Questions tagged [vowels]
Vowels sounds in English.
251
questions
-2
votes
0
answers
20
views
Do consonants with vowel-starting names get a or an articles in initialisms? [duplicate]
Consider the phrase ‘request for comment’.
It would be A request for comment.
But what if it is abbreviated to RFC? Then would it be a RFC? Or AN RFC?
- 179
10
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Do "map" and "cat" rhyme?
Do the words map and cat rhyme?
I'm of the opinion that they do because—even though they end with different sounds—the vowel sound is the same.
Please help settle a debate between my children and me.
- 305
10
votes
4
answers
414
views
Do any speakers have contrastive vowel qualities for the NURSE and lettER sets?
John Wells’ lexical sets are usually useful classifications for determining differences in the realizations of vowels across English accents. Two of the sets are the NURSE set, referring to a stressed ...
- 654
1
vote
1
answer
41
views
Rounding of the START and PALM vowels
I’m a younger speaker from Chicago with a relatively standard General American accent. I have noticed that the vowels in the words “start” and “palm” sound like they have some lip rounding in my ...
- 654
5
votes
1
answer
166
views
Possibility of a near-cure or peer-pure vowel merger in American English
I am a young speaker from Chicago with, I think, a relatively nonspecific General American accent. I’ve noticed something interesting with the vowels in the NEAR and CURE sets. These vowels can be ...
- 654
5
votes
1
answer
403
views
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 ...
- 61
2
votes
1
answer
293
views
Variants of the /æ/ sound?
This YouTube channel asserts that the /æ/ sound has four variants depending on the consonant that follows it; /æ/ in apple and /æ/ in mango should sound a bit different, for instance.
https://www....
- 123
2
votes
0
answers
75
views
Is there a rule that describes vowel pronunciation changes in conjugated words? [duplicate]
I've noticed that sometimes when a word (generally a noun or adjective) gains or loses syllables, the pronunciation of the vowels will change. For example,
horizon vs horizontal
sociopath vs ...
- 31
7
votes
1
answer
203
views
Did English have any alphabet or writing before it adopted Latin?
I wonder if the English language had any writing or script before the adoption of Latin.
This question came about in a conversation I had with a friend about the writing of vowels in English. ...
- 185
0
votes
0
answers
31
views
Do some people pronounce "women" same as "woman"? [duplicate]
This is something i've noticed lately. Example 1, example 2 (1:10). (...i do not necessarily endorse these videos).
I can clearly hear them say "all woman"/ "why do pregnant woman"....
- 101
3
votes
1
answer
159
views
"man" vs. "men" pronunciation in American English
Here are 10 audio clips taken (more or less randomly) from a book narrated by a professional American narrator. In 5 of them, he is saying man, and in the other 5, men.
Is it possible for a native ...
- 141
5
votes
1
answer
200
views
Pronunciation of "I" vowel name in fast speech
I'm not a native english speaker.
I was wondering what is the right way to pronunce the "I" (/aɪ/) vowel name in fast speech.
Perhaps i'm confused, but sometimes i hear /a/. Like in the ...
4
votes
1
answer
366
views
True realization of /i/ in American English: Is it really [ɪi]?
I have read in different places that the latter glide-like realization is the only one that exists in American English. Is this a regional thing? If yes, would you say it occurs in western US English?
...
user424161
9
votes
1
answer
444
views
Why does "appropriate" (and also "duplicate", "deliberate" etc) have a different vowel in their adjective/noun and verb forms?
TL;DR
There are adjectives/nouns--verb pairs in which the adjectives/nouns have weak vowel in the last syllable and the verb has strong for example:
duplicate (adj): /ˈdjuːplɪkət/
duplicate (v.): /...
user387044
3
votes
2
answers
217
views
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 ...
- 33
1
vote
2
answers
128
views
How do you pronounce, "pleurisy"?
According to Wiktionary, pleurisy is pronounced one of two ways:
a) /ˈplʊəɹɪsi/
b) /ˈpljʊəɹɪsi/
I don't hear the /j/ sound when I say the word (in General American) - I hear it like this:
https://www....
- 234
0
votes
1
answer
176
views
Does the word "pirate" use the /aɪɚ/ phoneme, or the /aɪɹ/ phoneme?
I'm making a list of all of the graphemes can be used to make the phoneme /aɪɚ/ in General American.
-ire as in fire, wire, desire, sapphire, etc.
-yre as in lyre, pyre, tyre, etc.
I have questions ...
- 234
2
votes
1
answer
170
views
When is the "Short A" sound actually spelled with an AE?
I was reading a book on English spelling (Dictionary of the British English Spelling System, by Greg Brooks) and it mentioned that the Short A sound (æ) can be spelled using the following graphemes:
...
- 234
10
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why did John Wells need three lexical sets--NORTH, FORCE and THOUGHT--for the same vowel /ɔː/?
