Questions tagged [pronunciation]
This tag is for questions which a dictionary cannot answer about the sound, intonation, and stress of how words are uttered or produced.
755
questions
0
votes
2answers
24 views
Can “ˈproʊɡræm(program)” be pronounced “ˈproʊɡrəm”?
I learned unstressed vowel sounds sound "ə".
So, I think "proʊɡræm" can sound "proʊɡrəm" because æ is not a stressed vowel sound in the word.
Am I right?
0
votes
1answer
27 views
Should “a” vs “an” be chosen based on an expanded abbreviation? [duplicate]
The indefinite article "an" is used when the following word starts with a vowel sound. For example one write "an adjective" but "a noun".
However, when an abbreviation is used, should this be based ...
-1
votes
0answers
20 views
How do you read “set the” quickly and smoothly?
A flash of contempt set the queen’s jaw but almost instantly faded
into a serene smile.
4
votes
1answer
14 views
How to pronounce thing and thought?
My dictionary says
thing /θɪŋ/
thought /θɔːt/
but when listening to native speakers, I hear it like
thing /fɪŋ/
thought /fɔːt/
Do I hear it wrong?
32
votes
5answers
11k views
Can fluent English speakers distinguish “steel”, “still” and “steal”?
Can fluent English speakers understand this sentence, the first time they hear it :
What? They still steal steel?
Can they hear a difference between the pronunciation of the words still, steal ...
2
votes
3answers
69 views
“Close” and “Clothes” pronunciation
"Close" and "Clothes" sound the same in my ears.
Is your pronunciation different?
Did you know it through the context?
I'm curious about it.
8
votes
5answers
5k views
Are “confidant” and “confident” homophones?
Both sound like /-dənt/ to me.
Etymology:
confidant comes to English from the French word confident, and when the word first entered our language it was often spelled that way, rather than as ...
1
vote
2answers
30 views
How to tell apart a long “oh” and a long “oo”?
In this comic there's a long "ooooooh" at the end.
How can I tell if it's a long "oh" (/o/) or a long "oo" (/uː/)?
I thought it could be the 'h', but I don't think I've never seen "ooooooo" anywhere....
3
votes
1answer
26 views
pronunciation of -ed in “discharged on”
"the gun discharged on its own during the struggle"
How is d pronounced here? Is it like [t] or like [d] (especially given that the following word "on" starts with a vowel sound)?
Neither Webster, ...
0
votes
1answer
34 views
Different pronunciation for words starting with en- ( /ɪn/, /en/ and /ɪˈ/ )
Are there any guides to know when to pronounce as /ɪn/, /en/ and /ɪˈ/?
For e.g. enable, entertain, enforce
0
votes
0answers
34 views
Is the Tongue movement exactly the same while pronouncing the T in “Part of” and “Party”?
I'm speaking about the American accent. The R-flavored flapped T is very very hard to pronounce for Arabic speakers like me. I somehow managed to pronounce the T in the terms "part of" and "Sort of". ...
1
vote
1answer
21 views
How to pronounce /aʊn/?
How to tell /aʊn/ from /ɑːn/?
It is hard for me to tell the difference when listening to the words, fond and found, bond and bound. They are almost the same.
I always ignore the /ʊ/ sound in /aʊn/ in ...
0
votes
1answer
31 views
What is phonetic transcription of “uses”
I don't know exact pronunciation of these words. It's hard for me to hear what sound there is "e", "ə" or "ɪ". And on the end I suppose there is "s", possibly "z"?
verb "use" [juːz], third person ...
1
vote
1answer
36 views
what are the words used to describe pronunciations called?
Following are some examples of words that describe the pronunciation of other words. What are these descriptive words called? I tried using search but it didn't help.
hipster - hip.stuh
say -...
2
votes
2answers
52 views
Pronunciation of the prefix de- (UK / NA)
Example words:
Decode
Demilitarize
Are given in Wiktionary with a short i sound
"Dick-oh-d"
"Dim-ill-it-ugh-rise"
But I can‘t find anything in other dictionaries or examples on Youtube to back this ...
0
votes
1answer
29 views
Why does e in edition and eleven have difference sounds?
edition ɪˈdɪʃn̩
eleven ɪˈlevn̩
Edition, I hear this e sounds like a as in (a pen).
