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The logo for Wikimedia's Wiktionary project features a narrow transcription IPA of the term:enter image description here

Adding English syllabification produces [ˈwɪk.ʃənˌrɪ] (WICK-shun-rih), which I find strange. I personally pronounce it as [ˈwɪk.ʃən.ɛːɹˌi] (WICK-shun-air-ee).

I am aware that some dialects allow dropping syllables in fluent speech.

My question is about the last syllable. The ending feels quite wrong; in particular, I remember learning about a specific preclusion against lax vowels word-finally.

Is there a problem here? Is there a dialect that pronounces this word in this way? If so, what is it?

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  • Check the UK pronunciation for dictionary
    – curiousdannii ♦
    Nov 22, 2014 at 11:32
  • For the last syllable there is quite a choice for both the "r" and the "i". Some with use a tap/flap symbol or a retroflex symbol for the "r". For the "i" some will use the "short" ɪ, some will use the "normal" one with length mark i:, and some will use that symbol without the length mark due to final -y varying between the other two sounds depending on dialect and idiolect. Also when American English is transcribed in IPA it's usual to not use length marks for any vowels.
    – hippietrail
    Nov 22, 2014 at 14:54
  • @hippietrail silly questions: I'm doing a narrow surface transcription ([...]). Is not marking length marks obligatory? Relatedly, in the current answer, why is the poster using lexical transcription (/.../)?
    – imallett
    Nov 22, 2014 at 20:13
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    I'd hardly call that a 'narrow' transcription of 'wiktionary', it seems pretty phonemic to me. And it's got a word-final lax vowel, surely that's incorrect?
    – Gaston Ümlaut
    Nov 22, 2014 at 22:13
  • @GastonÜmlaut: hence my question. My transcription is, I believe/hope, more "correct" in the sense of being properly narrow.
    – imallett
    Nov 22, 2014 at 22:35

2 Answers 2

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Lax vowels generally cannot end words, but there are exceptions. A more complete rule would be that English has no stressed word-final lax vowels. The unstressed vowel /ə/ can come at the end of words like "comma" and, in non-rhotic accents such as Received Pronunciation (the traditional "posh" British accent), "letter". Another unstressed final vowel that is lax in Received Pronunciation is /ɪ/, which in this position corresponds to the sound pronounced /i/ in other varieties of English. I understand that the lax pronunciation is one of the more old-fashioned features of RP, and it isn't widely used in modern British pronunciation (the change from [ɪ] to [i] is referred to as "happy-tensing").

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  • Wow, thanks, I'll have to listen more carefully in future for this word-final [ɪ] in RP... I've never been aware of it before (I speak Oz English).
    – Gaston Ümlaut
    Nov 23, 2014 at 3:57
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The transcription /ˈdɪkʃ(ə)n(ə)ɹɪ/ is not very good either. In British “received pronunciation” you can say either /ˈdɪkʃənɹɪ/ or /ˈdɪkʃənəɹɪ/, but you cannot say */ˈdɪkʃnɹɪ/ or */ˈdɪkʃnəɹɪ/. The twice bracketed /(ə)/ is misleading.

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