Questions tagged [pronunciation]
Questions about how sounds, intonation, and stress of words are uttered or produced.
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0answers
47 views
Swearing: English or French? [on hold]
This may not be the correct forum for the question, so I apologize if I'm merely cluttering the place up.
Though I am far from fluent in French, I have spent enough time staying with family in Paris ...
0
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0answers
54 views
Tongue exercises helping English
I have a question about pronunciation. I've been studying English practically for my whole life, but for some reason I have such a hard time pronouncing the FLAP T.
I do know how to make it ...
0
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2answers
74 views
Dark L in unstressed syllables
I was wondering. I was reading in one forum about the dark L someone said about how you can also have a dark L in an unstressed syllable so a word like only (ˈoʊnli) will actually have dark L.
Can ...
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4answers
113 views
What is the correct pronunciation of Costa Coffee?
Personally I would say the correct way is Cost-a Coffee but I've heard some people use Coast-a.
Which is correct?
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1answer
55 views
How good is an average British in English?
I am surprised to hear that many native speakers do not pronounce the word 'subtle' right---They pronounce the letter 'b'.
Is that true?
Do the natives also make a lot of mistakes in using English?...
1
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1answer
26 views
Contrastive Stress
Could you tell me where the contrastive stress is ? I'm really confused about contrastive stress.
A: Who's your favourite actress?
B: I love Natalie Portman. How about you?
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1answer
71 views
how to read “nth” in English [closed]
I came across a statement Return "nth" from the last node
And I realized I don't know how to say "nth"
How to read it? Don't tell me N-T-H please!
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0answers
36 views
Why does this pronunciation of “platoon” sound like “patoon”?
The word pla·toon, despite being transcribed /pləˈto͞on/, sounds like /pəˈto͞on/ with l sound silenced here. Is that true?
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0answers
58 views
Is the T in “Can't” pronounced before words starting with vowels in the American pronunciation?
I know that (AE)"can't" is pronounced /kaen?/ with a glottal stop. What about it appearing before the words starting with vowels, for example, "I can't afford that car." Is it "canafford" or "...
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1answer
47 views
Pronounciation of rebut
According to the Mac OS X's built-in dictionary app, the pronunciation of the word "rebut" is "rəˈbət". It is also the case on this site: https://vocabulary-words.com/rebut/
Shouldn't it be "rɪˈbʌt" ...
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0answers
59 views
Is /wɛmɪn/ a valid pronunciation of 'women'? If so, where?
I used to live in Southern California, and I have encountered only two people who have pronounced 'women' (/wɪmɪn/) as /wɛmɪn/.
Is this an attested pronunciation of 'women'? If so, is this endemic to ...
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0answers
109 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
65 views
How to write letter “K” as a full word correctly? [duplicate]
If I want to write for example "Mr. K". I don't want to use just a single letter. Should I write it like "Mr. Kei", "Mr. Kay" or "Mr. Key"?
Update:
Let us imagine there was somebody with name Mr. ...
0
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0answers
51 views
Pronouncing the ă/æ sound (bat vs. but)
I am a middle aged adult with a non-English background and my English is proficient. I am unable to create the 'a' sound in words like bat or cat. My pronoucitation makes them sound like but and cut.
...
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2answers
105 views
Is it true that t&d, p&b, k&g, s&z, … only differ by voiced vs. unvoiced
According to
https://www.lawlessenglish.com/learn-english/pronunciation/consonants-voiced-unvoiced/
there are number of pairs of consonant sounds whose only difference is that one is voiced and the ...
3
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3answers
417 views
Interested in 'naive' pronunciation
I'd like to know why 'naive' is pronounced ny-eve but is spelt naive. Where is the ny part coming from? 'na-' isn't pronounced ny, and if the ny part is nai-, then there is only -ve left. This is ...
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5answers
6k views
Have “choir” and “deer” ever rhymed?
It’s that time of year when the dodgy rhymes of Christmas carols abound, but I find the chorus of "The Holly and the Ivy" particularly intriguing.
The rising of the sun
And the running of the ...
1
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2answers
91 views
How to read … (dot dot dot)?
For example here the sentence is,
"Consider any sequence of data points x0, x1, x2,... in R"
It messes up my mind when I can't loudly read something.
How is ... (dot dot dot) pronounced in such a ...
0
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2answers
59 views
Improved variations of the word “comicist”? [closed]
I believe the word comicist is a valid word (for one who is a follower of comics), but it doesn't sound right to me.
Example sentence:
He was an accomplished comicist after decades of working in ...
-1
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0answers
25 views
longlived = long-livvd or long-lyved? [duplicate]
How long ago was 'longlyved' the correct pronunciation and how often since those times have people kept saying it that way?
Explanations favoring 'longlyved' seem complete and well-reasoned.
I can ...
1
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2answers
69 views
ten pronounced as teen
In the song The Other Side MAX & Ty Dolla $ign pronounce the word "ten" as "teen" in the dialogue at the end of the song. Can anyone explain why?
1
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1answer
382 views
Which word has a silent B at the start? [duplicate]
According to this Guardian article, about the book “P is Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever”, there is one word in the English language which starts with a silent B. Unfortunately, they don’t ...
-1
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0answers
32 views
What are the phonetic changes of “ ʃ ” from roughly 400 years ago to present day? [duplicate]
Recently I came across a printed article from mortality statistics produced in London in the last 16th century.
The title reads: "The diseases and casualties this week."
In modern phonetics, ʃ ...
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0answers
64 views
Why is the Letter E Pronounced Differently inPoem and Poet? [closed]
Why the pronunciation for letter 'e' is different in both words 'poem' and 'poet'? Is there any grammatical rule, or did pronunciation just evolve in this way?
In the American Heritage Dictionary, ...