Eleven, e sounds like short e.
0
votes
0answers
48 views
Pronunciation: TH in “There”
This might be a silly question, but I've noticed that some people in the US don't pronounce their "TH's" in some words such as (This, that, the, these, those and etc...) and some other people don't ...
0
votes
1answer
25 views
help to listen what he is saying “of the order of n” or “on the order of n”?
i am confused about the discussion on this hot post.
it seems that most people believe that the professor is saying "on the order of n".
the title of the question had been forced to that though, ...
0
votes
2answers
33 views
Why is the quick sound of “took” like “chee”?
Track source
It took me nearly 20 minutes to go through the browser History on your
computer to see what movie times you looked up.
I can only hear
It chee me ...
0
votes
1answer
59 views
How do I pronounce 'toml'
I am wondering how to pronounce a toml file as it is a title. yaml is [zæ: mɛl] and I think the pronunciation is similar.
0
votes
2answers
55 views
What's the correct (British) pronuntiation of 'the'?
I've been an English student since school, however, I always feel like I'm mispronouncing the word "the".
Oxford online dictionary defines the pronuntiation of 'the' as: /ðə/, /ðiː/, /ðɪ/.
So, are ...
3
votes
5answers
93 views
American pronunciation of “second” (edited)
I'm learning American English with some online classes, and the instructor says that the 2nd vowel 'o' of "second" sounds like "/e/" in everyday conversation (e.g. "Can I talk to you for a second?"). ...
0
votes
0answers
54 views
Is a narrator's pronunciation a dialect? “How far” is the U.S pronunciation “stretching” so now?
When I was watching this video,
I was shocked the female narrator is pronouncing the one of the most distinguished honor ( therefore, I think one needs to pronounce correctly ), Pulitzer, ( as ...
2
votes
1answer
47 views
What is a “tomato word”?
In this explanation of the word myopic I get stuck by this sentence:
In terms of pronunciation: it's a tomato/tomahto word: pronounce it
"my-OP-ick" or "my-OH-pick," although that short o sound ...
2
votes
3answers
43 views
What is the right way of pronouncing “blessed”?
What is the right way of pronouncing "blessed"?
is it "blest" or "Bles-id"?
I hear people pronouncing it different ways, apparently both ways mean the same thing.
1
vote
2answers
50 views
The final /i:/ vs /i/
This is an exercise extracted from More! 2 published by Cambridge
But I can’t find any words ending with /i:/. There are 2 words which are ferry and taxi ending with /i/. I wonder if there are any ...
1
vote
1answer
31 views
How can I improve my pronunciation of the flap t sound?
I am a non native speaker from Europe (my native language is Slovenian) and I'm trying to improve my English accent and pronunciation but I'm struggling with the flap t sound. I can pronounce it in ...
0
votes
1answer
81 views
The correct pronunciation of “where is”
Is it [weriz] or [weəriz]? In case of ‘there is’ I'm almost sure there is no schwa, but I'm not sure it's the same with ‘where is’.
To avoid disambiguations I have to add that I'm interested in ...
0
votes
1answer
67 views
Correct pronunciation of EFI
Outside the UK/USA people pronounce acronym EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) in two different versions: [ɪfɪ] and [ɪ-ef-aɪ].
The first argue their pronunciation that 'I', for example, mean '...
0
votes
1answer
36 views
I need a pronunciation tip
I need to know from a native speaker whether the TH in the word "foul-mouthed" can be pronounced as F. I find it very difficult to make a D sound after the TH.
1
vote
1answer
30 views
Pronunciation of “idea”: idier? [closed]
Why they pronounce idea like "idier"?
Sometimes they do the same thing with some other words too.
1
vote
1answer
141 views
How to pronounce “walk” and “work” unambiguously
I moved (because of work) in a non-English speaking country, where pronunciation of English words / sounds can be a problem sometimes. I try to help them improve, since my level of English is much ...
0
votes
1answer
64 views
How does native English speakers pronounce “that he”?
I'm watching this Youtube video at https://youtu.be/BTMj0jlu5r8?t=190. At around 3:10, the narrator said:
... in fact that he slammed ...
He said it too fast and I can't hear how exactly he ...
