound or a J sound, but I've ALWAYS wonder why does that happen?
So, I want you= aɪ wɑnt ...
20
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2answers
2k views
“Extra W” sound in words
I've wonder that in some sentences, or words, even though phonetically you don't have a 'W' sound, you can still hear some type of extra w' sound. So for example.
The phrase: "Do it". /du ɪt/ will ...
2
votes
1answer
299 views
Devoicing 'Voiced consonants' to their counterparts
So, lately I've been really interested in the 'DEVOICING 'Voiced Consonants to thei r counterparts'. I've been doing many studies painstakingly, so I would like to share it with you, and you can tell ...
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1answer
179 views
Forensic Linguistics; 'Stupid people' or 'Stupid woman' - Do we know what Jeremy Corbyn said?
In the UK, some of the debates in the Houses of Parliament are televised. On 18th December 2018, Jeremy Corbyn was filmed muttering something—which was interpreted by a Twitter user as "stupid ...
asked Dec 28 '18 at 1:38
Araucaria - Not here any more.
40.4k11 gold badges82 silver badges164 bronze badges
-2
votes
2answers
122 views
Why the“n” in “Monday” and “Sunday” is pronounced sounding like “/ŋ/” rather than “/n/” displayed in the dictionary?
I look up some dictionaries the phonogram of "n" in these words are marked as "/n/". But I just found the pronunciation sounds like "/ŋ/". I don't know why.
1
vote
1answer
176 views
Phonetic differences between ɑ and ɒ in English and American pronunciation standards
First, I should state I'm a native U.K. English speaker from the West Midlands.
With 44 Phonemes present in English, I'm having trouble deciding when I should use ɑ and ɒ, from this website we can ...
13
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3answers
1k views
Why are dictionary transcriptions contradictory for the phonetic representation of oranges?
I am a native U.K. speaker with a strong Midlands dialect, and I am very aware of other dialects and regional accents from around the world of English speakers, and I really enjoy this.
I am a data ...
1
vote
2answers
417 views
Contraction “-'dn't” from formal English “would not”
Can "wouldn't" be reduced to the clitic -'dn't when attached to any other pronoun besides y'all, such as she'dn't or you'dn't?
(Appearing for example in "y'all'dn't've" from formal English "you all ...
1
vote
2answers
626 views
When is word initial E pronounced /iː/ ? (as in 'Ego') [closed]
Words beginning with e usually be pronounced as /e/ or /ɪ /, for example:
egg /eg/
effort /'efət/
explicit /ɪ k'splɪ sɪ t/
Very rarely, words are pronounced with /iː/, for example:
epoch /'i:pɔk/
...
4
votes
4answers
3k views
I gonna vs. I'm gonna
I live in Germany where I often hear 'I gonna' or 'you gonna', in effect treating 'gonna' as a main verb and missing out the copula 'to be'. AAE also has a 'zero' copula. Perhaps this clitic will be ...
12
votes
1answer
591 views
How long ago did Londoners start saying “f” instead of “th”?
Is there any evidence for how far back replacement of “th” with “f” goes in London (and environs) historically? (I’m talking about how some Londoners say “fanks” and “everyfing” etc.)
7
votes
2answers
705 views
What are the names of the two phonetic changes in this sentence?
I'm going to be teaching English to French high school students for another year in September, and they all have a hard time with my variety of English (they're used to hearing British English). ...
2
votes
1answer
393 views
Historical connections between “carnival” and “cannibalism”?
This may be a somewhat disturbing question, but as a non-native speaker, the word carnival seems very similar to a totally different word called cannibalism.
I’m well aware of the difference between ...
2
votes
1answer
598 views
What is the real pronunciation of “postman”? [duplicate]
I can see that the word postman is pronounced as /pəʊs(t)mən/ commonly, where you can’t hear the vowel in the ‑man syllable.
But sometimes it is pronounced
/pəʊs(t)mæn/ — with a noticeable /æ/ vowel ...
7
votes
2answers
254 views
Why do I have a different vowel in “scarf” than I have in “scarves”, and how come nobody talks about this?
So in my opinion, scarves is pronounced as the dictionary has it: with a Short O or /a/.
But I believe that scarf and other "ar" words that are followed by voiceless consonants, are not actually ...
8
votes
2answers
260 views
History of additional sounds introduced to English
Today I was curious about the rarity of the consonant cluster sr in the English language. I found a WordReference forum from 2006 that asked about the matter.
The general response is that because ...
0
votes
3answers
255 views
Are the 'esk' sound in grotesque and burlesque pronounced the same?
I'm watching episode 4, season 4 of Friends titled 'The One With The Embryos'. In this scene, Ross is testing Chandler and Joey against Monica and Rachel to see which team knows each other better. At ...
2
votes
1answer
70 views
In Broad White South African English, voiceless plosives tend to be unaspirated in all positions, which serves as a marker of this subvariety.[
I'm not sure what this sentence means.
I think Voiceless plosive/Stop are /p/, /t/, and /k/.
So do words ending with "t" - (like Hit, Sit, Last) - not have any air released at the end?
In Korean ...
3
votes
1answer
352 views
Am I semi-rhotic?
I am back with another question about pronunciation. I noticed that I pronounce the "r" sound inconsistently when it follows a vowel. For example, in some words I do not sound it, but in others I do. ...
0
votes
2answers
222 views
Has there been any theory on the vowel /o/ that was inserted into words like “arrow”?
Words like tomorrow, sorrow, arrow, follow, borough contain /o/, as in the diphthong /oʊ/, which was /wə(n)/ in Middle English which was weakened from Old English /x/ or /ɣ/ + some sort of vowel. ...
6
votes
6answers
4k views
Does any native English word contain the 'ñ' sound?
I've seen that English dictionaries contain a number of Spanish-imported words that contain the character ñ, such as piñata, piña colada and jalapeño. You find the same sound in other languages, such ...
-1
votes
3answers
684 views
Why there are three different sounds for -ed?
Following this question on the pronunciation of the final -ed.
What is the reason why there are three different pronunciations (/ɪd/, /t/ and /d/)?
EDIT: I'm well aware that phonetic shifts exist, ...
1
vote
1answer
75 views
Are /gz ɨz/ pronounced voiced in normal speech? Why are they described as voiced consonants?
As in "dogs" and the suffix "-es".
I have learned later that the ending should be voiced, while everywhere I hear native speakers pronounce them voiceless. However, I followed the book and pronounce ...
