http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aVowels+tag%3aPronunciation+tag%3aTensesSearch results for 'tag:Vowels tag:Pronunciation tag:Tenses' matching tags 'Vowels', 'Pronunciation', and 'Tenses'en-USXMOD (Build: 3607.32596)http://www.englishforums.com/English/ConsonantClusterReduction/zmzvh/post.htm#545146Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:54:33 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:545146anonymousHi. 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...http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoAmericansPronounceFortyFordiForti/2/ggjcd/Post.htm#535840Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:34:33 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:535840sumryanMy students always have questions about this pronunciation feature. I know of four patterns that might help you predict where to pronounce 't' as a soft /d/. 1. when a ‘t’ is between vowels when the preceding vowel is stressed in words such as: city, party, forty, water 2. when a ‘t’ comes before a syllabic /l/ sound in words such as: petal, metal, settle 3. in past tense verbs ending in ‘t’ such as: educated, excited, defeated 4. in comparative adjectives ending in ‘t’ such as: greater, greatest, smarter, smartest There may be other patterns or rules as well. Good luck with this. Susan <link removed by a mod.>http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhatEnglishDifficultLearn/7/nlcp/Post.htm#460872Sun, 06 Jan 2008 01:49:26 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:460872anonymousAnonymous wrote: Hmmm. If you think that english is difficult - YOU ARE WRONG!!! It is the easiest language! I'm Pole, have you ever tried to say the simplest word in Polish e.g łazienka (bathroom) I'm sure that 90% of English wouldn't be able to pronounce it correctly!!! Or meaby something from German: einhundertfunfundzwazig (125) - this is correct spelling, there shouldn't be any spaces!!! It is normall that you are not as fluent as natives - it is impossible, there are always differences in pronunciation or in degree of complexity of vocabulary. Only thing which can cause real problems are pronunciation such vowels as 'th' (thing, those). These "dentals" don't occur in other european languages at all. The other things are tenses -...http://www.englishforums.com/English/ShouldAttentionSyllables/zwjhw/post.htm#459953Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:49:04 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:459953kooyeenHi Avangi, it's pretty complicated, I'll try to explain it better. I'll use an equivalent phonetic transcription to avoid IPA, because I heard not everyone can see the symbols. MW breaks the words into syllables in phonetic transcriptions according to how the words would be pronounced syllable by syllable, unlike many other dictionaries I have seen. Its transcriptions are different from all the others, and they seem much more accurate to me. A little example... Situation: sich-oo-ay-shun --> American Heritage, Longman Dictionary of C. E., Oxford Advanced Learner D., etc. sih-chuh-way-shun -> Merriam Webster I believe MW's transcriptions are more like what a native speaker would say if they had to pronounce words very slowly and...http://www.englishforums.com/English/ShouldAttentionSyllables/zwjhw/post.htmWed, 02 Jan 2008 22:36:08 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:459637kooyeenHi, this is a weird question. I once discovered that syllable are important for pronunciation. For example, Merriam Webster says that coolish is coo-lish, not cool-ish. The reason must be that in coo-lish, the L is put at the beginning of the following syllable so that it's clear it's not as dark as an L at the end of a syllable. I like Webster's transcriptions, they seem very precise to me. No other dictionary is as precise as MW (I am sure because I've tried every dictionary on earth, LOL). Now, I've noticed some things in MW. First, I have to say that I pronounce a tense a (as in cat ) before M or N differently. So pat and pan have different vowels. So every time I see an- or am- in Webster's transcriptions, I change the vowel to the...http://www.englishforums.com/English/SayAndSays/zhmld/post.htm#456769Mon, 24 Dec 2007 22:58:08 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:456769califjimI cannot find any word with ay or ai that is pronounced this way, except those with -says or -said at the end. I thought you were only looking for irregular verb forms. again and against also have ai as a lax e , if that's what you want examples of. And all the air combinations also have ai as a lax e . pair, hair, fair, ... And those with aire : debonaire, millionaire, questionaire, solitaire, ... __________ aisle (with silent s and silent e ) has ai as tense i . (Same pronunciation as I'll .) ai is tense i also in Sinai and Shanghai . plaid has ai as lax a . (As if plad , to rhyme with sad .) dais has two vowels: tense a and lax i . ( day -iss) So does the old form saith (and the -aic 's: laic,...