Search results for 'tag:Vowels tag:Pronunciation tag:Consonants' matching tags 'Vowels', 'Pronunciation', and 'Consonants'

Re: WAAS .. tricky acronym

gleb_chebrikoff — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:36:11 GMT

Hello, Vladimir, this combination has not yet been codified in major pronunciation dictionaries, perhaps due to the narrowness of its use outside technical areas; therefore, we should resort to analogy. Thus, acronyms of a similar type (featuring consonant + vowel + vowel + consonant ), including WAAC and WAAF, are pronounced as follows: WAAC ( Women's Army Auxiliary Corps) - WAAF ( Women's Auxiliary Air Force) - , from which it stems that a possible pronunciation of the combination in question is , although it is still unclear whether this term has transcended the boundaries of a mere abbreviation and become a real acronym. Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

Re: S or es in simple present

philip — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:20:44 GMT

For the third person singular, use s . It's pronunciation will depend on what comes before it: voiced consonant or vowel /z/; unvoiced consonant /s/. animals, cows; pets For a word ending in /s/ or /z/ sound , use es (unless the spelling of the word ends in e : then just s . This gives a schwa sound +/z/. basses ; (phases) Sounds difficult? Not really. The spelling is simply a reflection of the natural pronunciation. Welcome to the forums, Mo.

Re: Pronunciation

raindoctor — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:47:37 GMT

There are two issues: (1) heuristics used in phonics (2) phonetics g: /g/, /dʒ/ c: /k/, /s/ /k/ is voiceless, whereas its counterpart /g/ is voiced. /s/ is voicelss; /dʒ/ is voiced. Velar consonants get softened (or voiced) before front vowels esp in derived-words: cf. electric vs electricity Given this background knowledge, what is your concern?

Re: the pronunciation of the word "the"

mister micawber — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:46:30 GMT

when U is pronounced as "you", then the consonant rule applies, and when the U sounds like "uh", then the vowel rule applies. That is right. It is an observation of sound change in word flow, not a rule of grammar.

Re: the pronunciation of the word "the"

anonymous — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:54:52 GMT

What about The United States (of America)? Thuh or Thee? Some say that when U is pronounced as "you", then the consonant rule applies, and when the U sounds like "uh", then the vowel rule applies. Is this a grammatical rule, or a regional variation, or a misunderstanding?

Re: the pronunciation of the word "the"

anonymous — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:16:10 GMT

The pronouciation of "the" depends on if it preceeds a vowel or a consonant. You say "thee" in front of vowels and thuh in front of consonants. You never EVER say thuh in front of a vowel sound! So it is: The apple is pronounced "Thee a pple" The question is pronounced "Thuh q uestion"... Thee e xample Thuh m achine Thee u mbrella Thuh t able

Re: Has anyone tried out AJ.Hoge"s course-EFFORTLESS ENGLISH.If so,How was it?

elena_osullivan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:03:17 GMT

AJ Hoge's "effortless english" is a waste of money. I made the mistake of buying it for a friend who doesn't speak much English and she doesn't even use it. I don't blame her because it takes a lot of effort to learn with it, and there are much, much better materials available on the internet for free. My friend watched some of his videos wherein he sells his MP3's and she thought she found the magic answer thanks to AJ. He's a good salesman but a very mediocre teacher.

Re: Grammar question

grammar geek — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:34:19 GMT

"the break even point analysis is all right if you have a one product business"?. Just pay extra attention to this point a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a car, a stare, a dog, a cat ... an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an e lephant, an o rphan , an a pple , an i pod .. YoungBuddy, it would be "a one-product business." The a/an choice depend on the letter, but on the pronunciation of that letter. "One" sounds like "wun" so it takes "a" not "an." an open-book test, a one-trick pony a unicorn, an umbrella. You need to k

Re: Pronunciation

raindoctor — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:57:23 GMT

What's your point? I made an implicit point: it is not cognitively productive to remember pronounciation for every word. What learners should be taught: a set of heuristics to find possible pronunciations for a word. Mastery of phonetics (or how to produce bilabial fricative, etc) does not help much. English phonology helps. Since it is a 3-syllable word, it can have two variations: stress-unstressed-stressed; unstressed-stressed-unstressed. When a syllable gets stressed, it usually attracts consonants to the onset as well as the coda; it also allows for consonant clustering (wis-'con-sin vs. wi-'scon-sin). Suffixes also give a clue on where stress falls (for instance, one can predict where primary stress falls in...

