16
votes
American English : are [ə] and [ʌ] different phonemes? (schwa vs. chevron)
This is a well-written argument, but I think it's mistaken to conclude that they are the same phoneme; or, more to the point, I think this is a case that highlights a limit of phoneme/allophone ...
- 792
15
votes
Why isn't the American r considered a vowel?
Many phonologists do consider "r" in "girl" to be a vowel, I being one. There are many reasons for people to consider it to not be a vowel. First, in "rabbit", nobody ...
- 77k
8
votes
What is the origin of counting "Mississippis"?
This style of counting is often used when the one counting aloud is in an adversarial relationship to other listeners. The addition of the "filler" word is, no doubt, at the request of the adversary ...
- 446
8
votes
AmE feature related to American multiculturalism?
As a literal and general claim, I doubt the accuracy of that statement for any native speaker (words like family, camera, potato, supposed contain syllables that are frequently subject to elision in ...
- 17.3k
7
votes
What is the story behind the pronunciation of Logic?
PIE isn't particularly relevant, because logic is a borrowed word, not a word that has been transmitted to English by inheritance from PIE.
The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest citation for the ...
- 17.3k
7
votes
Accepted
In English are there any rules to prefer the word order "rock, paper, scissors" to name the game?
In Russian, the sequence is “rock, scissors, paper”: камень, ножницы, бумага (kámen’, nóžnitsy, bumága). The most obvious reason for this very sequence is that it makes a trochaic tetrameter verse,...
- 17.3k
7
votes
Accepted
What is the term for words that were once polite and became impolite?
Pejoration is when a once-neutral word picks up negative connotations over time. A word that is marked by its negative connotations can be called a dysphemism, as in the opposite of a euphemism.
But I'...
- 60.2k
7
votes
The A sound in Ask and At
This is a difficulty with many English-specific transcription systems: they explain the notation using the author's particular dialect, but English dialects vary enormously in pronunciation. Americans ...
- 60.2k
7
votes
Unexplained /ɪl/ /ɛl/ phenomenon in American English
"Ellinois-lowering" is not idiosyncratic, and it is or has been a feature of northern Illinois and southern "Wesconsin" (at least), though not a downtown Chicago feature. The ...
- 77k
6
votes
American English speakers needing subtitles more often
My guess is that this is not a matter of the language, but rather of the sound quality.
Most films come with the original audio in (American) English where the actors speak right during the acting ...
- 6,348
6
votes
American English : are [ə] and [ʌ] different phonemes? (schwa vs. chevron)
[ə] and [ʌ] are allophones of a single phoneme. Schwa appears in an unstressed syllable and wedge appears in a stressed syllable. Because of this complementarity, it is not possible to find minimal ...
- 77k
6
votes
Glide between the words "be" and "okay"
There is a good rule for determining whether to use a [j] (like the first sound in yes) or [w] to link two words like this. The first thing you need to know is that the choice depends on the first ...
- 3,592
6
votes
Minimal Pairs Highlighting the Difference between American and British English
The problem is that "minimal pair" refers to two distinct words in one language signified by the choice of one vs. another sound. So minimal pairs are not what you want. You want a list of "same word"...
- 77k
6
votes
Accepted
Does English have syllabic fricatives (allophonically)?
It is well documented that a schwa can be very reduced, and significantly decreased in duration so that it is under 20 msc. The amplitude of the vowel is significantly greater than that of preceding [...
- 77k
5
votes
Accepted
proper terms for tipper and dipper S articulation
The technical terms in articulatory phonetics for "tipper" and "dipper" are apical and laminal.
They are both voiceless alveolar fricatives (IPA: [s]), but since "alveolar" only describes the passive ...
- 4,805
5
votes
Accepted
Does the southern pronunciation of Jenny have a triphthong in it?
Phonetically, I would say no.
Here's a plot of this final vowel (taken from about 12.75 seconds into the linked video). It's not a great plot, since the recording quality I'm using isn't great, but ...
- 60.2k
5
votes
The A sound in Ask and At
The presence of ask in the pronunciation key in question is either accounting for accents of both Northern and Southern England, where the word has the same vowel as at and arm, respectively, simply ...
- 4,805
5
votes
Do sentences have primary and secondary stresses?
No, this is a common misconception.
When considering languages like English, it's a good idea to distinguish from the outset concepts such as 'stress' (in connected speech), 'accent', and 'nucleus' (...
- 3,592
4
votes
Where is American English not chosen as the dialect of English taught as a second language?
There is generally no single policy across different countries as to what English is taught across the board. Countries in Europe and Asia default to British English - the most popular textbooks (...
- 10.6k
4
votes
Are American English and British English growing closer together or drifting further apart?
I could find no studies looking at the closeness of British and American dialects of English. But I would say that the question is formulated too nebulously to make it possible to answer easily.
...
- 10.6k
4
votes
American English : are [ə] and [ʌ] different phonemes? (schwa vs. chevron)
Your question doesn't really have an answer.
For me, there is a contrast between the weak form of just meaning recently, /dʒəst/, and the word just meaning fair, /dʒʌst/.
I use the weak form of just ...
- 373
4
votes
American English : are [ə] and [ʌ] different phonemes? (schwa vs. chevron)
For a minimal pair to contrast /ə/ and /ʌ/, how about: "subversion" meaning an act of subverting, and "subversion" as in version 1 subversion 1.2.
- 602
4
votes
The ate-eight split?
There are obscure British accents where words spelled with eigh like eight can have a different vowel from words spelled with "long a" like late or words spelled with ay/ai/ey/ei. This is not ...
- 17.3k
4
votes
The ate-eight split?
In England the “Received Pronunciation” (RP) of “ate” is [ɛt], so it is not the same as “eight” [eit]. But the difference that you make, and that you perceive, is clearly based on the orthography: ...
- 23.4k
4
votes
What is the pronunciation of English word "feeling" in General American accent? The normal sound [ˈfilɪŋ] or add the "l" sound, [ˈfiɫ lɪŋ]?
The thing you call "double l" is more generally known as "dark l", and this topic has been researched (inconclusively) for decades. The classic study of the question is Sproat & Fujimura 1993 "...
- 77k
4
votes
Can medial /t/ and /d/ before syllabic /n/ be distinguished easily?
In most dialects of American English, medial /t/ and /d/ are indistinguishable in most environments: both are realized as [ɾ].
Before a syllabic /n̩/, however, they remain distinct: /t/ becomes ...
- 60.2k
4
votes
is american English wrong because i heard people said the British is correct?
Both are dialects of the same language. It's impossible to establish which one is 'correct' scientifically. That's a matter of taste. The Received Pronunciation (a.k.a. standard British English) tends ...
- 141
3
votes
American English speakers needing subtitles more often
your America friends are having fun with you. Nobody does this, unless they have hearing problems, the soundtrack is muddy, or they're in a noisy environment like a bar. native speakers of American ...
- 437
3
votes
Why is the word "Puyallup" difficult for most English speakers to pronounce?
Do you mean hard to pronounce after hearing how it's pronounced or after just seeing it written? If the latter, I must say as a Brit who's never seen that name before, I wonder how to break the word ...
- 395
3
votes
What is the cause of difference between British and American pronunciation?
Phonetic changes ("sound changes") are generally arbitrary (or done under the influence of other languages, but we'll just say arbitrary for now, at least on the surface, and definitely for our needs ...
- 1,387
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