I've now noticed that Agatha Christie also had some strange ideas about how Americans talk. In her The Big Four She has a highly successful and otherwise well-spoken American businessman ... and put them where they should be round the table. I

Not for this ex-Chicagoan, it ain't, and I'm as empa-pathetic ... what you wear on your feet? Not "Shyooz", I hope. Er, yep, that's exactly how I pronounce it. I worked out that if you pronounce 'oo' as a much

Pronounce a word that is 'shoo' without the 'yoo'. It ... but it's very hard to get rid of it completely. Not for this ex-Chicagoan, it ain't, and I'm as empa-pathetic as the next guy. What do you call what you wear on

Dylan Nicholson infrared: "Crèche", always in RobertE's UK sense, often retains its French grave accent and the vowel is closer to that of "air" rather than "mesh". In Aus. I've only ever heard it pronounced

If you think about the meanings of "allophone" and "phoneme," you'll realize this is an impossible request. What "others"? Hmm, sorry if my request was unclear. By "others," I meant what are the possible

Well, there's Hangul, which I've seen explained as being pictographic at base, with the pictures representing the position of the vocal aparatus. Not for vowels it don't. As I understand it, hangeul does not reflect entirely the spoken

I was watching an old Doris Day - Rock Hudson film last night. Doris clearly said "lye-lock" for "lilac", but I suppose she was German. The *Cambridge Dictionary of American English.* shows that to be one of the pronunciations

I was watching an old Doris Day - Rock Hudson film last night. Doris clearly said "lye-lock" for "lilac", but I suppose she was German. The *Cambridge Dictionary of American English.* shows that to be one of the pronunciations

That's neutralization to an archiphoneme, rather than allophony, but whyever would you use (S) in "Asia"? What other consonants do you devoice between vowels? At a James Joyce affair I attended, they had a female member of the music

Possibly 'sh/zh'. I noticed recently that I pronounce 'Asian' with either, although 'Asia' always has 'sh'. That's neutralization to an archiphoneme, rather than allophony, but whyever would you use (S) in