Re: "an year" VS "a year"

anonymous — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:58:15 GMT

Rule "an" is used before words beginning with a vowel "sound" since "hour" is pronounced with a silent h => its pronunciation is beginning with a vowel just like in "our" Therefore, an hour is correct a hour is wrong the pronunciation of "year" is not as same as that of "ear", the pronunciation of "year" begins with a consonant Therefore, a year is correct an year is wrong so next time you feel any confusion, just look for the pronunciation of the word If the pronunciation of a word begins with a vowel "sound", then it should have "an" before it otherwise a "a"

Re: "a hydrodynamic" vs "an hydrodynamic"

anonymous — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:48:16 GMT

Using “a” and “an” Before Words Raphael asks: When should I use “a” and when should I use “an” before the different words? For example, should I say “a hour” or “an hour?” I stumble over this everytime and dont’t know if I’m getting it right, as I’m not speaking and writing English natively. The Rule The rule states that “a” should be used before words that begin with consonants (e.g., b, c ,d) while “an” should be used before words that begin with vowels (e.g., a,e,i). Notice, however, that the usage is determined by the pronunciation and not by the spelling, as many people wrongly assume. You should say, therefore, “an hour” (because hour begins with a vowel sound) and “a history” (because history begins with a consonant...

Origin pronunciation def. art. and indef. art.

dokterjokkebrok — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:42:37 GMT

Hi there, I was wondering about the following matter: Why do we use the indef. art. a -> /ə/ before words that start with a consonant sound? And why do we use the indef. art. an -> /ən/ before words that start with a vowel sound? The same with the definite article – pronounced like /ðə/ and /ði/ Does someone know if there's a phonetic/phonological or any other reason forthis phenomenon? I've searched through a whole lot of literature to find out about this, but so far I haven't found anything yet. Thank you for your reply/replies. Jordy

Re: How to pronounce Pacino, Scorsese and Sean

tanit — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:13:16 GMT

I won't argue with you, of course you're right, you're a native Italian! You can argue! After all, Italian has many variants and I can speak only for mine. After doing some search on the internet, I've found this dictionary where you can listen to the pronunciation of ro s a and to that of s ole (just type one word in the box, click on the result and press the red arrow next to the phonetic trancription of the word in the pop-up). I've also managed to find an easy list of rules to help you decide whether s should pronounced /s/ or /z/. This allows for an explanation of the pronunciation of the three s's in Scorsese : The first one is pronounced /s/ because it's at the beginning of the word (also,...

Re: Puzzle about the pronunciation of the word 'THE'

anonymous — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:54:02 GMT

It has always been my understanding, that "the" should be pronounced with a LONG E before a vowel and a SHORT E before a consonant . However, lately, I hear only the short sound used. This applies to new broadcasters and others who do public speaking. When did " THE" transition occur and where was I? D. Israel, PA

Re: the pronunciation of the word "the"

anonymous — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:22:41 GMT

If you look in a dictionary: the 1 play_w2("T0146800") ( before a vowel; before a consonant ) Or, "thee" before a vowel and "thuh" before a consonant. It's not a rule we learn in school, but it's something we seem to "absorb". The reason for the different pronunciation is so that the language flows more smoothly. French does that a lot! For example, les tables (don't hear the "s"), but les enfants (you hear the "s" as a "z" sound to make it not hiccup!)...

Re: Acronyms and the use of 'a' vs. 'an'

anonymous — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:28:37 GMT

No man its only 'taken for a vowel' when it starts with a vowel in pronunciation (when read abc-style). So 'p' is pronounced as 'pee' (consonant), 's' is 'ess' (vowel), 'k' is 'kay' and 't' is 'tee' (consonants). Just read the abbreviation as you would read it aloud.