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PronunciationOfFinite/zhrkp/post.htm#452347Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:26:33 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:452347califjimfinite indeed has the tense i in both syllables. The tense vowel is the typical pronunciation for the last syllable of all two-syllable words ending in -ate, -ete, -ite, -ote, -ute, even when the first syllable has the primary stress, as in the examples below. innate, vacate, vibrate, athlete, crinite, phosphite, compote, hirsute, tribute There are just a few exceptions: palate, pirate, granite, minute. Here the last syllable takes the lax i pronunciation in all cases. CJhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/HowDoYaGuysPronounceBeg/vdqmc/post.htm#353767Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:30:03 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:353767marvin a.Well yes back is always /bæk/ in NAE. "Beg" is more variable. Some people have tense-lax neutralization before /g/. According to Wikipedia: "Some examples of neutralization of /ɛ/ to /eɪ/ before /ɡ/ are beg, egg, Greg, keg, leg and peg's coming to rhyme with Craig, Hague, plague and vague." Other dialects keep the vowel in beg distinct from the vowel in vague. I merge /E/ /e/ and /{/ (ash) before /g/, so "beg", "bag", and "vague" all have the same vowel sound: something like . Not everyone here does that however, but almost everyone (here) pronounces "beg" and "bag" with the same vowel. Conservative General American, however, has /bEg/ for beg--the same "e" sound as in "bed". The only dialects that will devoice the /g/ in...http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhichPronunciationClarityPopular/4/vddhh/Post.htm#352362Wed, 18 Apr 2007 05:01:27 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:352362califjimThe other thing that I was saying was that before /r\/, there is no contrast between tense and lax vowels in most definitions of General American and approximate accents. OK. But what I was saying was that what applies for /r\/ applies equally for /I/. Is there anything wrong with this? I'll state it below in full: Before /I/ there is no contrast between tense and lax vowels in most definitions of General American and approximate accents. What is mistaken, if anything, about that statement? Thanks. CJhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/WhichPronunciationClarityPopular/3/vddhh/Post.htm#351852Tue, 17 Apr 2007 05:32:25 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:351852marvin a.Hmm. Sorry for the confusion. Now I'm a little confused too. I was saying two different things: 1) The "ay" in play, is pronounced differently in different dialects. Such as a monophthong or something like or other variations. Some dialects (such as my own) pronounce "ay" differently depending on the environment. Thus the "ay" in "play" is slightly different than my "a" in brave". Other dialects are more consistent. I was merely pointing out that there are many acceptable pronunciations of "ay". 2) The other thing that I was saying was that before /r\/, there is no contrast between tense and lax vowels in most definitions of General American and approximate accents.http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhichPronunciationClarityPopular/3/vddhh/Post.htm#351804Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:38:54 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:351804marvin a.What I meant by there's no contrast is that there are no minimal pairs (in General American). Tense and lax vowels never contrast: /Er\/ and /er\/ both mean "air". In fact, I can't even *hear* the difference between /Er\/ and /er\/ at all. They sound exactly the same, in the same way that "meat" and "meet" sound the same. In fact, if someone asked me to transcribe what the lady said, I would have writen rather than (although phonemically they're both /er\/). If I wanted to learn how to distinguish them, I would have to train in learning the difference--as they sound the *same* to me. It's a similar thing with the cot-caught-bother-father merger. I actually had to learn how to hear the difference between and and and , as all those...http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhichPronunciationClarityPopular/2/vddhh/Post.htm#351303Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:31:01 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:351303marvin a.