Questions tagged [phonology]
Technical questions about the sound patterns of English.
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What constitutes as etymology within English?
Etymology of "Djibouti"
Within this question, user Drew asks if it is even an English question. Well, it is definitively an etymology question, and the etymology is regarding a proper noun ...
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0answers
36 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?
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0answers
75 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 ...
3
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1answer
162 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.
...
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1answer
44 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
...
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4answers
117 views
English minimal pair words by syllabification [closed]
Are there English minimal pairs created by different syllabification, specifically of lexical words?
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0answers
33 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 ...
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2answers
343 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 ...
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3answers
706 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 ...
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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 ...
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1answer
93 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
167 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 ...
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2answers
82 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.
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1answer
88 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 ...
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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 ...
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2answers
223 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 ...
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2answers
157 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/
...
3
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1answer
908 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 ...
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1answer
503 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.)
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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). ...
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1answer
219 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
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1answer
387 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 ...
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2answers
196 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 ...
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2answers
228 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 ...
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2answers
136 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 ...
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1answer
55 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
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1answer
255 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. ...
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2answers
207 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. ...
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5answers
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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 ...
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3answers
433 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, ...
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1answer
61 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 ...
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2answers
572 views
Is there a hidden [y] vowel sound in /u:/?
My native language is Danish, with its gigantic number of vowel sounds, and this undoubtedly affects how I hear English vowels. However, one phenomenon in English has bothered me for many years, ...
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2answers
620 views
number of syllables in GIRL
I (US Mid-West) definitely pronounce this as having two syllables, with a schwa between the R and the L. In fact, I find it difficult to make a consonant cluster of RL. This is contradicted but ...
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2answers
242 views
Do syllables only contain one vowel? Also Some questions on word stress
For this word:
○ recommend
○/ˌrekəˈmend/
1) /rekə/ is the first syllable. Does it contain two vowels?
■ e is a vowel
■ ə is a vowel
I thought syllables can only contain one vowel?
2) the [ ']...
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3answers
803 views
Is “the” ever pronounced “knee”?
Does the pronunciation of "the" sometimes sound like "knee"?
I have heard someone read it in a sentence sounded like 'knee'. The specific phrase was:
pulling the extra layer of shirt off of her ...
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2answers
3k views
What is /iə/ in English?
I am confusing with phonetic symbols between /iə/ and /ɪə/. I know that /ɪə/ is a diphthong vowel, combining between /ɪ/ and schwa /ə/. But what is /iə/? Is it /i:/+/ə/? How different are they ...
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2answers
103 views
Native English speakers don’t pronounce the ‘o’ vowel in the 1st syllable
Native English speakers don’t pronounce the ‘o’ vowel in the 1st syllable.
It's pronounced as an 'ə' instead.
Is this true?
When I say "Today" I say /tuˈdeɪ/ , NOT /təˈdeɪ/.
Is there a special ...
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4answers
178 views
Easily recognizable spoken words
I'm looking for terms that describe easily recognizable spoken words. I think this could be in phonology/phonetics but I'm unsure where in particular as I have no formal background.
I apologize if ...
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1answer
381 views
Is it common to vocalize syllabic L, but use dark L as a coda consonant after unreduced vowels?
This question is about words that end in a syllabic L like
little /ˈlɪtl/ capital /ˈkæpɪtl/ able /ˈeɪbl/ bible /ˈbaɪbl/ syllable
/ˈsɪləbl/
Question 1:
Is it common for people who usually ...
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1answer
372 views
Why does /ɪ/ often sound like /ə/?
For example if you listen to the pronounciation for "seminar" on Oxfordlearner dictionary it sounds like an /ə/ to me.
BrE /ˈsemɪnɑː(r)
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/...
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4answers
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Is D-glottalization a plausible explanation of ambiguity in Donald Trump interview with WSJ?
On Jan 11, The Wall Street Journal published an interview with President Trump that contained the following phrase:
With that being said, President Xi has been extremely generous with what he’s ...
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3answers
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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 ...
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1answer
683 views
Silent consonants in words like lawn, dawn [closed]
Is it w or wn?I have no idea,kindly help me out?
What about in words like rogue,does ue or u count as silent consonants although they are clearly vowels?
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3answers
476 views
Why isn't “examine” pronounced like “exhamyne”? [closed]
Since "mine" sounds like: https://translate.google.com/#en/en/mine
Then "examine" should sound like: https://translate.google.com/#en/en/exhamyne
But it does not, why?
To hear the pronunciations ...
4
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2answers
124 views
N before labials
Does [n] turn into [m] before [m], [p] or [b]? I'm a native Spanish speaker but have a C1 level in English. I'm trying to assimilate the native speech (no, I don't want a specific accent) and wish to ...
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1answer
340 views
Is it 'an' humiliating, or 'a' humiliating defeat? [duplicate]
I was looking at the papers and saw 'The Government suffered a humiliating defeat.'
It just felt wrong and I seem to recall it should be 'an' humiliating defeat, although I'm not certain.
I had a ...
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2answers
563 views
Pronunciation of “of” in connected speech: Can /v/ ever be pronounced as /f/ in some cases?
I know that the /v/ sound at the of the word have is sometimes
pronounced as /f/ in the phrase have to, which becomes /ˈhæftə/.
Is there a similar thing where the /v/ sound at end of the word of ...
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0answers
164 views
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2answers
2k views
“The species/species'/species's survival…”
Ok, I am really confused regarding apostrophe with the s and the end of the word. I have looked through multiple sites only to see multiple viewpoints. And, on tests they test it differently. So, can ...
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2answers
676 views
Why does the “-ed” suffix give “wanted” a second syllable, when “based” or “looked” only have one?
Why is it that wanted has 2 syllables, but based has 1 syllable. The root of these words, want and base, are both monosyllablic. And both of these past tense forms end with the same -ed suffix:
...
