Re: fair-haired

pter — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:02:06 GMT

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 differently in British English. The first one is a simple vowel while the second one is a diphthong / e /. The question is whether the diphthong / e / ONLY occurs before an R. If it occurs before some other consonants, such as D, L, T, N ( / -e t /, / -e l /, / -e d /, / -e n / ), using / er / to indicate a different sound from / e / is not a good idea because you'll have problems showing the differences between / -e

Re: Question about how to pronounce Europe

orpheus — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 05:10:01 GMT

I'd say that there is a slight difference between the US and UK pronunciation of the word. The first syllable of Europe in British English is generally pronounced with the diphthong / / while in American English it is simply with the vowel / /. The diphthong / / is a characteristic of British English and is not found in American English; American English in corresponding places would have the simple vowel / / followed by /r/. The first consonant sound /j/ on the other hand is pronounced exactly the same in both American and British English. It is the same /j/ as in 'you'.

Re: Australian/British/American pronunciation differences

kooyeen — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:43:41 GMT

Hi, I'm going to tell you the most noticeable differences I notice between British English (the only variety of BrE I know), and American English (the variety of AmE I hear most often). CA R ------ American R's are always pronounced, British R's are not. N O -------- British is /əʊ/, American is /oʊ/ N O T ------ British is /ɒ/, American is /ɑ/ NO T ------ British final T's are released, American final T's are not. L AW ----- In BrE it's /o/, in AmE it's either /ɒ/ or /ɑ/ CL A SS --- Some vowels that are /ɑ/ in BrE, in AmE are /æ/ BE TT Y --- In BrE there are no tapped T's, in AmE there are. N OW ----- In BrE it's more like /ɑʊ/, in AmE it's more like /æʊ/ Those are the differences I notice. There are a lot of regional variations...

Re: 'what' as 'hawt' & 'r' as 'rr' in Spanish Thanks

marvin a. — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 16:06:18 GMT

Hwat for what is the original pronunciation and was the only form used in Middle English. In Modern English, many dialects lost the wine-whine distinction, and began pronouncing words spelled "wh" as simply "w", rather thn "hw". The original, conservative form is still around, and is considered standard in certain areas. In North America, many Southern accents preserve it. Elsewhere in N. America, it has almost completely died out, except in older speakers. However... people often hear others using it, and hear that it sounds old-fashioned and a little bit more correct, and thus add it to their own speech. I remember myself adding it to my speech for awhile. However, I've given up the habit. My grandpa has it, but I can tell that he must...

Re: About the pairs /ɛ/ and /e/, /ɛr/ and /er/ in American English?

califjim — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:25:39 GMT

I think you would do well to listen to the words below at www.m-w.com to learn the pronunciation of the six R-colored vowels of American English. deer moor care fur core tar These are the vowel-plus-R sounds used by most Americans. There are a few others used in more limited geographical regions, as described by Marvin, but those are not really necessary if you just want to learn a typical sort of American pronunciation. CJ

Re: which pronunciation for clarity is more popular?

marvin a. — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:31:01 GMT

>> PLAY - I always say /plei/, but here you can hear /plɛi/ > BEAR - I always say /ber/, but here you can hear /bɛr/ << According to Wikipedia, before /r\/, in American English " is one of tense-lax neutralization, where the normal English distinction between tense and lax vowels is eliminated." Thus, there is no contrast between either /e/ or /E/ before an /r\/. However, to my ears, most people use something closer to than . I usually use something closer to however--but that affects all my /E/'s.

Re: which pronunciation for clarity is more popular?

califjim — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:14:37 GMT

most speakers of General American English, use a vowel closer to , so why did you decided to switch to #3 instead of #3? Btw, since you do have a Western accent, and many Westerners have the CVS, and those that don't have it seldom notice it in others speech, #1 would also be acceptable. But for General American, I would say that the best option is probably #2. Why shouldn't a student use the pronunciation given in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary? (#3). CJ

Re: which pronunciation for clarity is more popular?

marvin a. — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 18:13:08 GMT

Kooyeen, there is something that you should know. While it is true that North American English has tense-lax neutralization before /r\/, thus and are heard as the same, I would say that most speakers of General American English, use a vowel closer to , so why did you decided to switch to #3 instead of #3? Btw, since you do have a Western accent, and many Westerners have the CVS, and those that don't have it seldom notice it in others speech, #1 would also be acceptable. But for General American, I would say that the best option is probably #2.

Re: is American English dialect of British English?

marvin a. — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:31:10 GMT

>> Isn't it interesting that certain forms of American pronunciation aare older than the British ones? E.g., the short 'a' sound in "glass" and "pass" that the Americans use was the sound used in British English, till they changed it for the preferred long 'AH' sound. << Yes, most varieties North American English preserve many archaic pronunciations that are no longer found in RP. That's one example, the another is the rhotic "r". However there are several innovations found in most varieties of NAE such as the merry-marry-Mary merger (so vary and very sound the same) bother-father merger (same vowel for both), the cot-caught merger, etc that are not found in RP. So, both General American English and RP are both a bit...