>> 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.http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhichPronunciationClarityPopular/2/vddhh/Post.htm#351199Sun, 15 Apr 2007 18:13:08 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:351199marvin a.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.http://www.englishforums.com/English/WriteAndWritten/dnkwp/post.htm#317521Sat, 20 Jan 2007 07:10:36 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:317521califjimIt seems to me that you are wrestling with the "Second-Letter Rule", which says that a single vowel letter (i.e., not combined with another vowel letter in a digraph) is pronounced tense if the second letter after it is another vowel letter, lax otherwise. ( lady, caddie, hope, hop, hoping, hopping, June, junk, bite, bit, bitty, bitten, ... ) Unfortunately, this rule has only limited application, typically in one-syllable words and in final stressed syllables of polysyllabic words. And the rule never works when v is involved because v is virtually never doubled. ( *livved ! *givven ! *devvil !) Several other cases also conspire to make the rule less than universal. The Second-Letter Rule works for write and written , but not...http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhatEnglishDifficultLearn/3/nlcp/Post.htm#314952Sat, 13 Jan 2007 23:23:38 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:314952anonymousHmmm. If you think that english is difficult - YOU ARE WRONG!!! It is the easiest language! I'm Pole, have you ever tried to say the simplest word in Polish e.g łazienka (bathroom) I'm sure that 90% of English wouldn't be able to pronounce it correctly!!! Or meaby something from German: einhundertfunfundzwazig (125) - this is correct spelling, there shouldn't be any spaces!!! It is normall that you are not as fluent as natives - it is impossible, there are always differences in pronunciation or in degree of complexity of vocabulary. Only thing which can cause real problems are pronunciation such vowels as 'th' (thing, those). These "dentals" don't occur in other european languages at all. The other things are tenses - twelve of them -...http://www.englishforums.com/English/HelpWith230/dcjzg/post.htm#304570Sat, 16 Dec 2006 17:25:26 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:304570marvin a.Yep. I'm serious. Here's how I say these words as compared to General American. "N" represents "ng"; upper-case vowels represent lax vowels, and upper case vowels represent tense vowels. I listed the word, first, the General American pronunciation second, and my pronunciation third. <ul class="anf_list"> <li>Word GA Me </li><li>bang bæN beN </li><li>bag bæg beg </li><li>beg bEg beg </li><li>vague veIg veg </li><li>bay beI be </li></ul>http://www.englishforums.com/English/Pronunciation/cxbmc/post.htm#236668Fri, 16 Jun 2006 06:12:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:236668califjimThat's a very big question. It can't be answered in a single post. The main differences are the pronunciation of r , the t between vowels, the sound of au , and the tense and lax o s. CJhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/HowPronounceAmericanEnglish/cmzmk/post.htm#229523Sat, 27 May 2006 06:03:19 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:229523califjimI'm not familiar with MLB. In American English it is very common to omit the "t" when it follows a stressed syllable ending in "n" and precedes an unstressed syllable beginning with a vowel. "winter" and "winner" are indistinguishable. The absence of the t sound here is not an aspirated t , as you seem to suggest in your post. I don't recommend imitating this pronunciation unless you live in a community where it is very common. Use a neutral or slightly aspirated t instead. There is an exception -- the verb "want". "want to" and "want a" are both pronounced "wanna" if you are speaking fairly fast in an informal setting. The past tense is often said "wannid". "wanted to" is often "wannida". I don't see any great...http://www.englishforums.com/English/BritishPronunciationAmerican-Prononciation/4/jmpn/Post.htm#110754Mon, 20 Jun 2005 05:18:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:110754califjim... would you please tell me how would you pronounce "ship" ? would it be like " shape" The vowel sound in "ship" is completely different in American English from the vowel sound in "shape". __________ I'm not aware of any difference in the pronunciation of the "e" in "marketing" whether American or British. Maybe others can comment. In unstressed positions the lax "e" before "t" found there edges toward the lax "i" in "ship". I would say that the AmE pron. is "markiding", the BrE "mahkiting". __________ I've never tried the experiment with "Yes, I am". What's the trick? I think it may be that Americans tend to say "I em". I don't know if the British do. Also, possibly