Re: Double consonants f, l, k, s, z in verb's infinitive

alpheccastars — Sat, 16 May 2009 02:09:19 GMT

It is just convention. English spelling is not 100% consistent or regular. There have been many attempts at spelling reform, but none so far has gained any traction. There is no "academy" for English, as there can be for other languages. The convention may be based on the origins of the words in Latin, Greek, Germanic, or others such as Old French. That being said, though, I tried to generalize a phonetic rule that fits. S and Z are voiced/unvoiced equivalents, and L, F, S, Z are all continuants. M, N are continuants, but they are also nasals. ck cannot be considered a doubling, it is a digraph, an alternate spelling of the K sound. There are no verbs (at least common ones) ending in J or V. When a verb ends in W, I...

Re: What is a syllable?

danielrams07 — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:15:41 GMT

syllable Segment of speech usually consisting of a vowel with or without accompanying consonant sounds (e.g., a , I , out , too , cap , snap , check ). A syllabic consonant, like the final n sound in button and widen , also constitutes a syllable. Closed (checked) syllables end in a consonant, open (free) syllables in a vowel. Syllables play an important role in the study of speech and in phonetics and phonology . girl have 1 go have 1 rain 2 famous 2 hour 1 double 2 prison 2 A syllable is a basic unit of written and spoken language. It is a unit consisting of uninterrupted sound that can be used to make up words. For example, the word hotel has two syllables: ho and tel . These will be marked here as in ho/tel . Counting Syllables ...

Re: Two dialects for me?

forbes — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:13:31 GMT

There is, I think, a difference between pronunciation and accent, though I am not quite sure what it is. Perhaps it is a question of degree. It is perfectly possible to pronounce words correctly but with different accents. Different accents may of course involve different articulations of vowels and consonants, but they also involve other aspects like pitch and intonation. Unless learned at a young age by immersion, most people have at least a trace of a foreign accent when they speak a foreign language.

Re: "a" or "an" before a consonant acronym

anonymous — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:00:16 GMT

I agree. It actually really vexes me when people use "a" in front of an acronym. Even though the previous post has been up for quite some time, maybe someone will run across this and find it helpful. Here is my reasoning: So, yes, we all know the English language is supposed to be one of the most grammatically difficult languages around. But when you think about the rules, almost all of them have some basis in logic. The reason that the English language provides two indefinite articles (both "a" and "an") is based in phonetics. It is difficult to pronounce "a" in front of any word beginning in a vowel. For example, saying "a apple" or "a egg" requires a lot more gutteral...

Re: vowel length distinction before voiced or unv. consonants

zerox — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:00:31 GMT

I think the terms you are looking for are called 'vowel length' and 'vowel duration'. As it has been mentioned, vowels before fortis sounds tend to be shorter because the fortis sound needs more power, that is, it is aspirated. Now, vowel length is a phenomenon in which different vowels are placed in the same phonetic environment (minimal pairs: /pit/ vs. /pi:t/), whereas vowel duration refers to the exact amount of time the same vowel lasts in different environments ( change of a fortis consonant to its lenis counterpart, for example). Obviously, the differences in duration are hard to notice by ear, but they still affect one's pronunciation. These three examples should expound the difference with the vowel sound:...

Re: vowel length distinction before voiced or unv. consonants

genevrier45 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:32:31 GMT

I have newly joined this forum, just to give a reply to you. I know what you were expressing, and in fact a voiced consonant always sounds lower pitch than the vowels (also unv. consonant, unv. consonant always seems to have a high pitch though it doesn't voiced). But in terms of pronunciation the pitches may not be the difference. The pitch of voiced consonant is low because the voicing of a voiced consonant in coda position is different to that of a vowel, it is more tough, so the pitch drops at the coda position when you are pronouncing "cod". But all in all, the factors of vowel length and tenseness are much obvious in distinguishing the pairs like "cod" vs "cot".

Re: Leave vs. Live

avangi — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:20:45 GMT

Hi, amylopez, Thanks for joining us. Welcome to English Forums! As far as I know, there's no vowel sound in Spanish resembling our "short i." So your pronunciation of "leave" is probably the one that's correct (like the Spanish "i" in Licha ). Do you have the same problem with "heat" and "hit"? "Seat" and "sit"? "Live" is not a good one to practice on, since it has two very different pronunciations. The verb, "I live in the city," has the short "i," like "hit." The adjective, "We had a live band at the party," has what we call a "long i," in which the letter says it's own name. It has the vowel...

