The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

[KathTheDragon]

I'm pretty sure no one has ever pronounced the n in 'autumn' in English.

I think you underestimate the power of spelling pronunciation.

Also sirdanilot's ability to do very weird things with English.

kn̩sɪdɜ
pʌɪθn̩
məʊdɛm
əʊʃn̩
əʊsijænɪk
ɔ:tm̩

[sirdanilot]

For a non nativespeaker, spelling pronunciation is often the only option.

But honstely I can't remember ever needing to pronounce 'autumn'. Keep in mind that I don't actually SPEAK Engliish a lot, only if I need to give a presentation in which I won't need words like these, or when speaking to a non-dutch person. But i don't speak a lot to non-dutch people other than my family with whom I don't speak english but portuguese.

[Zaarin]

[ˈoʊʃn̩]
[oʊʃiˈænɪk]
['ɑɾəm] (yes, there's a schwa there for me, not a syllabic nasal--though it may be closer to [ʌ̆])

[L'alphabētarium]

I was interested in knowing how other people (whether they are native or non-native speakers of English) treat the final [n] in words like: autumn, solemn, hymn, etc.
I (a non-native speaker) have the urge to pronounce it; much like the final in bomb, numb, lamb, etc. I almost never do either anymore, since it is considered wrong in -I think- all English variants. It still feels kinda off to me, though...
I guess I'm still not 100% used to it.

As for the ocean vs oceanic, I know [c] in ocean is a [ʃ] for pretty much everyone. However, do people retain the [ʃ] sound in oceanic as well or alveolarise it to [s]?

[Sumelic]

I was interested in knowing how other people (whether they are native or non-native speakers of English) treat the final [n] in words like: autumn, solemn, hymn, etc.

Well, as I said earlier, it seems possible some native speakers, and a fair amount of non-natives, would pronounce the /n/ due to influence from the spelling, but the standard pronunciation is without /n/, and for most speakers a word-final /mn/ cluster doesn't really fit into the basic phonology of English. It's not especially hard to pronounce, but it doesn't feel natural.

I (a non-native speaker) have the urge to pronounce it; much like the final in bomb, numb, lamb, etc. I almost never do either anymore, since it is considered wrong in -I think- all English variants. It still feels kinda off to me, though...
I guess I'm still not 100% used to it.

I think אקֿמך ארש-הגִנו said on the CBB (he's Ahzoh there) that he pronounces "comb" with a /b/ at the end, and I think he's a native speaker. I've never met anyone who does IRL.

[opipik]

autumn ocean oceanic consider

[ˈɔːtʰəm ɔʊʃn̩ ɔʊs̠iənɪk kʰɑ̝̈nˈsɪɾə~kʰɑ̝̈nˈsɪdə]

I'm not a native speaker of English so I can have some weird pronunciations.

____

How do you pronounce
comb
come

____
For me, it is:

comb, come

[kʰɑ̝ˑm͊~kʰɑ̝ˑm, kʰɑm]

[ol bofosh]

autumn [ˈoː.tʰəm]
ocean [ˈɜʉ.ʃən]
oceanic [ɜʉ.ʃɪi̯.ˈæ.nɪ̈k]
comb [kʰɜʉm]
come [kʰɐm]

And approximately girlfriend's pronounciation:
ˈɔ.təm
ˈo.ʃən
o.ˈʃjä.nik
komb~kowm*
kʌm

*her reading and hearing interpretation, repectively.

[vokzhen]

python [pʰəɪ̯θän]
modem [mɵʊ̯ɾ(ə)m]
autumn [ɒɾ(ə)m]
ocean [ɵʊ̯ʃn̩]
oceanic [ɵʊ̯ʃi'eə̯ɾ̃ɪˀk] (I think that /n/'s flapped, at least)
comb [kʰɵʊ̯m]
come [kʰəm]
Didn't mark vowel nasalization, but they all have it on the previous vowel (except ocean, obviously).