the "e" in "yes" is a bit more tense in British...http://www.englishforums.com/English/RunNingRelatedPronunciation/bcckh/post.htm#94140Thu, 28 Apr 2005 09:38:03 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:94140abbie1948Hi Xcats, This is related to the spelling of the past tense forms of regular verbs; it also applies to the "ing" form. spelling of regular affirmative past tense forms Most regular verbs: add -ed work —worked help —helped start — started rain —rained stay —stayed show — showed wonder —wondered visit — visited gallop—galloped Verbs endingin -e: add -d hope —hoped decide —decided Verbs ending in one stressed vowel +one consonant (except wory): double the consonant and add -ed shop — shopped plan — planned refer —referred regret — regretted Verbs ending in consonant + -y: hurry— hurried change y to i and add-ed cry—cried study—studied Verbs ending in-c have ck in the past (e.g....http://www.englishforums.com/English/CanRemainImplementPassiveVoice/10/lkwpl/Post.htm#985077Wed, 11 Aug 2004 05:38:11 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:985077r j valentine} "Raymond S. Wise" (Email Removed) wrote in message } }> }> Since the pronunciations are identical, this might confuse some people. } But }> it should be easy enough to memorize the distinction in spelling. "Used } to" }> is used where a past tense would be used, thus the "-d." (I should note } that }> MWCD11 does show a difference in pronunciation. In addition to the }> pronunciation /jus/ for the "used" in "used to," it also has the }> pronunciation /just/.) }> } } But it's not the -d that's the issue surely, it's the unvoiced 's'. The } verb 'use' that we do actually still, ahem, use is always pronounced with a } voiced z. On this...http://www.englishforums.com/English/FatherDifferentTwist/3/lzjvd/Post.htm#947205Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:23:26 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:947205areffFonzie, might I convince you to help me raise objections to linguists' blithe and insulting decision to use the word "Philadelphia" to refer to the entire Upper Chesapeake pronunciation region? You think I don't know? I tell them a million times. They won't listen! I found it shocking when Mr. Dinkin recently seemed to suggest that there was no Baltimore dialect distinct from Philadelphia. That reminds me of the bogus claims by linguists that there are no regional intra-New-York-City accent differences, which everyone knows is untrue. If Brooklyn and Queens have distinct accents, why not Philly and Balto.? If Baltimore is just Philadelphia, what of Laurel? (Actually, where I come from we have enough Southern in us...http://www.englishforums.com/English/FatherDifferentTwist/3/lzjvd/Post.htm#947175Mon, 28 Jun 2004 11:17:12 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:947175joe manfreI can't claim that my accent is 'typical' in general, since I am part of the minority that is MINMINM(tm) and BACINTC(tm)(1). (1)"(Be able) can is not (tin) can". By the way, contrary to popular belief, there are those of us who are BACINTC and always have been but are not from New York or Philadelphia, despite what Dr. Daniels or Dr. Dinkin might tell you. Even on Labov's maps you can see that the Mid-Atlantic isogloss for BACINTC goes all the way down to Baltimore, which is exactly right: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono atlas/Atlas chapters/Ch11/Ch11 files/image004.jpg http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono atlas/Atlas chapters/Ch11/Ch11 files/image002.jpg Fonzie, might I convince you to help me raise objections to...http://www.englishforums.com/English/ComprehensiveListAllophonesEnglish-Phonemes/2/kkwdb/Post.htm#889854Fri, 23 Apr 2004 01:15:06 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:889854evan kirshenbaumHi everybody, In one of my classes, I am doing ... post it here. Thank you in advance for any help! If you think about the meanings of "allophone" and "phoneme," you'll realize this is an impossible request. What "others"? Ladefoged gives 22 "rules for English allophones" in the second edition of A Course in Phonetics (pp. 82-88), not all of which apply to all varieties of English. Summarizing, 1) voiceless stops are aspirated when syllable initial 2) voiced obstruents are partially voiced when syllable final exceptwhen followed by a voiced sound 2a) voiced stops are partially voiced when syllable initial except when preceded by a voiced sound 3) consonants are longer at the end of a phrase 4)...http://www.englishforums.com/English/AustralianVowelsZoo/2/khznk/Post.htm#874548Fri, 09 Apr 2004 17:58:02 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:874548rich walesI can say this much: I would feel deeply insulted if anyone thought I spoke like Steve Irwin. The