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.
794
questions
2
votes
1answer
31 views
How to differentiate pairs like “an occupied territory” and “unoccupied territory” in speech
The noun "territory" can be both countable and uncountable, so "an occupied territory" and "unoccupied territory" are both complete noun phrases. The first vowels of the noun phrases are both schwa ...
0
votes
1answer
31 views
How to pronounce grades in US and UK schools?
Grades in school reports are expressed through letters followed or not by a sign like "plus" or "minus". Please how do you pronounce grades like A+ or A-, B+ or C-? I have also heard the phrase "...
0
votes
0answers
5 views
Software to check pronunciation automatically? [migrated]
As a non-native English learner, I wonder if there is some software that can check the pronunciation automatically: a user speaks into it, and the program reports some type of assessment, like “you ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
Pronunciation problem : The word data : Is it pronounced dā-tə, or ˈda?
Recently our Educational Ministry is trying to change the way how to evaluate the English skill of candidates of university tests and it hit on Yahoo! Japan's main page.
A comment says, in American ...
0
votes
1answer
71 views
How can I pronounce “quarter”?
I watched many YouTube videos and they seem to pronunce the first part of "Quarter" exactly the same as "core". It seems that the A is silent reading. Am I correct? Are there any accents that ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
Is **calculatabe**a spoken mistake?
It sounds like the lecturer is saying
how many of these are
actually calculatabe from others ...
I didn't find this word in cambridge dictionary
Is this a spoken mistake? which should be ...
0
votes
0answers
41 views
“Waiting” pronunciation like “Wedding”?
Is there any dialect of American English, where "Waiting" is pronounced as "Wedding"?
1
vote
1answer
53 views
Is there any rule for pronouncing the suffix “-less”
I found that the suffix "-less" can have different pronunciations, for example:
borderless /ˈbɔːdələs/
hopeless /ˈhəʊplɪs/
helpless /ˈhɛlplɛs/
So, is there any rule for the pronunciation ...
2
votes
1answer
76 views
If I learn British English, should I stop talking with Americans?
I had the opportunity to speak with several native speakers, It's fun, and they learn my native language, the problem is that several of my language partners speak with an American accent and the ...
0
votes
0answers
48 views
Why is “rival” pronounced different to “pivot”?
In English language, open and closed syllable vowels are pronounced differently even when spelled similarly. This is probably the first rule every student learns about pronunciation.
Several examples ...
0
votes
0answers
54 views
Minimal pairs for i vs ɪ and is there an important difference?
According to a vowel question in Linguistic SE, English can be considered to have vowels [i ɪ e ɛ æ ɑ ɔ o ʊ u ʌ] which can be reduced to [i e æ ɑ o u ʌ] (plus an orthogonal length or ...
1
vote
1answer
55 views
How do you make the flap t sound as in the words city and letter
I'm having a hard time figuring out the right placement and motions of the tongue when making this consonant. I watched a few videos on this topic. People say that in order to make the sound you don't ...
0
votes
1answer
36 views
Why does the addition of a letter modify the sound of the beginning of this word?
Take these three words:
Soup
Super
Supper
The first two words, Soup and Super both begin with the same sound: soo. However the addition of a p in supper changes the pronunciation from soo to suh (...
0
votes
0answers
34 views
Words whose pronunciations change in sentence
How/where can I find the list of words whose pronunciations depend on the next word in the sentence, like the?
1
vote
0answers
29 views
Wind in “They're going through a tight wind”
I'm a bit confused about the pronunciation and meaning of wind,
in the song Bltizkrieg Bop
there is this line:
"They're going through a tight wind"
I hear it pronounced "waɪnd" like in the verb.
...
0
votes
1answer
60 views
Pronunciation of English phonemes together to clearly say a word
How are the individual English phonemes pronounced to make a whole word? How are they joined in speech to give correct pronunciation?
0
votes
1answer
70 views
Pronunciation of 'lunch'
I believe that I can pronounce the words 'call' and 'balloon'
"a" in call sounds like "o". To me, there is no difference between "a" in balloon and "u" in lunch. How can we distinguish between them?
0
votes
1answer
39 views
Does “that” have a schwa
https://youtu.be/htmkbIboG9Q?t=481 claims that "that" has a schwa sound.
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/that
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/that
https://...
2
votes
3answers
172 views
Pronunciation of “kids”
Is "kids" pronounced [kidz] (the same /z/ of "zebra", voiced) or [kids] (the same /s/ of "star", unvoiced) ? I have always heard and pronounced the latter, but I have just seen the former in ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
About pronunciation of 't+you'
In case of pronuncing "support you", I thougt connecting 't' to 'y' makes a 'ʧ' sound, so that It's sound like "səˈpɔːrtʃu".
but I found many videos in which It's sounded like "səˈpɔːr u".
Which ...
2
votes
3answers
85 views
How to pronounce T in 'not enough'?
My native language is Croatian and I have been listening to A. J. Hoge who is a teacher from San Francisco. What I hear when he says "not enough" is "norinaf". How would one pronounce it?
There are a ...
0
votes
0answers
24 views
Is the word “I'm” pronounced like /ʌm/ or /əm/, instead of /aɪm/, when it is unstressed?
Is the word "I'm" pronounced like /ʌm/ or /əm/, instead of /aɪm/, when it is unstressed? https://vocaroo.com/i/s0aH2YlO4tRU
0
votes
1answer
30 views
What is the pronunciation of the prefix “RE-” (which mean “again or back”) in a word, /ri:/ or /rɪ/?