Re: The same or not the same

avangi — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:07:21 GMT

I'm going to pass on the "should" question. My instinct tells me it could be ambiguous, because "should" has several uses. If you use "should" in the sense of "ought to," then it would be redundant. You'd be saying it's necessary that they ought to do it. And, in fact, you'd no longer be saying that they should do it. You'd be making a major change in the meaning. I hope I'm making this clear. We're talking about two things, the obligation to be honest, and the act of being honest. If you insert "should," you're now saying that the obligation is necessary, and you're no longer saying that the act is necessary. But I have this feeling there's...

Pronunciation - shape of mouth

ter — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:36:16 GMT

I was hoping to find some pictures on the net showing how the shapes of the mouth differ when pronunciating different vowels and consonants, but I found none. Does anybody know where I can find some pics? thanks.

Re: Which language is most difficult language for people to learn?

anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:44:26 GMT

I would strongly disagreee with Hoa Thai's assertion that French is relatively easy to learn and that is it spelled as it is sounded. It most certainly is not. There are loads of homophones in the language. For instance the 'ay' sound can be represented by the spellings 'ai', 'ais', ait', 'e' with an acute accent, infinitive 'er', 'es', 'et', 'ez' and probably some other combinations that I can't think of just now. If this isn't confusing and non-phonetic then I don't know what is. Also, the fact that most final consonants, even some final double consonants, are not pronounced must make for confusion, eg the non-pronunciation of the final 's',...

Re: How do you pronounce words like 'resources' and 'prices'?

missmandy — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:11:57 GMT

I think you're right on, Kooyeen. And thanks for the reply. I am a stickler in my pronunciation classes that students learn to say the -s (and -ed) endings correctly. Even though I do this, I know that native English speaking Americans rarely say that voiced endings as perfectly voiced, yet it doesn't sound like the unvoiced counterpart sound ( s sound and t sound , for these endings). I knew we said the vowel differently depending on the consonant that follows, but I didn't realize it was also changing the perception of the consonant as well. I think I will also pay attention to how my students are producing the vowels before the final consonant sound. Back to the original question, it must be correct, then, to point out...

Re: Easy as Pie, Almost!

anonymous — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:30:12 GMT

Frequently listen to English spoken by native speakers and repeat them. Watch English movies, listen to music, audio clips, BBC news and presentations. Control your rate of speech to get the correct intonation and rhythm of English. Use your dictionary.Familiarize yourself with the phonetic symbols used for different words in the dictionary and look up the correct pronunciation.This method helps in neutralizing an accent tremendously. Make a list of commonly used words that are difficult to pronounce. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes. Read English newspaper regularly. Work on how to pronounce the vowel and consonant sounds.Mostly vowel sounds play vital role for accent variation. Hence pronounce the...

Re: W is a vowel

forbes — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:05:34 GMT

I am glad we agree about the sound /w/. That leaves us with the letter <w>. Letters of the alphabet must not be confused with sounds. By convention and for convenience, letters that represent vowel sounds are called vowels and letters that represent consonant sounds are called consonants. (In the rest of this post when I use the word "vowel" I mean a vowel symbol or letter and use "vowel sound" to refer to sounds.) This does not present any special problem for many languages, but for some, including English, difficulties arise when you begin to look into it. The complexities of English orthography arise, at least in part, because the way it is written is etymological rather than phonetic; that is, writing...

Re: How to distinguish the pronunciation of the vowels

mister micawber — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:11:49 GMT

. You have a problem, but I can suggest little more than practice and concentration; I presume you have a tutor or teacher or acquaintance who can listen to and advise you. I hadn't noticed that Chinese students have much trouble with vowel sounds before-- I thought the consonants were more difficult. While there are plenty of regional variations in English pronunciation, the pronunciation of e.g. the /e/ in egg is usually similar enough to elude the sensitivities of a learner. Practice saying and listening to (pronunciations are available at MERRIAM-WEBSTER ONLINE , for example) lots and lots of simple words with those vowel sounds: apple, cram, fat, hat, rat, sat and bat, etc. egg, eft, end, bend, send, fend, rend, et cetera. ...