most distinctive feature I've noticed in Steve Irwin's speech (compared to other Australians I've known and heard) is that his /a/ sound has noticeably tense, rounded lips. This also applies to his pronunciation of the /aI/ diphthong making the pronoun "I", in his dialect, sound almost like "oy" from a North American perspective. I could easily imagine a caricature of Steve Irwin saying some- thing like, "Oy'd give moy loyf for moy crawcodoyles!" :-} I have no idea if this particular feature sticks out in Steve Irwin's speech as perceived by other Australians. (Peter, what do you think?) Rich...http://www.englishforums.com/English/InterestingArticleAuesFirst/22/jldgm/Post.htm#809656Fri, 16 Jan 2004 23:20:16 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:809656r fPhonetically, of course, the only place most of us in the US have a length contrast is in pairs like "cap" and "cab", where the only phonetic difference is that the vowel in the second is longer. That may be true of "most of us in the US", but New York region speakers, probably including Young Joey, have a difference in the quality of the vowel ("cap" has the "be able can" lax can vowel, while "cab" has the "tin can" tense can vowel). This is a phonemic difference too (because of "can").http://www.englishforums.com/English/SpelingRefohrm/19/jbzzm/Post.htm#773192Thu, 11 Dec 2003 16:41:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:773192aaron j. dinkinThere are a few words which tend to have the ... the same) - half, halve, calf, can't, shan't, banana, rather. Also there are still a handful of AmE speakers that follow the southern England approach (mainly in Eastern New England). Yes, but: "Banana" is an interesting example, since for New York speakers the "lax can" vowel is used, not the "tense can" vowel. I think I've heard patrician Northeastern US speakers use the "father" vowel in "banana", though (so too with "tomato"). I don't think so; I've never heard the "father" vowel in "banana" from an American, and my grandparents both usually have bananas in the house and have fairly...http://www.englishforums.com/English/SpelingRefohrm/18/jbzzm/Post.htm#771304Wed, 10 Dec 2003 05:29:43 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:771304john lawler"Have" has the lax vowel of "can" (be able), while "halve" has the tense vowel of "can" (= BrE tin). Sorry, Richard, I just don't get it. Not always the teacher's fault. Color to a blind man, or some such. One more good example of why usenet is the wrong venue for discussing phonetics. The British pronunciation is different in quality, and some Americans introduce a distinction in quantity ('halve' is longer than 'have'), although most Americans (like me) don't distinguish the two unless forced to, and then do so unreliably and inconsistently. -John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler U Michigan Linguistics Dept "I have nothing to say, I am saying it, and that is...http://www.englishforums.com/English/SpelingRefohrm/17/jbzzm/Post.htm#770895Tue, 09 Dec 2003 23:01:56 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:770895r fThat makes sense to me too, but it suggests that ... New England accents too). That (e@) does sound rather quack-like. How do you write your cat, half, chat, that vowel, RF? I mean in your phonetic description? You'd have to check with Jonathan Jordan or a fallible Praat device, but I think my cat/chat vowel is right about where I hear the Northern Cities "cot" vowel (also known as "Chicago pop"). I don't think it's as low as the Sheffield cat vowel, or the Cheshire cat one FTM. That would put it at a suburban Milwaukee "cot", I'd guess, but I have no illusions about more rustic parts of W'scansin, like where all the dairy farms must be. Baseline Sheffield "cat" is dead (a), I...http://www.englishforums.com/English/NewPageSitePronunciationNewsgroup-ContributorsNames/19/wgqcv/Post.htm#719662Fri, 24 Oct 2003 01:43:34 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:719662aaron j. dinkinMost of the "ah" class comes from recent loanwords like "pasta". "Pasta" may be a good example of AmE "foreign a", but I don't think it's a good example of the "ah" class. I think it's almost always pronounced with the "cat" vowel in BrE. I said like "pasta".. Actually, I knew that "pasta" is usually pronounced with the "cat" vowel in BrE, but I couldn't think of a recent loanword that I was confident would have "ah" on both sides of the Pond. I would still guess that most British "ah" (as distinct from "tense a" and possibly from "ar" as well) comes from recent loanwords. OED, for instance,...http://www.englishforums.com/English/NewPageSitePronunciationNewsgroup-ContributorsNames/27/wgqcv/Post.htm#719396Thu, 23 Oct 2003 20:25:08 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:719396aaron