The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

[linguoboy]

Cairo

Depends whether you mean the city in Egypt or the city in Little Egypt (i.e. Southern Illinois). The first is /ˈkai.roː/, the second is /ˈker.oː/.

[Qxentio]

I recently noticed I have at least three possible pronunciations for the German word "eigentlich":
[ˈa͡ɪ.gənt.lɪç]
[ˈa͡ɪŋ.kɪç]
[äɪ̃ç]
Those last two contractions are pretty unusual, I'd say

[jal]

Those last two contractions are pretty unusual, I'd say

You think so? They seem rather straightforward (comparable to how Dutch "natuurlijk" is contracted from [natyːrlək] to [tyk]).


JAL

[hwhatting]

"eigentlich": [ˈa͡ɪŋ.kɪç]

The [k] is unusual. I hear [ˈa͡ɪŋ.lɪç] all the time and say it myself.

[jal]

"eigentlich": [ˈa͡ɪŋ.kɪç]

The [k] is unusual. I hear [ˈa͡ɪŋ.lɪç] all the time and say it myself.

I could imagine the [t] shifting backwords after the [ŋ], though I would also expect a [k] to shift to the front because of the [ɪ]. So all in all I'd expect a [c], perhaps with a letteral release because of the [l].


JAL

[Qxentio]

The [k] is unusual. I hear [ˈa͡ɪŋ.lɪç] all the time and say it myself.

I could imagine the [t] shifting backwords after the [ŋ], though I would also expect a [k] to shift to the front because of the [ɪ]. So all in all I'd expect a [c], perhaps with a letteral release because of the [l].

Now that I think about it, I'm starting to notice a pattern in my speech. This is definitely only occurs in colloquial speech, possibly very regionally limited.
möglich [ˈmøː.kɪç]
ekelig [ˈeː.kɪç]
abträglich [ˈapˌtreː.kɪç]
hauptsächlich [ˈhɒ͜ʊp.zɛ.çɪç]
My idiolect (and at least that of my close family) seems to hate /l/. It disappears or gets vocalized everywhere except word-initially. This contraction is weird because the stop shifts to the onset of the next syllable, but it is still devoiced. This can't be assimilation or merging either, since /l/ itself is voiced.

[hwhatting]

I don't think I ever heard of [l] vanishing in environments like that in any variety of German. What region are you from?

[Qxentio]

I don't think I ever heard of [l] vanishing in environments like that in any variety of German. What region are you from?

Region Hannover. My father is also from that area, my mother is from southern Lower Saxony.
According to wikipedia, vocalization of [l] before [ç] is common in colloquial speech around Hamburg. This is definitely true for my own speech as well; "Seuche" and "solche" sound the same, for example. But it goes further than that. As a kid, I had trouble telling apart "Heide" and "Halde". "mal" was /maː/ to me, and apparently, /k.l/ becomes /.k/

[hwhatting]

Region Hannover. My father is also from that area, my mother is from southern Lower Saxony.
According to wikipedia, vocalization of [l] before [ç] is common in colloquial speech around Hamburg. This is definitely true for my own speech as well; "Seuche" and "solche" sound the same, for example.

Yes, that's not so strange, and vokalization of [l] in an eviroment VlC has happened in several languages I know.

"mal" was /maː/ to me,

On its own, that wouldn't be remarkable (the [l] is dropped frequently in that specific word, especially when it's unaccented), but together with the other features you mention yours is quite an interesting treatment of [l].

[linguoboy]

Region Hannover. My father is also from that area, my mother is from southern Lower Saxony.
According to wikipedia, vocalization of [l] before [ç] is common in colloquial speech around Hamburg. This is definitely true for my own speech as well; "Seuche" and "solche" sound the same, for example.

Yes, that's not so strange, and vokalization of [l] in an eviroment VlC has happened in several languages I know.

Vocalisation to [ɪ̯] is a change in progress in some Swiss varieties, but those of course lack [ç].

[Qxentio]

Vocalisation to [ɪ̯] is a change in progress in some Swiss varieties, but those of course lack [ç].

Well I was born in Munich, but we moved away from there before I could even speak. Neither my elder brother nor my parents picked up any Bavarian speech habits, as far as I'm aware. Vocalization of L frequently happens in that dialect as well. It's usually depicted as <u> in written Bavarian.
In my idiolect, /l/ turns into [ː] (lengthening of the previous vowel), [ə̯], [ɪ̯], [ɰ], or something along those lines.

[ˈd̪ʲɛ.gɔ kɾuˑl̪]

I have l-vocalisation in only one word, tylko ("only"), but it can be similar to that disappearance of l in the translation of this word for some native speakers, just a simplification of a frequent word.

Aussies, would you be so kind and give your pronunciations of my last list? Thanks

Are there any dialects or registers of British English having t and/or d flapping? I ask because there are Anne-Marie and Ed Sheeran among a few singers I listen to and they sometimes flap these stops; they may also have acquired it from their friends from other English speaking regions.

[finlay]

People do it sporadically, especially for /d/. It's a really easy feature to pick up that's not hugely stigmatized (compared to glottal stops at least), especially if you often hang out with Americans/Australians or you've spent a lot of time overseas.

Singers tend to use American accents regardless

[ˈd̪ʲɛ.gɔ kɾuˑl̪]

Singers tend to use American accents regardless

Yeah, I noticed that, but for most of the time they have some British-like features, for example non-rhoticity ascend and specific vowel qualities so I thought this might have already reached your country.