The standard Lexical sets for English were introduced by professor John Wells which are widespread. Each lexical set represents a vowel present in a number of words, for example: the THOUGHT vowel /ɔː/...
user387044
1
vote
0
answers
483
views
Why are "said" and "paid"/"laid" pronounced differently?
The words say, pay, lay are phonemically /seɪ/, /peɪ/ and /leɪ/ respectively (with the diphthong /eɪ/). Their past and past participles are respectively: /sɛd/ (or /sed/), /peɪd/ and /leɪd/. The past/...
user387044
1
vote
1
answer
167
views
American accents where /æ/ becomes [eɪ] before /ŋ/. Does /æ/ become [eɪ] before /m/ and /n/ too?
I know that in Californian accent, /æ/ is sometimes realized as [eɪ] only before /ŋ/. So words like hang, bang, rang, sang, gang, which normally end with /æŋ/, end with [eɪŋ]. The reason why it ...
user387044
18
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Why is "archaic" pronounced uniquely? Is the sequence -ɪɪ- only found in this word?
Before looking this word up, I have always rhymed it with cake i.e. /ɑːˈkeɪk/. But when I looked it up, it was actually /ɑː(r)ˈkeɪɪk/ with the sequence of a similar vowel repeated consecutively: -ɪɪ-
...
user387044
1
vote
2
answers
582
views
Is /ɜː/ realized as schwa [ə] in British English?
I have noticed that the vowel /ɜː/ (as in the RP pronunciation of "BIRD") sounds the same as the schwa [ə] (as in the pronunciation of "BUTTER" in RP). I assume the BIRD vowel is ...
user387044
2
votes
2
answers
584
views
Is there any difference between a syllabic R /ɹ̩/ and r-colored vowel /ɚ/?
So I have seen that both of them can form a syllable on their own but I don't know the difference between them.
/ɹ̩/
it is a syllabic R and can form a syllable on its own as in [ˈdɔːɾɹ̩] ("...
user387044
2
votes
0
answers
282
views
Is the diphthong /aʊ/ generally realized as [ɑʊ] in British English?
I noticed that the diphthong /aʊ/ is pronounced by most British English speakers as [ɑʊ] (I may be inaccurate here).
You can see the vowel /a/ on the vowel diagram below:
I understand this diagram ...
user387044
1
vote
1
answer
598
views
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/....
user387044
5
votes
2
answers
817
views
Pronunciation of “master” and “plaster” in Northern England
A pattern I've noticed in Northern England is that people of my age (born in the '90s) pronounce words like “master” and “plaster” with a short A (/a/), whereas anyone of my parents' generation (born ...
- 717
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Why do Southerners pronounce "naked" differently?
I was watching a TV show and this guy from Tennessee pronounces naked as /'nekɪd/, without the diphthong /eɪ/ in the first syllable, and instead pronounced as a single /e/ vowel.
Dictionary ...
- 39
0
votes
1
answer
226
views
Why does the diphthong /aʊ/ not occur before /k/, /m/, /p/, /b/, /g/ etc?
I have noticed that the diphthong /aʊ/ occurs before certain consonants. We have:
/aʊd/ in loud
/aʊt/ in out
/aʊs/ in house
/aʊn/ in town
/aʊtʃ/ in pouch
/aʊl/ in owl
BUT, we don't have /aʊp/, /aʊb/,...
user387044
0
votes
1
answer
295
views
Why does "broad" not rhyme with "boat"?
The word "broad" is pronounced /brɔːd/ (some US accents: /brɑːd/) instead of */brəʊd/. The spelling -OA- somehow suggests that these words are closely related and/or were pronounced the same ...
user387044
2
votes
0
answers
121
views
Words Starting With the Vowel "I"
As a volunteer English teacher to newly landed to-be citizens of Canada, please bear with me, as I am trying to be as specific as possible, without being overtly wordy.
The word of the day in Merriam-...
- 59
0
votes
1
answer
251
views
Why did the vowel in "Christ" become long in moving from Old English to Middle English?
I have read the following question and all the answers, and they do not answer my question, so it is not a duplicate:
Why are the vowels in Christ and Christmas different? (and other strange diphthong ...
user387044
4
votes
1
answer
260
views
Why are the vowels in "harmony", "harmonic" and "harmonious" pronounced differently?
The "O" in all these words represents a different vowel:
Harmony → /ˈhɑː.mə.ni/
Harmonic → /hɑːˈmɒn.ɪk/
Harmonious → /hɑːˈməʊ.ni.əs/
(UK pronunciations from Cambridge Dictionary)
I know ...
user387044
1
vote
2
answers
66
views
How to signal that a last letter vowel is long or short
As a Game Master I make up a lot of names for locations, objects, etc.