Is there any rule to pronounce the prefix "re-" (again or back) in a word?
Because sometimes it's pronounced as /ri:/ like in reread, reapply, rebuil, relive, remarry, rejoin,...
and sometimes it's ...
0
votes
1answer
50 views
Mispronounce dʒ as tʃ - Do native English speakers do that sometimes?
I hear dʒ is pronounced as tʃ in these examples:
J in "jailed" of the sentenence the Judge jailed Jokesters in jucy jails (from this video on youtube)
J in job (from Oxford Dictionary)
J in judge (...
3
votes
1answer
54 views
How to pronounce 'gotta'?
How to pronounce 'gotta'? With 'R' or with 'D'?
You've gotta be kidding.
You've - gara - be kidding.
or
You've - gada - be kidding.
1
vote
2answers
69 views
How to pronounce the phrase “an unreliable person”?
As I mentioned in the topic, I'm confused about how to pronounce "an unreliable person" in a native way, because when I pronounce them seperately, such as an un, I think it sounds a little bit ...
0
votes
1answer
40 views
When the word “our” is unstressed, is it pronounced like /ʌɹ/ or /əɹ/?
When the word "our" is unstressed, is it pronounced like /ʌɹ/ or /əɹ/? For example: https://vocaroo.com/i/s0uXE3Gaahqm
0
votes
1answer
31 views
When the word “want” is unstressed, is it pronounced like /wənt/ or /wʌnt/?
When the word "want" is unstressed, is it pronounced like /wənt/ or /wʌnt/?
https://vocaroo.com/i/s1nUhAfWsc9k
1
vote
1answer
72 views
Is the word “homophone” misleading?
I remember a language learning app that claimed to help users to distinguish between the words like right-write, break-brake, heal-heel, principle-principal, etc.
However, I have long known them as ...
0
votes
1answer
18 views
How do I read “off of” naturally?
He brushes a lock of hair off of my cheek.
Either I should make a break between "off" and "of" or read them linked "offov"?
0
votes
0answers
16 views
How do I read “don't take” in a linked way with American accent?
I don’t take too kindly to people telling me what to do.
I'm aware of the rule for double t of reading in linked way -- t t turns to d.
But here I think "don't take" turns to "don't dake" would be a ...
0
votes
0answers
33 views
Confusion with /e/ sound
An exercise from English pronunciation in use (Elementary), J. Marks:
Seven of these numbers have /e/. Which are they?
Three, seven, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty,...
0
votes
1answer
28 views
schwa sound /mən/ sounds like /mæn/ in some dialects?
Most of the dictionaries online pronounce the word fireman the way I expected, but one of them's American pronunciation sounds like /ˈfaɪə(r)mæn/ even though the IPA is still /ˈfaɪə(r)mən/.
Is ...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
Is there a phrase sounds like “sub this straight keen”?
In this video, it sounds as if the lecturer is saying:
...sub this straight keen
A few seconds later, he then says
...so we're taking our function and subbing it in 3
X plus Delta X...
Now ...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
Which one is the correct pronunciation of “the”, before the word “amount”, [ði:] or [ðə]?
What we are taught at school is that
"the" before vowel pronounce as a long "thee" [ði:]
It sounds that the lecturer is saying [ðə]
we can then say that the gradient of this line is equal to the ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
AmE vowel pronunciation dilemma
I can't figure out how to spell vowels in AmE. I generally prefer to pronounce "o" letter as "ɑ" as well as sometimes "ə". But it is done intuitively irrespective of any rule. I think there must be an ...
0
votes
0answers
36 views
About “dark l” sound in daily conversation
Could you please tell me that if you really make the dark l sound in words like “call” “wall” “fall” or “hole” in daily conversation, like you can feel the movement of your tongue, or just do it when ...
0
votes
0answers
17 views
EE or IH Sounds
Does it seem to me that in some songs words are pronounced differently?
for example (instead of ɪ is heard i) Like in the hook of Vince Staples - Lift Me Up
0
votes
0answers
27 views
Question about the pronunciation of “governance”
I looked the work governance up in dictionary and all dictionaries state its pronunciation is [ˈgʌvənəns] or [ˈgʌvərnəns]. However, I have several dictionaries that have audio and I can clearly hear ...
1
vote
2answers
69 views
How to pronounce this character `^`
this character ^ could be typed by shift + 6, usually means powers of some number, the question is
How to pronounce this character ^?
0
votes
0answers
25 views
Is “is” pronounced “ɪs” or “s” before the unvoiced sounds?
My dictionary says "is" is pronounced "ɪs" or "s" when it's before the unvoiced sounds except two unvoiced sounds "s" and "ʃ". (Also, It says "is" is pronounced "ɪz" or "z" when it's before the voiced ...
5
votes
2answers
250 views
Difficulty pronouncing “maths”, “baths”, “hundredths”, “sixths”
My native language lacks dental fricatives, as does the variety of English commonly spoken in my country ("Dis is a ting."). Within a month or so I have to learn how to speak in a way that's ...
0
votes
2answers
33 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
38 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
29 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?
34
votes
6answers
12k views
Can fluent English speakers distinguish between “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, and ...
2
votes
3answers
176 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
35 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
28 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, ...