Re: a(n) university ??

yankee — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:50:07 GMT

The use of 'a' or 'an' is based on pronunciation . If a word begins with a vowel sound , you should use 'an'. For example: - an apple - an elephant - an idea - an orange - an umbrella - an hour - an SOS If a word begins with a consonant sound , you should use 'a'. This includes some words that have a vowel at the beginning. For example: - a ewe - a university - a uniform - a unique person

Re: Puzzle about the pronunciation of the word 'THE'

yizhivika — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:04:16 GMT

Hi Mathew, Yes, as Mister Micawber says, native English-speakers instinctively know which pronunciation of 'the' to use before a noun (or an adjective + noun), but I can see that it may be a problem for some people learning the language. As you have yourself noted, we generally use the ' thee ' version before a vowel (as in ' the apple' ), and the " theh ' version before a consonant (as in ' the pen '), and the reason native English-speakers know which version to use, is because they read (or think of) the two words together, not separately! From your name, I would guess that your mother-tongue is probably Mandarin Chinese (Ni shi zhong guo ren ma?), and if so, then you'll know that...

Re: Consonant cluster reduction

anonymous — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:54:33 GMT

Hi. On TV you may not hear the sounds, the tongue-play within the chamber of the mouth and the tiny air stops, etcetera that occur when people speak. You need to be face-to-face with your pronunciation coach. I can well see how you "hear" FAX for facts, because the sounds are about identical in those two words. You know from the context when someone tells you to send them a FAX that they are not talking about the "facts." That is the context or the syntax of the language. GIFTS is spelled that way, but, actually when you pronounce it, you DO HEAR "GIFS." The ortography of words is a clue to their meaning, so the spelling is important when you are reading. ASKED. Pronounce ASK. Feel and hear the little...

Re: the pronunciation of the word "the"

sumryan — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:57:25 GMT

The word 'the' has the voiced /th/ sound. Before consonants the vowel has a schwa sound so 'the' sounds like th ə, Before vowel sounds the vowel has an /iy/ sound like th ē.

"an eulogy" or "a eulogy"?

paul — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:13:57 GMT

As per phonetics theory, I've been told one should use the indefinite article "a" before words beginning with a consonant and "an" before words beginning with a vowel or a diphthong. And the sound "y" ( or / j / in phonetic script) as in "eulogy", "university", "European" etc. is to be treated as a consonant (though in certain contexts one would also call it a "semi-vowel"). Why is it that I still find "an" preceeding this sound in certain write-ups generating combinations such as "an eulogy", and "an university" ? Are these instances of incorrect usage? Paul.

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

madame_butterfly — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:03:08 GMT

Thank you Grammar Geek for your compliment, I am glad to be here with you sharing and learning. In fact I have also meant what you said. If the pronunciation starts with a consonant sound then it takes "a", as in "university". Besides, as in "hour", the pronunciation starts with a vowel, and it takes "an". I think we agree on the same idea. I hope I could make myself clear enough

Re: Where can I find the pronunciation of people's name?

buddhaheart — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 01:14:39 GMT

According to EPD, there’re 2 pronunciations to the name ‘Danielle’. The 1 st one has 3 syllables in it. Pronounce the ‘a’ as a short vowel sound (as in ‘at’). This is the one with the secondary stress placed on it. Utter the ‘i’ as the long ‘e’ (as in ‘key’). The 3 rd syllable is ‘-el’ with the short ‘e’ sound (as in ‘bed’). This syllable carries the primary stress as if you would stress a French name. The last ‘e’ is silent like in a magic ‘e’ syllable. The 2 nd pronunciation of the name is made with ‘-ielle’ as the 2 nd stressed syllable. The ‘i’ is the consonant ‘y’ as in ‘yet’. So the 2 nd syllable is like ‘-yel’. The last ‘e’ is again silent.

Re: Can anyone give me the phonetic guide for American English

kooyeen — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:43:59 GMT

Hi David, here you can find some stuff about American English. Vowels, consonants, lots of stuff... http://evaeaston.com/pr/home.html On that website there's also a link to this page, where the states are pronounced. http://evaeaston.com/pr/states.html If you need to know how to pronounce a word in American English (names of states and countries included), you can look it up on Merriam Webster online. You can also listen to the audio clips on this dictionary. http://www.merriam-webster.com/ If you want to know more about American English (most important pronunciation features), you can check out this website. It's American Accent Training. There's some free stuff. If you can get that course somehow... it's useful. Check it out:...