j. dinkin) I'm tentatively describing that as "tense a" rather than "ah": ... that have a split short-a system have their tense /& ^/. By Jove, I think you're right! Well, or at least it's a proper subset of that /& ^/ class. That's weird, and calls to mind (FWIW) R.J. Valentine's baffling perception of my (supposedly Jamaican) pronunciation of "man" in the "catamaran" recording. I don't think it's that weird. Note that the environment of "tense o" is also similar, though not identical, to the environment of "tense a". There seems to be a cross-dialectal tendency for tensing of lowish vowels in certain environments such as before voiceless fricatives,...http://www.englishforums.com/English/NewPageSitePronunciationNewsgroup-ContributorsNames/27/wgqcv/Post.htm#719184Thu, 23 Oct 2003 16:29:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:719184r fAnd, in some dialects (including a dwindling subset of the ... follow the vowel that whole "can't"/"pass"/"bath" sort of class. I'm tentatively describing that as "tense a" rather than "ah": it seems to be (*roughly*) the same set of words in which American accents that have a split short-a system have their tense /& ^/. By Jove, I think you're right! Well, or at least it's a proper subset of that /&^/ class. That's weird, and calls to mind (FWIW) R.J. Valentine's baffling perception of my (supposedly Jamaican) pronunciation of "man" in the "catamaran" recording. Let's note that R.J. Valentine seemed to regard this perceived accent...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PassPaess/wjwqc/post.htm#716297Tue, 21 Oct 2003 15:11:48 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:716297aaron j. dinkinIt's my understanding that in U.S. dialects that don't have a tense-/& ^/ versus lax-/& / distinction, /&/ is usually tense in all contexts for Northern Cities speakers, and tense before nasals and ... context I mean 'closer to (e@) or (E@) than (&)'. What would you mean by "tense" and "lax" in general? There's nothing intrinsically "lax" about the IPA symbol (&), is ... /r/) have, which I think might be some sort of "tenseness". But I'm really not sure about this. Any idea? I'm not entirely sure, and I gather that there's some sort of uncertainty among phonologists about what exactly "tense" means in phonetic/ articulatory terms. But...http://www.englishforums.com/English/ThePopularizationSoundAmerican-English/2/wjzql/Post.htm#715730Mon, 20 Oct 2003 23:34:45 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:715730john kylejk < I think an argument could be made that you can't say /y/ (the ASCII IPA representation of the phoneme in ... that the phoneme /u/ is being realized phonetically as (y), but I'd say you're just listening in the wrong language. Actually there is a 'new' pronunciation appearing for words like dude and cool although it is not the u + umlaut which I would consider to be a high front tense unrounded vowel. The new phone seems to be either a high back tense UNROUNDED vowel or a high central unrounded vowel...but it is being said this way.http://www.englishforums.com/English/EmbeddedMispronunciations/16/whxdk/Post.htm#707607Mon, 13 Oct 2003 21:29:27 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:707607r fThere continues to be an interesting difference in pronunciation: The *Collins English Dictionary* and the *Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary* show the British pronunciation of the in to be /&/ (the vowel in "sand"). Interestingly enough, the vowels of "jan sand" in New York English do not occur in New York English pronunciations of "Manhattan": "sand" and "jan" have "tense a", while "Manhattan" is /m@n'h&t@n/ where /&/ is the lax a of "cat". (The schwa of the first syllable is a native New York speaker shibboleth.) I'm assuming that Manhattan Jan Sand is /dZ&n/, like the middle sister on The Brady Bunch , and not, say,...http://www.englishforums.com/English/ComplexityOfGrammar/6/bdjh/Post.htm#7118Fri, 05 Sep 2003 15:04:12 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:7118pemmicanHello ssittoesl! >>eg. go went gone. In Chinese, you supplement the word "GO" with additional word if you want to say someone "has gone" etc.. The integrity of the word "GO" is preserved. Hehe, interesting you just picked out a very irregular verb of the English language! The reason why "to go" is that irregular is because it consists (similar to "to be") of two different stems: The actual past form should be something like "gid", equal to "to do", but it has been replaced by the past tense form of the former strong verb "wend": to wend - went - went, which then became a weak verb: to wend - wended - wended. The reason why it has been replaced was certainly due to the fact that "went" has or had a very similar meaning...