Hela  +  85471 Thu, 31 Mar 05 08:24 PM Dear teachers, How do you pronounce the following ? a) Krebs (name of the soldier in Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemingway) b) Goliath = /g + schwa + lai + schwa + 'th'/ or /g + (schwa + u = diphthong) lai + schwa + 'th'/ ? I hope I have been clear enough is there a way to use phonetic symbols ? How nice it would be if we could hear the teachers read their answers... Look forward to "hearing" from you, Hela Hela Joined on Mon, Nov 15 2004 Tunisia Regular Member 831 Phonetics, Diphthongs

	CalifJim  +  85578 Fri, 01 Apr 05 04:24 AM Unless this is a trick question, I'd say 'Krebs' so as to rhyme with Jeb's or Deb's. 'Goliath' is said in American English as shown in your first 'phonetic transcription' (where 'lai' rhymes with "lie" or "rye" or "my"). The second sounds to me like a (possibly) British pronunciation, but you'll have to wait for that answer. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,452 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche American English, Pronunciation, Phonetics

	Hela  +  85777 Fri, 01 Apr 05 06:58 PM My hesitation is about the first syllable because it seems that the second is a triphthong /lai??/ (as in "fire" /fai?/). So for Golaith do you say: a) /g?lai??/ = monophthong [as in "gazelle"] or b) /g?ulai??/ = diphthong ? [as in "goal" or "to go"] Thanks again, Hela Hela Diphthongs

	nona the brit  +  85788 Fri, 01 Apr 05 07:19 PM I think it is a simple schwa sound. You could almost write it as G'liath. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	CalifJim  +  86403 Sun, 03 Apr 05 09:59 PM Now that Nona has confirmed that American and British English both use the schwa there, I can say it's /g?'lai??/ or, perhaps more accurately, /g?'laj??/, the /i/ being no more than a quick glide /j/. CJ CalifJim British English

	MrPedantic  +  86446 Mon, 04 Apr 05 12:59 AM Hello all What is a 'schwa', out of interest? MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 12,592 ...opella forensis / adducit febris...

	CalifJim  +  86468 Mon, 04 Apr 05 03:04 AM Ah, yes, the famous little schwa! It is the sound of half a hand clapping. It is the representative of several similar sounds which occur everywhere in the unstressed syllables of English. It's ubiquitous. (See bold face print.) It varies from a sort of lax 'u' as in "sum" to a lax 'i' as in "win" to, occasionally, a lax 'oo' as in "book", and just about everything in between. In contrast to other phonetic symbols, which represent single sounds, the schwa represents many weak sounds, all subtly different, but all unstressed. Or maybe it's a spice used in gourmet cooking. I forget. CJ CalifJim Phonetics

	MrPedantic  +  86724 Mon, 04 Apr 05 11:17 PM Thanks, Jim! So that's what the little blighter's called. MrP PS: I too am partial to a sprinkling of schwa. (I also seem to have some rtz on the shelf. That isn't bad, either.) MrPedantic