How's and House - are they pronounced differently?

1 2

Share on Facebook

Pter

#466163 Sat, 19 Jan 08 11:00 AM

How's and House - are they pronounced differently?

The dictionaries say the vowel in these two words are the same. However, I always say the two words slightly differently and I don't know how to describe the difference. Are they really the same?

Pter

Joined on Wed, Nov 28 2007

Hong Kong

Full Member (428)

Vowels

Cool Breeze

#466193 Sat, 19 Jan 08 12:34 PM

Hi Pter

How's is pronounced [haʊz], with a voiced s because there is a vowel sound before the s. House does not have a voiced s: [haʊs]. However, just to make things a little more complicated, the plural is pronounced [haʊzi:z].

CB

Cool Breeze

Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006

Helsinki, Finland

Senior Member (2,858)

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.- Mark Twain

Plurals, Vowels

Pter

#466215 Sat, 19 Jan 08 02:16 PM

Cool Breeze wrote:
Hi Pter

How's is pronounced [haʊz], with a voiced s because there is a vowel sound before the s. House does not have a voiced s: [haʊs]. However, just to make things a little more complicated, the plural is pronounced [haʊzi:z].

CB

Sorry CB, I think I didn't make it clear. My question is not about the voiced z and the voiceless s. My question is about the aʊ sound. It seems to me they are somewhat slightly different.

Pter

Plurals, Vowels

Kooyeen

#466262 Sat, 19 Jan 08 05:11 PM

Hi, those two vowels are the same to me. The only difference between "how's" and "house" is the final consonant. I think this is true for both General American and the kind of British English that is usually learned. I don't know if there are people who make a distinction or situations where a subtle difference might be noticed... There probably are. You know, there are so many accents. Smile [:)]

But I've never noticed something similar to this so far.

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,973)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Accents, British English, Consonants, Difference between, Vowels

Anonymous

#466286 Sat, 19 Jan 08 06:29 PM

Hi Cool Breeze,

How's is pronounced [haʊz], with a voiced s because there is a vowel sound before the s.

Your rule about English /s/ being voiced after a vowel sound does not always apply (house below is not pronounced with a /z/-sound although the preceding sound is a vowel). It is also worth noting that English /z/ has a devoiced allophone. Indeed, it is quite rare for English /z/ to be fully voiced in natural speech.

However, just to make things a little more complicated, the plural is pronounced [haʊzi:z].

Traditionally, the RP pronunciation has been /haʊsIz/, although I suppose some speakers equate the vowel sound with that of 'beat' (half-long) these days.

Anonymous

Allophones, Plurals, Pronunciation, Vowels

Anonymous

#466288 Sat, 19 Jan 08 06:31 PM

Hi Kooyeen,

The vowels you describe are not the same, neither in General American nor British English RP. Because of pre-fortis clipping, the diphthong in "how's" is almost twice as long as that in "house".

Anonymous

British English, Diphthongs, Vowels

Cool Breeze

#466351 Sat, 19 Jan 08 09:58 PM

Anonymous wrote:
How's is pronounced [haʊz], with a voiced s because there is a vowel sound before the s.

Your rule about English /s/ being voiced after a vowel sound does not always apply (house below is not pronounced with a /z/-sound although the preceding sound is a vowel).

However, just to make things a little more complicated, the plural is pronounced [haʊzi:z].

Traditionally, the RP pronunciation has been /haʊsIz/, although I suppose some speakers equate the vowel sound with that of 'beat' (half-long) these days.

I was trying to be brief and therefore didn't go into details. How's and house are different in that how's is a contraction of how and is, two words, and the rule applies at least in theory in such cases. The only pronunciation Webster's Unabridged Dictionary gives for houses is with two voiced s's but of course I know that not all people pronounce it that way.

CB
EDIT: The rule isn't mine. Smile [:)]

I can't possibly take credit for it.

Cool Breeze

Contractions, Plurals, Pronunciation, Vowels

Grammarwannabe

#466399 Sun, 20 Jan 08 02:23 AM

Pter-

annonymous gave you the answer you want to hear, I think. The "ou" or "ow" sound is the same (at least in Amer. English), but the length is different. Before the /z/ sound (re: how's) the vowel is longer. Before the /s/ sound, the vowel is held for less time.

The same holds true for

race (/s/) and raise (/z/)

rice and Rise

price and prize

Grammarwannabe

Joined on Mon, Apr 23 2007

New Member (23)

Vowels

Pter

#466492 Sun, 20 Jan 08 08:37 AM

Thank you everyone for the explanations. I have been struggling with this for a long time. I need some time to digest what you said. I know pre-fortis clipping applies to vowel but didn't know it also applies to diphthongs. Another pair of words that sound slightly different to me:

eyes vs ice

The first one ends with a voiced z and the second one with a voiceless s. Do they sound different to you or just the same?

Pter

Diphthongs, Vowels

1 2