[Sumelic]

Are there any dialects or registers of British English having t and/or d flapping? I ask because there are Anne-Marie and Ed Sheeran among a few singers I listen to and they sometimes flap these stops; they may also have acquired it from their friends from other English speaking regions.

John Wells's blog has a post about one kind of t-to-r change (not really conventional t-flapping) that occurs dialectally in British English:
http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2010/12/t-to-r.html

In the comments, some people also talk about American-style t-flapping and how it can occur in certain contexts.

[Imralu]

Aussies, would you be so kind and give your pronunciations of my last list? Thanks

I'll do my best:

only - [ˈäʉ̯n.ɫɪi̯]
fool - [fʊːɫ ~ fʊːu̯]
again [ə.ˈge̞n]
direct [də.ˈɹe̞k̚tʰ]
direction [də.ˈɹe̞k̚.ʃən]
party [ˈpäː.ɾɪi̯]
four [foː ~ foːɐ̯]]
Cairo [ˈkʰɑe̯.ɹäʉ̯]
tsunami [(t)sʉˑ.ˈnäː.mɪi̯]
lose [ɫʉːz]
loose [ɫʉˑs]
ten [tʰe̞n]
teen [tʰɪi̯ːn]
kin [kʰɪn]
good [gʊd̚]
bald [boːɫd̚ ~ boːu̯d̚]
bold [bɔːɫd̚ ~ bɔːu̯d̚]
fork [foːk̚]

The unreleased stops can be released if the word is given in isolation or finally or especially if speaking clearly. Final /k/ can become ejective.

[Salmoneus]

Singers tend to use American accents regardless

Yeah, I noticed that, but for most of the time they have some British-like features, for example non-rhoticity ascend and specific vowel qualities so I thought this might have already reached your country.

It's not exactly that people adopt an American accent per se, in most cases*. It's more that they adopt American features, while leaving some features native - indeed, sometimes they may adopt other British English features that aren't native to them as well (there being some covert prestige in an Urban accent).

*some do, particularly in certain genres. I've noticed for instance that Hugh Laurie puts on a strong American accent when singing, probably because he's into jazz/blues.

[Travis B.]

Singers tend to use American accents regardless

Yeah, I noticed that, but for most of the time they have some British-like features, for example non-rhoticity ascend and specific vowel qualities so I thought this might have already reached your country.

It's not exactly that people adopt an American accent per se, in most cases*. It's more that they adopt American features, while leaving some features native - indeed, sometimes they may adopt other British English features that aren't native to them as well (there being some covert prestige in an Urban accent).

*some do, particularly in certain genres. I've noticed for instance that Hugh Laurie puts on a strong American accent when singing, probably because he's into jazz/blues.

Conversely, it should be noted that when singing many Americans adopt features such as non-rhoticism and an open HAPPY vowel when they natively are rhotic and have a close HAPPY vowel.

[Imralu]

A lot of singers turn the HAPPY vowel into something like [e] or even [E] and pronouncing it as [ i ] seems weird to me, like if the person's singing is not amazing, that will make it sound worse.

How did this start?

[Znex]

Aussies, would you be so kind and give your pronunciations of my last list? Thanks.

only: [əʉ̯̃ɫi]
fool: [ˈfʊu̯]
again: [ə'gɛ̃n]
direct: [dʐ̩'ɻʷɛkt]
direction: [dʐ̩'ɻʷɛkʃn̩]
party: [ˈpʰɐ:ɾi]
four: [fo:]
Cairo: [kʰɐɪə̯˞]
tsunami: [sʉ̃:nɐ̃:mi]
lose: [ɫʉ:z]
loose: [ɫʉ:s]
ten: [tʰɛ̃n]
teen: [tʰɪĩ̯n]
kin: [kʰɪ̃n]
good: [gʊd̚]
bald: [bɔʊd̚]
bold: [bɔʊd̚]
fork: [fo:k]

[jal]

Now that we're talking about singing, I've noticed (though, given my bad hearing, I may be totally wrong), that /h/ often gets voiced to [ɦ]. Is that a thing?


JAL

[Pole, the]

A lot of singers turn the HAPPY vowel into something like [e] or even [E] and pronouncing it as [ i ] seems weird to me, like if the person's singing is not amazing, that will make it sound worse.

How did this start?

Isn't “baby” pronounced/sung as /beɪbɛ/ most of the time anyway?

[linguoboy]

A lot of singers turn the HAPPY vowel into something like [e] or even [E] and pronouncing it as [ i ] seems weird to me, like if the person's singing is not amazing, that will make it sound worse.

How did this start?

Could it be related to the lack of happy tensing in Southern American English? I can easily see lowering the [ɪ] to [e] to make it more salient in singing.

[ˈd̪ʲɛ.gɔ kɾuˑl̪]

Silesia
Polish
Cracow/Krakow
Moscow
Warsaw
Saint Petersburg
Yekaterinburg
Omsk
Bryansk
Lipetsk
Smolensk
Pskov
Lodz/Łódź
Gdańsk
Lviv
Budapest
Ljubljana
Košice
Skopje
Aarhus
I know it may be too long, but there's just too many names which can't be so easily adapted into English phonotactics by me, a person having more complicated one. It's sorta ask for help.

[linguoboy]

I love spelling "Łódź" for English-speakers and then asking them how to pronounce it.