http://www.englishforums.com/English/EnglishAudioSpeechPronunciation/Forum22.htmBritish, American, Scottish accent or using super-fantastic-high-tech software, we'll help you with pronunciation.enXMOD (Build: 3715.30106)http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409746Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:43:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:409746Mno31950http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409746http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments22-409746.xmlThanks C.J. You are totally on the right track and yes,I am trying to tell the vowel quality just by looking at English words.I've been studying phonetics and IPA(K.K) for many years as I grew up in a non-English speaking country.From your point of view,looking them up in dictionary seems more efficient than memorizing those undependable rules.Again,thanks for your feedback.http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409531Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:43:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:409531CalifJim1http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409531http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments22-409531.xmlHow can we distinguish whether it's a long or a short vowel in the stressed syllable? A more basic question is how we can distinguish which syllable is stressed in the first place. Presumably, you've heard the word spoken, so you know where the stress is and whether the vowel in the stressed syllable is short or long just from hearing it. Alternatively, if you've never heard the word spoken before, you've looked the word up in a dictionary to find out where the stress is. While you're there, why wouldn't you note whether the vowel is long or short at the same time? Maybe you want guidelines for how to determine both stress and vowel quality just by looking at an English word. Not easy. There are many groups of words...http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409454Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:43:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:409454Mno31952http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409454http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments22-409454.xmlThank you Buddhaheart.I got your point.I also noticed a phenomenon in American English that is in stressed syllable;usually,the vowels will make short sounds.As we can't rely on Syllabification ,I strongly suspect that there is a relationship between stress pattern and the length of vowels.In addition, the r sound also affects the length of vowel that precede it.I would like to know more details.Thankshttp://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409421Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:43:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:409421The Painkiller3http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409421http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments22-409421.xmlJust check this out You are gonna find the ultimate answer for your question It is the greatest site i'v ever seen specilaized in Phonetics. http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/ I hope u are gonna be satisfied with it.http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409400Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:43:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:409400Buddhaheart4http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htm#409400http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments22-409400.xmlThere’re phonic generalizations; there’re no hard-and-fast rules. There’ll always be exceptions. Syllabification is a very controversial and contentious subject. Unfortunately your final answer - I hate to admit - lies in any authoritative pronunciation dictionaries taking into consideration any social, regional dialectal variants. I’ve used the Maximal Onset Principle as followed by the EPD (D. Jones) and rule assumed by LPD (JC Well) to look at your examples. I got contradictory answers. I think they can be explained by etymology. The origin of the word ‘helium’ comes from the Greek ‘h ‘ lios’. Note that the ‘e’ is uttered with its long sound /i + /. The first syllable of the word is therefore an open syllable. The noun use of...http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htmThu, 21 May 2009 23:43:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:409213Mno31955http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDistinguishBetweenVowelShort-VowelStressedSyllable/vpvqg/post.htmhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/comments22-409213.xmlDear folks: I have a pronunciation problem that's been confused me for a long time.As we may know,it is very important for paying more attention on stressed syllable,especially the vowel within it in a multi-syllable word.Here comes the question:How can we distinguish whether it's a long or a short vowel in the stressed syllable because it will make huge sound differences.Some of my teachers told me that I need to distinguish if it's a open or close syllable first in that we make long vowel sound in open syllable while short vowel sound in close syllable.However,I find myself hard to distinguish between close and open syllable.For instance,the word helium,the e plays a long vowel sound in stressed syllable ('he-lium).However,that's...