Questions about how sounds, intonation, and stress of words are uttered or produced.
-1
votes
0answers
29 views
Would a native speaker help me transcribe 3 regional pronunciations?
I'm a non-native speaker researching regional pronunciation in contemporary American English. I find that the word "cult" tends to be pronounced differently by Americans from different regions (this ...
0
votes
1answer
43 views
What linguistic influence might contribute to the word “and” to be pronounced like “ans”?
I have occasionally heard American English speakers saying, for example, “Bill ans Joe went to the store.”
-1
votes
1answer
39 views
Why is 'know' pronounced as 'no'? [on hold]
I know the 'k' is silent, but then why not pronounced as 'now' instead of 'no'?
P.S. I realize it's a stupid question, just felt curious about this.
0
votes
1answer
51 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
37 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
votes
1answer
41 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
votes
2answers
91 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 ...
13
votes
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
votes
1answer
43 views
Is “the” pronounced as “thuh” or “thee” in this sentence [duplicate]
"the amount of fun"
Is "the" pronounced as "thee" before a schwa?
-2
votes
1answer
42 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 ...
0
votes
1answer
40 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
votes
1answer
84 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 ...
0
votes
0answers
61 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 ...
0
votes
0answers
33 views
Do you know a good online source for learning British pronunciation?
I have been working on my pronunciation using a series of YouTube videos made by Rachel's English. She shows how to pronounce vowels and consonants in American English with details like how the tongue ...
1
vote
0answers
29 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
votes
1answer
73 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
vote
1answer
35 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 ...
0
votes
0answers
38 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
vote
1answer
75 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
votes
2answers
89 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
votes
1answer
84 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 ...
0
votes
1answer
23 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
votes
1answer
71 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/
0
votes
1answer
60 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
votes
1answer
66 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
vote
2answers
114 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
vote
2answers
99 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
330 views
Should one use “an” or an “a” before an acronym beginning with the letter H? [duplicate]
Consider the sentence:
He offered to be an HSC.
vs:
He offered to be a HSC.
In the example above, HSC stands for Health Service Consultant. If one were saying the sentence aloud, one would ...
2
votes
1answer
56 views
pronouncing -ó in poetry [duplicate]
Do you guys know how '-ó' is pronounced?
Context: The Windhover, Hopkins.
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall ...
2
votes
2answers
76 views
Is it correct to say “my oldest child” when you have only two children?
I remember "oldest" child is more correctly used when you have more than two children - e.g. my older child (assumption that there are only two children); my oldest child (assumption that there are at ...
3
votes
2answers
71 views
How is “victualling” pronounced?
Victuals is famously pronounced "vittles". But how is victualling, as in victualling yard, pronounced?
I presume the "c" remains silent, but various unsourced and presumably autogenerated ...
3
votes
2answers
142 views
Do any English words end in /ɒ/, a short o?
The question was prompted by trying to find an English analogue to the many words in Welsh that end with /ɒ/ (today's example: crwydro = wander). This sound is after all common in English at the ...
0
votes
1answer
49 views
Prounouncing the combination “-cy-”
Is there any word in the English language that contains the letter combination "-cy-" and pronounced with a hard 'c'?
I find it strange that all the common use words are pronounced with a soft 'c' if ...
2
votes
3answers
127 views
Why is the accent on “petrol” and “patrol” different?
Petrol and patrol are written very similarly, though completely and obviously different in meaning. My question here is actually about the accent on these words.
Why is petrol stressed on PE, and ...
1
vote
1answer
66 views
What is the correct way to say missile? [closed]
What is the correct pronunciation of the word "missiles" because some sites say "mis-uh l" while some others say "mis-i oh"
0
votes
1answer
70 views
How to pronounce Las Vegas?
I have heard Las Vegas being pronounced as Los Vegas and Las Vegas.
What is the correct way to pronounce Las Vegas ?
6
votes
4answers
4k views
Is the correct pronunciation of “Have you seen Mary's book” “Mary book”?
So there is this question about the pronunciation of the noun possessive inflection.
A certain text states that a zero allomorph is used by certain American English speakers for the noun possessive ...
0
votes
1answer
88 views
Why is the word 'heroine' not pronounced like 'hero-ine?'
Why is the word 'heroine' not pronounced like 'hero-ine' but instead like 'heroin?' It has the word 'hero' in it and it's the female equivalent of a hero. It's not like I use the word in public often ...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
Strange phonetic in Google Translate [duplicate]
I have just found that Google is using a type of phonetic for English word which looks weird to me (perhaps it is something new?)
For example, this word: suicide
Google Translation shows this ...
0
votes
1answer
103 views
How do you pronounce the word “array” in Australian English?
I am learning accents (differences in pronunciation), and I was wondering how to pronounce the word "array" in Australian English, and how it's pronounced in other variants of the language. Is it AH-...
0
votes
1answer
68 views
How is paciic pronounced?
This video covers how an airline with the word pacific in its name accidentally wrote paciic on their airplane.
While very amusing, the lady in the video pronounces the mistaken ‘pasiic’ like ...
0
votes
1answer
112 views
Spelling of temperature and preparation
Today, I have come up with the two confusingly-spelled words: temperature and preparation.
The 'para' in preparation, and the 'pera' in temperation, look quite similar in pronunciation when we read ...
0
votes
2answers
118 views
Is “cupboard” pronounced as /ˈkʌbərd/? [duplicate]
I was reading the Wikipedia page of assimilation, and according to it,
cupboard is pronounced /ˈkʌbərd/ and not /ˈkʌpbɔːrd/.
I see why the /b/ is merged into the /p/ sound, making cupboard sound ...
-1
votes
1answer
55 views
English words with double pronounciations
Are there many words with double pronunciations in English? I know there are many in the chinese language. Is there a reason why there are many or not so many?
(EDIT: I mean words that are spelled ...
-1
votes
2answers
62 views
Word phonetics suggestion
Could any English speaker recommend me the best spelling for an 'invented' word that would be pronounced something like /ˈlɛvɪ/.
As I'm no expert in phonetic symbols, those phonetic symbols are just ...
0
votes
1answer
149 views
The pronunciation of “th” in “with” in British RP
I enjoy socialising with people!
How do you pronounce “th” in “with”? It’s too confusing for me. When I looked it up in a dictionary, it was with a voiced sound like in "brother or the," but it ...
2
votes
1answer
168 views
How to pronounce Arthurian character “Menw” in English?
In some Arthurian tales a character named "Menw" occurs, e.g. from Kilhwch and Olwen, or The Twrch Trwyth: (emphasis added)
And Arthur called Menw the son of Teirgwaedd, in order that if they went ...
1
vote
1answer
32 views
Syllable count of environmental
I seems to me the sound at the end is /tl/ or as far as I and most people I know pronounce it. This applies for most other -tal ending words. I know it could be /təl/ but the vowel is not present at ...
8
votes
3answers
284 views
Pronunciation of gunwale
I was watching an episode from 2007 of the Science Channel's How It's Made in which a canoe was being constructed*.
The narrator consistently pronounced "gunwale" as /ˈɡʌnheɪl/ (gunhale) with an ...
0
votes
1answer
117 views
What's the difference between the AA (ɑ) and AO (ɔ) sound?
I'm working with the CMU pronunciation dictionary and I can't comfortably say I can understand what difference in sound they're trying to indicate by splitting AA and AO into different phonemes.
...