Re: Speaking Teaching Books

kooyeen — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:06:40 GMT

Hi, yes, there are books that deal with stress, intonation, and pronunciation. I've read "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook. There's really a lot of stuff in that book (and on the 5 CDs). I haven't tried any other books anyway, so I can only tell you about that one. It treats American English, not British English or any other variety. Generally speaking, it's a really good book and I would recommend it. Some points (just my opinion): She (Ann Cook) makes you notice almost all the features of English that you've never noticed (stress, intonation, liaisons, word reductions, contractions, vowels, tapped t... ) Five CDs for audio lessons (she reads most of what's in the book, so you can listen while reading). Plus, she speaks very...

Re: American Eng. features in the UK

kooyeen — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 22:46:28 GMT

Anonymous wrote: The American pronunciation of “o” in your next example wouldn’t be found in any regional accent of British English that I can call to mind immediately, though there is considerable variation in the pronunciation of this sound – for example, in Scotland, Liverpool and the West Country. Similarly, there are variations in the pronunciation of the “talk, walk, call” vowel and the “no, so, low” diphthong from region to region – but none that I can think of that are close enough to the American pronunciation to be considered the same. The tap/flap is quite a distinctive feature of American English. It’s not in the standard British English inventory, but you might hear it in some Irish accents. I've heard...

Re: American Eng. features in the UK

anonymous — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:20:09 GMT

It’s rather hard to work out quite what you are looking for here. Some of these features – as Marvin A was pointing out – are not specifically American English pronunciation, but the allophonic variation that occurs in connected speech. That is, the pronunciation of some sounds is influenced by the sounds around them because of the way you have to move your lips, tongue, velum and so forth to get from one sound to another. Thus, your first four examples show the impact of the following “y” /j/ sound, and this is not specific to either a British or American accent. The American pronunciation of “o” in your next example wouldn’t be found in any regional accent of British English that I can call to mind immediately, though there is...

Re: listen to this awful American accent... and why?

califjim — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:30:05 GMT

since I'm learning American English, I wanted to know why that standard American Accent was awful First of all, I didn't think it was awful. (I mostly listened, not watching.) The following are some observations. 1. The stress pattern is slightly off. Slightly too much rising pitch at the ends of phrases, or perhaps a little too much lengthening (slowing down) there. 2. The word junctures are occasionally unidiomatic. The use of too at the end of one sentence was not phrased right. The use of today at the beginning of another had the same little problem. In my opinion, it should have been todayI almost as one word rather than with the pause after today and then I . 3. The lax vowels, especially the stressed ones, were...

Re: What's the difference between /æ/ and /A/?

kooyeen — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 23:08:24 GMT

Hi Diego, the vowels in "cup" and "cat" are very different in American English. But I see you are interested in the British pronunciation, and, well, in that case I can't tell the exact difference too Those two vowels are different, but not very much in my opinion, since I wouldn't be able to tell you what the difference is (probably because I haven't been learning British English, though). So I'm sorry, I can't help you, I can only say that I noticed that similarity between those vowels too. I'm sure someone else will reply soon and give you the info you are looking for.

Re: listen to this awful American accent... and why?

anonymous — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 19:21:53 GMT

Well this conversation is ancient, but maybe you get a tickler when someone replies adn will find this. The guy's accent is crap. I'm Canadian but I'm from Toronto where our accent is *almost* standard American (or what we called in the film business Mid-west Flat) and I can tell you a few specifically crappy things about it. I'll focus on the first couple of sentences, there is more than enough wrong with it. Also I agree with the commenter who said it sounded vaguely Russian. "Standard American English. Hello my name is Paul and, the reason why I'm recording this video is to show you the way I talk. I will tell you a little story too." Apart from the specific pronunciation problems, the rhythm is off. That's a very...

/a:/ & /o/

eyeseeyou — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 19:14:57 GMT

According to a book on American English pronunciation ('Lesson 12: Central and Back Vowels', page 136. I don't know the name of the book, though), /a/ is the vowel of father, box or calm. However, almost every dictionary out there establishes a difference between /a:/ and /o/, which would be the equivalento to what the book calls /a/. I find it a conflciting message. Or are the sounds of /a:/ and /o/ alike after all as the book indicates? This way, /a:/ is found in arm , father and /o/ is found in hot , rock. Note I chose to write the phonetics symbols in the ASCII code.