I've always assumed you signalled it by placing a ´ over the last letter (like the City of Rohvanná), but recently I was told it ...
- 13
0
votes
1
answer
203
views
How is /ɑ:/ realized in British English: [ɑː] or more relaxed than [ɑː]?
I know that /ɑː/ is open back unrounded vowel and is found a lot in British English. It is the vowel in bath, father, bar, car etc in British English. In American English, this vowel is found in bar, ...
user387044
2
votes
1
answer
467
views
Do Americans with PIN-PEN merger confuse "imminent" and "eminent"? [closed]
The PIN-PEN merger is a merger of the vowels /ɪ/ (KIT vowel) and /ɛ/ (DRESS vowel) before nasals [m n ŋ]. The resultant vowel is more raised and is closer to [ɪ]. Pin pen, him hem, kin ken are ...
- 37
2
votes
1
answer
350
views
Pronunciation of /æ/, when it comes before /m/ or /n/
I believe when /æ/ comes before m or n , it’s pronounced [ɛə] instead of [æ], (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//%C3%A6/_raising)
but is it always the case？For example, how about the main stress is not ...
- 31
1
vote
1
answer
2k
views
What is the difference between [ɐ] and [ʌ]?
In a similar question which asks the difference between /ə/ and /ʌ/, I learned that /ʌ/ occurs in stressed syllables. Now there is another similar vowel sound: /ɐ/ which also occurs in stressed ...
user387044
0
votes
1
answer
115
views
What sound is /a/?
Is it similar to /ʌ/ or is it more like /ɔ/ or is it something different? I've seen it combined with /ʌ/ several times in different phonetic scripts. Are the 2 similar or where they just lumped ...
- 99
19
votes
3
answers
4k
views
What is the difference between /ʌɪ/ and /aɪ/ in English?
Is there any difference between the two diphthongs in English IPA transcriptions?
If I search a word in the Cambridge dictionary, it gives /aɪ/ for both UK English and US English.
For example, the ...
user387044
0
votes
1
answer
959
views
What’s the rule for the sound of the letter A in the middle of three-letter words?
How do you actually pronounce A when it's in the middle of a 3 letter word like mac or rap?
I hear many Americans say those words with a clear AAA sound, like the AA sound of the start of the word ...
- 1,173
2
votes
1
answer
193
views
Does /ɛ/ have more than one sound?
As a non-native speaker, I hear /ɛ/ as two different sounds depending on the word.
The first sound seems to occur in words such as bet and get and is closer to an /æ/ sound, while the second one ...
- 131
4
votes
1
answer
263
views
Voicing of sibilants before liquids, after voiced vowels?
I just ran across an interesting question from a friend about
the voicing of sibilants in English. She was asking why English
speakers pronounce the word muslim as muZlim (with a voiced
sibi...
- 49
1
vote
1
answer
64
views
Verification of the sound heard for the last vowel of "Virginia" in the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
In this recording, at 3 min 18 s is found the name "Virginia" and my ear tells me that, for some reason or other, the a of this name is pronounced /e/ and not /ə/; shortly after that, in ...
- 16.4k
0
votes
1
answer
94
views
Has anyone noted this phonetic variation in /ə/?
Schwa /ə/ is a phonetically variable sound. It may be [ɪ̈]-ish (or reportedly even [ɨ]-ish), depending on position and dialect, while oftentimes it is [ə] (or [ɘ] in New Zealand English), and for at ...
- 19
0
votes
0
answers
81
views
What’s going on with "hot -> heat”? [duplicate]
I am looking for a particular linguistic term for this process of turning words like hot into words like heat.
English has a bunch of pairs like these:
Hot -> heat
Whole -> heal
(Folk)lore ->...
- 43
2
votes
0
answers
101
views
Does anyone know if there is a ‘ball-bowl’ merger in Australia?
I live in Australia, and I recently had a moment of confusion when talking with someone who had merged the words ball and bowl. They pronounced it something like /bɔl/. They said fall, small, wall, ...
- 145
2
votes
3
answers
541
views
Reduction of diphthongs to short vowels (/waɪz/ -> /'wɪz.əd/)
I've noticed this phenomenon / process in many words where a diphthong (or a long vowel as well?) reduces to a short vowel when it's inflected.
Consider the following examples:
Pronounce /...
- 16.3k
0
votes
0
answers
358
views
English word to best represent the Dutch double A / [a] sound
My Dutch name is Maarten which has a double A inside of it, pronounced simply as [a]. It is often misspelled as Marteen. I guess that most persons will remember my name as Martin but with a double ...
- 115
1
vote
2
answers
778
views
Why are river and sliver pronounced with a short vowel, but rover and slider pronounced with long vowels?
Why are river and sliver pronounced with a short vowel, but rover and slider pronounced with long vowels? Is it because the latter two examples are words made by attaching the -er suffix to an ...
- 23