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2answers
8k views
Pronunciation of PhD
Why is PhD read as /piːeɪtʃˈdiː/ (from Oxford Dictionary) and not, for example, like /fˈdiː/ , while diagraph ph is read as /f/ in Latin and Greek words? Why do we write Ph if not to represent the /f/...
1
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0answers
42 views
Vowel shift in Michigan accent?
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Michigan because my grandparents live there. By today’s standards, they have very heavy accents, with full Canadian raising and the northern cities vowel shift. ...
3
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1answer
80 views
Where is the stress of the noun “Portuguese”?
Studying suffixes I've learned that "-ESE" is a strong suffix, therefore it holds the main stress when it's added to a word (e.g. China -> Chinese; Japan -> Japanese; journal -> journalese; etc.).
...
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1answer
69 views
What are the letters that are pronounced as 2 letters?
I have noticed that there are letters embedded in other letters once pronounced.
I noticed that in these words:
Numb: b is silent but when you finish pronouncing the word with M letter, lips will be ...
1
vote
2answers
53 views
Apostrophe instead of the first sound. Where do I read about it?
What sources are there about rules for such contractions in American English when the first sound of the word isn’t pronounced.
There’s an apostrophe or something like this instead.
F/e, the ...
0
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1answer
58 views
Diacritics or meaning difference for deja vu
Could be trivial but would like to know, what is the difference between
déjà vu and deja vu
Is it primarily the pronunciation difference or something else?
3
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2answers
109 views
Pronunciation of “comedian” and “chameleon”
I can't figure out the difference in pronouncing "comedian" vs. "chameleon." I looked up their pronunciations in many dictionaries and audio sources, and practiced a lot, but my pronunciation still ...
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2answers
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 ...
0
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1answer
68 views
Is “the” pronounced as “thuh” or “thee” in this sentence [duplicate]
"the amount of fun"
Is "the" pronounced as "thee" before a schwa?
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1answer
49 views
Best way to spell a made up word so that it is pronounced like the real word it's based on [closed]
In a situation where you want to turn a real English word like "tracker" into a made up word (eg. for business or website name purpose), is there a preferred way of spelling it to ensure readers ...
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1answer
65 views
how do you pronounce perfume(s)?
A poem from Whitman (song of myself, 2) uses the word perfume and also perfumes.
Both in different videos on the web or google translate pronounce perfume and perfumes in different way. Frequently ...
2
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1answer
99 views
Is there a difference in pronunciation between 'two' and 'chew'?
As a child my English teacher stressed continuously that we need to pronounce correctly the word "two" and "chew", pointing out that English-speaking people would hear a notable difference in their ...
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0answers
68 views
A Eulogy, or An Eulogy? [duplicate]
I'm aware that the rule of thumb is typically "use 'a' when the next word has a consonant sound, and 'an' when it has a vowel sound," but the phrase "an eulogy" sounds clunky to me.
Is the ...
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0answers
30 views
Pronunciation of the second syllable in “ancient” and “conscience” [duplicate]
I have looked up the pronunciation of these two words, ancient and conscience, in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as well as other online dictionaries such as dictionary.com and dictionary....
0
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1answer
181 views
Is “human” sometimes pronounced as “yuman” and why?
I can hear people say "human" without the h-sound, while in other words like "huge", the h isn't dropped.
1
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1answer
39 views
Correct stress when pronouncing “covet”
When pronounce word "covet" should I give stress to "o" or to "e"?
I searched Emma Saying channel for this word and there are two videos with different pronunciation so I'm not sure if this source is ...
1
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0answers
41 views
The inconsistent long i sound in English [duplicate]
As a phonics teacher, I have long had a problem with finding the right explanation to my students about an inconsistent sound. Hope someone has the explanation to it here.
The long i sound in ...
1
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1answer
98 views
A certain pronounciation of words like 'me'
I have noticed that in some British dialects, the long 'ee' sound is rendered as 'ay'. For example, 'me' as 'may', 'see' as 'say'. However, this is only an approximation as I am not sure how to ...
3
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2answers
97 views
Is the first syllable of “acknowledge” pronounced with /g/ by any notable amount of speakers?
While I was trying to think of examples for an answer to Vun-Hugh Vaw's question about voicing voiceless consonants in American English, I considered the word "acknowledge", which I think I can ...
2
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1answer
103 views
Is the voicing voiceless consonants common in the US?
I don't know if I should trust my non-native ears, but I've heard a couple of people (Katie from CollegeHumor is the first one come to mind) who say "thank you" with a voiced "th" instead of the ...
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1answer
41 views
Contraction of would
In casual speech, can you contract "would you" to "dju" in questions like these:
What'd you like to drink?
What flavor'd you like?
3
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1answer
99 views
The pronunciation of Burns' “I wad gie a' Knockhaspie's land”
I wad gie a' Knockhaspie's land
(Highland Harry Back Again)
What is the best way to phoneticize this sentence?
/aɪ ˈwɑ(ː ?)d ɡi(ː ?) ??? lɑn/
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1answer
88 views
Why is the pronunciation of the word “definitely” often omits the syllable “nite”?
I was listening to the broadcasting of esport games(league of legends).
As a non-native speaker, I found out that most of the time both the play-by-play caster and colored caster tend to ignore the ...
2
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1answer
86 views
Recent change in pronouncing homage
I’ve noticed that homage is now often pronounced hom-aag with a French accent not hom-ige as previously used. Anyone else noticed this?
1
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2answers
264 views
Correct pronunciation of figure
I’m American, from the Midwest in particular and I always pronunced the word figure as ˈfi-gər. I rarely have gotten any comments on that, though I have gotten comments on a similarity to a Canadian ...
1
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2answers
110 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/
...
