This debate really seems to be about two different things, spelling and pronunciation. The letter w (and y) is often used with other vowels (and sometimes alone as well) in spelling to reperesent a vowel sound . In the words hi and by , the letter

Yes, there are regional variations in American English. Do you know which accent is chosen by MW as the reference in the pronunciation keys. Is it General American? My problem is that, as I have mentioned before, they are indeed denoted

Yes, this aspect of American pronunciation is well-known and actually originates from an old south-east English pronunciation which is less marked nowadays in England itself as it has been influenced by the Northern "a", which is similar to the

Assuming you want every vowel sound including diphthongs, you're missing ... actor, best known for role in "Hill Street Blues") Is "haid" a verb too? I know of "hayed". "Haid" is either a proper name or

I quite understand why rhotic people would find the usual ... in the language where the combination "uh" represents this sound? Good point, "uh" doesn't really appear in traditional English words, does it? Searching on in

If such considerations are of any importance, you should know it isn't possible for a city's people to 'mispronounce' the name of their city, Known as the Shrewsbury Rule. Is it? The only hit I got from Google for "Shrewsbury

How many Americans are aware that the "long 'o'"of Received Pronunciation is different from the American "long 'o'"? Some American accents have a "long 'o'" that is similar to the "long

I stopped reading Katherine Kerr when the same mistake was perpetuated in her 3rd or 4th book: she gave 'thin' ... of an o - I like to call it a smiley - so %u means a smiley over the u. That diacritic is called a "breve" in

A.u.e: Does anyone else have these two different "-ire"s? Consciously or unconsciously? With the same distribution as mine or different? When I come to think about it, it appears that words in your first list are slightly shorter sounds.

This I don't understand. What rule do you have in mind which might, when misapplied, lead to "erster" from "oyster"? You have a dialect where, say, "bird" is (bV"Id) and it starts to get ridiculed