Re: Is American English lazy English?

marvin a. — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 16:57:56 GMT

Englishuser wrote: What's interesting is that these changes are led by younger female speakers. Older speakers and male speakers adopt these kind of changes later. Yes, that really is interesting. Why are the changes led by younger female speakers in particular? What about younger male speakers? Englishuser Yes, that is an interesting question. Here's what I could find: http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=43356 "...sound changes that are not stigmatized are led especially by young women who are the 'movers and shakers' in the community, people with energy and enterprise. Such young women, at the same time, are conservative with respect to sound changes or stable linguistic...

Re: Canadians and their English

marvin a. — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 20:15:24 GMT

The Western and Central Canadian English dialect does have several differences from conservative General American, although many dialects in the US have some or all of the same features that are found in Western/Central Canadian English. Western/Central Canadian English is actually closer to General American than most dialects spoken in the US are, due to recent vowel shifts. General American used to be the standard for news broadcasts, etc. in Canada, but is now being displaced in favour of a Western/Central accent (not that many people can really tell the difference). Many people in Canada as well as many regions in the US believe that they are "accentless"--meaning they believe that they have no accent of any kind whatsoever. It's...

Re: Defining American English

marvin a. — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 19:27:39 GMT

So what's your definition of American English (or North American English, as some prefer)? I would probably define it mostly by its phonology. It would be pretty hard to define. Or why not just say, any dialect of English spoken in North America? Is there a standard for American English? Not really. It's defined many different ways, and no one seems to agree. In it's broadest definition it's simply any dialect of North American English that contains no stigmatized features. William Labov defines in his Phonological Atlas of North American English as being Western US, Midland, and Western and Central Canadian English. Wikipedia has a (controversial) article on "General American" which states that "The General American accent...

Re: help with æ

marvin a. — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 22:27:06 GMT

>> hat, bat, bad, bag, ad, add << In some dialects ad, add and or bag would not work. If you're learning North American English, you could use the Inland North pronunciation of for all instances of /æ/. Many dialects pronounce /æ/ as something like or before nasal consonants /n/, /N/ (velar nasal), and /m/, except on some high frequency words such as "can". In my dialect, I realize /æ/ as /e/ before /g/ and /N/, thus "ban" and "bang" do not have the same vowel, whereas "bang", "bag" , "beg" and "vague" do have the same vowel. Some people also realize /EZ/ as , thus "measure" would be pronounced as "maysure".

Re: which accent?

marvin a. — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:52:06 GMT

To tell you the truth, I've never heard any foreigner (unless they learned English when they were very young, or had lived in an English speaking country for at least a decade, and had extensive, and personalized accent coaching) ever be able to pull off either an American or British accent. "British English" and "American English" consist of 3 parts--accent, spelling, and lexicon. As for accent: when people learn an American accent, they learn what is known as "General American"--an accent based on a generalized Midwestern accent, spoken in the 1950's Narrowly definied, this accent is only spoken by very old speakers (80 year olds) in the Midwestern and Western portions of the US, and in a couple of 90 year olds in Canada. Broadly...

Re: How to pronounce a couple of words

anonymous — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 06:24:21 GMT

Englishuser wrote: Hi, Jaguar. In British English it is Jag-u-ar but I believe that in American English it is Jagwar Don't forget that there is a /j/-sound in there! /Jagwar/ is the most commonly heard pronunciation in the US, although the 'British' one is also used by some GAE speakers. A GAE speaker would always pronounce the 'r', though. Englishuser Using / /'s imply that you're using phonemic IPA or XSAMPA transcription. If this is the case then that means that you pronounce "jaguar" as /jagwar/, which written in fauxnetics would be approximately "yahgwahr". Somehow I don't think you meant it that way. In IPA/XSAMPA, the letter "j" is pronounced like "y" in English. I myself, pronounce jagwar as , or in...

Re: Hardest pronunciations

anonymous — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 03:11:12 GMT

I hear and feel you. The difference between full and reduced 'i' sounds is one of the more difficult to master for many non-native English speakers, as is the unaccentuated 't' in between vowels in American English that becomes a soft 'd.' I also struggled with these when beginning to learn American English. I found it especially difficult to say the unaccentuated 't' in pattern, lattern, quarter, ardor, harder, and herder. Especially, herder! Check out these pronunciations guides at http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Pronunciation/

Re: Phonetic Transcription

anonymous — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 04:07:18 GMT

GUSTAVO ZAPATA CONTRASTIVE PHONETICS CLASS UIVERSITY OF ANTIOQUIA (COLOMBIA) SOME OF THESE SITES MIGHT BE OF SOME HELP ENJOY! VOWELS PETER LADEFOGED USA http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/vowels/chapter3/amengvowels.html VOWELS PETER LADEFOGED SITE UK (BBC ENGLISH) http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/vowels/chapter3/bbcenglish.html VOWELS LINGUISTICS COURSES RESOURCE http://www.utexas.edu/courses/linguistics/resources/phonetics/vowelmap/index.html PHONENTIC SYMBOLS AND THEIR CORRESPONDING PRONUNCIATION (A-B)