2
votes
1answer
65 views
Pronunciation of the exclamation 'whew'
I know that phew and whew are both exclamations. However, I was surprised that although phew is pronounced as /fjuː/, whew is pronounced as both /hwjuː/ and /fjuː/. How can wh be pronounced like f? ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
Where does “day” sound like “die”?
I've seen that words like "day" sound like "die", "pray" sounds like "pry" and so on. I just googled where does day sound like die but didn't get anything.
So, are day and die homephones in some ...
0
votes
1answer
283 views
How is JSON pronounced? [closed]
I watched a video on https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-pronounce-JSON and read some sites, but don't understand, what letter is emphasized (accentuated, stressed): jAy sawn or jay sAwn?
0
votes
1answer
47 views
Pronunciation of the first “t” in “electromagnet”
I am an Indian student, and I must say, I have encountered a lot of variability over the pronunciation of this seemingly harmless word. I'm quite perplexed here.
Dr. Walter Lewin, a renowned physics ...
0
votes
3answers
84 views
Is it “a historical account” or “an historical account”?
I saw both of them on various books, so are both valid? Or is it just that 50% of the people are wrong?
I know it's "a universe", but I still have trouble with it. Is there a website that tells you ...
0
votes
1answer
89 views
How should I pronounce “usual”?
I've been learning English for a while, but I still can't pronounce usual well. The phonetic symbol is [ˈjuʒuəl], but [j] and [ʒ] are my troubles.
What is the pronunciation of [j] and [ʒ]?
0
votes
2answers
48 views
Pronunciation of the word 'tablet'
The pronunciation of the word 'tablet' as I found in Oxford dictionary is: [ˈtæblət]
While Google say this: ˈtablɪt.
Which one is correct?
2
votes
1answer
62 views
How Americans pronounce the T in party?
I have a simple question. I'm just asking about the direction of motion of the tongue (or the tip of the tongue).
I know that the tongue moves from the R (initial position). Then, it quickly hits the ...
0
votes
0answers
45 views
Do I need to repeat the pronoun “their” in my sentence, when describing something
I would like to describe the help and communication of some workers. I just wonder do I need to repeat the pronoun "their" in my sentence or not.
I would like to thank the staff at the university ...
0
votes
0answers
27 views
Tongue exercises helping English
I have a question about pronunciation. I've been studying English practically for my whole life, but for some reason I have such a hard time pronouncing the FLAP T.
I do know how to make it ...
0
votes
1answer
98 views
Regarding the pronunciation of “address”
pronunciation of address
I'm a post-80s. I had been keeping pronouncing it /əˈd'drɛs/ for many years until recently. Now I know its pronunciation in verb form /əˈdrɛs/ and noun form /ædrɛs/.
I ...
1
vote
1answer
48 views
Why “interference” has pronunciation of “/… fɪə …/”?
We speak "interference" as: /ɪntə'fɪər(ə)ns/. However, I do not understand why we don't say it as: /ɪntə'fɜːr(ə)ns/? Just like the word "infer". Why do we pronunce differntly about "fer" part in these ...
1
vote
1answer
36 views
how to practise pronouncing r
I have been saying the 'r' sound using my teeth and my top lips.
It sounds weak, often kinda like a 'w'.
I want to start saying it properly all the time, using my tongue.
I can do this, but find ...
1
vote
1answer
47 views
Question about the pronunciation rule of the letter G followed by e or i
In school I was taught that words with the letter G followed by i or e pronounced as [ʤ] as in the words: page, cage, large, gene, giant, giraffe, image, gel, general, gentle, etc.
With time I found ...
0
votes
1answer
51 views
English and French reading rules
Lieutenant is a word of French origin, and it is read as /lefˈtenənt/.
I've never learnt French and I don't know anything about French reading rules, unfortunately. But I guess the English reading ...
3
votes
1answer
210 views
I'm fluent in English, but I can't understand names of people and places
Ok, this is a tough one to put into words, so bear with me for a moment please. It is actually the first time I'm writing this down, and it is very difficult to explain. Long story short, I've been ...
0
votes
1answer
160 views
How to read mixed fractions? [closed]
Is it correct to read mixed fraction 35 466/635 as ' thirty five and four hundred sixty six over six hundred thirty five'?
I know we can read it as thirty five and four hundred sixty six six hundred ...