Re: When do i use a,an in the sentence?

anonymous — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:33:53 GMT

Pronunciation is the only determining factor. If the noun or adjective being used starts with a VOWEL SOUND, then it should be preceded by "an." Here are some examples: An apple, an argument, an uncle, an old man, an amazing story, an autobiography. If the noun or adjective being used starts with CONSONANT SOUND, then it should be preceded by "a." Here are some examples:" A book, a record, a candlestick, a unicorn (note that a hard "u" is pronounced as if it began with a "y" as YOO-ne-corn), a wonderful idea, a standing ovation. We english native speakers still can't agree on historic. (a historic vs. an historic) I vote for "a historic event"

Re: Which language is most difficult language for people to learn?

hoa thai — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:43:06 GMT

CalifJim wrote: I read somewhere that Mario Pei, the linguist, tried to learn a different language every year. He supposedly claimed that Vietnamese was the most difficult. CJ I disagree with the linguist Mario Pei not because I am a Vietnamese. It is because I have seen, in my country, a couple of TV hosts and many shop owners speak our language fluently and write better than most of our people do. Amazingly, all of them have lived in Vietnam for only a few years. For instance, Joe Ruelle, who has been in Vietnam for only 3 years or so, has his own blog written in perfect Vietnamese and speaks the language without a foreign trace. People say that Joe is a Vietnamese who had plastic surgery in order to...

Arabic-english accent

anonymous — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:35:37 GMT

Dear forum-ers, I was born in the UK and acquired the english language as a joint first language with arabic. My family moved back to our country when I was still a child, and although I always maintained a very high standard of spoken, and written english I unfortunately lost my accent. I moved back to the UK 2 years ago, and am working in a job that requires interaction with lots of people from different educational backgrounds. Everybody commends me on my excellent grasp of the english language, but they can easily tell that I am a foreigner. I don't want to be a sell-out, but I believe that, especially recently, an arabic accent is associated with a negative racial stereotype. The problem is I am getting very stressed, and...

Re: Dividing a word into syllables

clive — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:43:06 GMT

Hi, You are taking the wrong approach in counting consonants and vowels. eg phone and fox both have one syllable, despite the double consonants 'ph'. Consider the sound, not the letters. the word "television", which has a similar consonant/vowel sequence, is divided as tele-vi-sion, that is CVCV -CV-CVVC. No, it's te/le/ vis/ion, 4 syllables. So how can you tell? Are there rules or do you as native speakers instinctively know? We'd just say it aloud. Do you need to check it in the dictionary every time? No, never. Not unless the dictionary gives the pronunciation. Best wishes, Clive

Re: First name pronunciation

buddhaheart — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 23:44:21 GMT

LPD offers 3 pronunciations: The 1 st one (Main BrE) is with the first ‘o’ as a diphthong as in the word ‘show’(/ b /), the ‘y’ as a semivowel as in ‘city’ (/i/), the second ‘o’ as a schwa; the alternative BrE is to pronounce the ‘o’ as in ‘hot’ / Z /; theAmE proninciation is closer to the Main BrE except with the ‘y’ as a consonant as in ‘yellow’ (/j/). So the BrE pronunciation has 3 syllables but only 2 in AmE. The ‘97 EPD only gives 2 variant AmE pronunciations: The first ‘‘o’’ either as the one in the LPD or as an / Y+ / typically as in the word ‘arm’. The ‘y’ is as a consonant only, i.e. not treated as a semivowel. In this case both BrE and AmE are in agreement that this is a 2-syllable name.

Re: Is grammar essential for learning a language?

feathers — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:11:39 GMT

Thanks, anon. Without your post, I would have missed this thread. Goodman wrote: Hi CJ, What an impressive thread you have posted. You have slowly made me a fan of yours. Yep! CalifJim wrote: In any case, the struggle for the learner is always making the conversion from 'computing' utterances (assembling them by applying grammatical rules) to generating meaningful utterances spontaneously. The more role models the learners have, whether in terms of number of speakers they have contact with or in terms of the number of written and spoken resources they have available, the smoother the transition. At the extreme, if the learner is thrown into a sink-or-swim situation -- immersion -- it may be possible to...

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'.