[Zaarin]

comb [kʰoʊm]
come [kʰʌm]
python [ˈpʰaɪ̯ˌθan] (the stress here is kind of weird, but I feel like both syllables are stressed pretty close to equally with only slightly greater stress on the first syllable)

[Matrix]

autumn [ˈɑ.ɾʌm]
ocean [ˈoʊ̯.ʃn̩]
oceanic [oʊ̯.ʃi.ˈæn.ɪk]
comb [koʊ̯m]
come [kʌm]

[KathTheDragon]

I was interested in knowing how other people (whether they are native or non-native speakers of English) treat the final [n] in words like: autumn, solemn, hymn, etc.

Well, as I said earlier, it seems possible some native speakers, and a fair amount of non-natives, would pronounce the /n/ due to influence from the spelling, but the standard pronunciation is without /n/, and for most speakers a word-final /mn/ cluster doesn't really fit into the basic phonology of English. It's not especially hard to pronounce, but it doesn't feel natural.

Note, though, the word "autumnal" ɔtʌmnl̩ which might have some impact.

[echt]

What's odd is that the N is pronounced in "autumnal", "damnation", "solemnize", "hymnal", "columnist", but never pronounced in "damning", "hymned", "columned".

[vokzhen]

What's odd is that the N is pronounced in "autumnal", "damnation", "solemnize", "hymnal", "columnist", but never pronounced in "damning", "hymned", "columned".

Have a feeling this is just analogical leveling of inflected forms without affecting derived forms, which doesn't seem too odd to me. I've gotta say though, without ever having heard it pronounced before, I think I'd be tempted to level the N right out of solemnize too.

[Sumelic]

What's odd is that the N is pronounced in "autumnal", "damnation", "solemnize", "hymnal", "columnist", but never pronounced in "damning", "hymned", "columned".

It may seem odd just looking at the orthography, but */hɪmnd/ and */kɒləmnd/ seem even weirder to me from an English-phonology perspective than */kɒləmn/ on its own. And the hypothetical pair /hɪm, *hɪmnd/ would also be a very odd relationship between past and present verb forms for English.

Regarding the -ing form, this verb form can always be formed regularly in English by appending /ɪŋ/ to the bare infinitive of a (non-defective) verb, without any stem changes. It would be weirder IMO if these verbs had two distinct stems, one with a dropped consonant and one that included the consonant. That's a common pattern in French verb morphology, but it's not at all normal for English verbs.

I would say the <n> in the verbs is purely orthographic, but if you try hard enough you could probably create some bullshit synchronic analysis that it's not expressed yet somehow underlyingly there à la "The Sound Pattern of English".

Oh, here's another word for the thread: "phonemic".

[echt]

All right, I suppose it's not so odd. But it's cute, at least.

[vampireshark]

Here's some approximations as to how I pronounce these words.
autumn: [ˈɔtʰm̩]
ocean: [ˈoʊ̯ʃɨn]
oceanic: [ˈoʊ̯ʃiˌʔanɪk]
comb: [ˈkʰoʊ̯m]
come: [ˈkʰʌm]

Also, I'm curious about how you all'd pronounce the word Arkansas.

[----]

[ɑɹkɨn(t)sɑ:]

[Matrix]

[fənˈim.ɪk]
[ˈɑɹ.kn̩.sɑ]

[ol bofosh]

What's odd is that the N is pronounced in "autumnal", "damnation", "solemnize", "hymnal", "columnist", but never pronounced in "damning", "hymned", "columned".

In columist I don't say the /n/, and I'd be tempted to leave it out of solemnize (not a familiar word). Autumnal, damnation and hymnal do have /n/.

My girlfriend adds the b in lamb and bomb.

Edit:
[ˈɐː.ən.sɔː]
[fə.ˈnɪi̯.mɪ̈k]

[KathTheDragon]

fəni:mɪk
ɑ:kænzəs, but I've heard it's supposed to be more like ɑ:kn̩sɔ:, or something really weird like that.

[opipik]

phonemic Arkansas

[fɔo̯nɘmɪk~fʌ̈ʊnəmɪk] [ɑː(˞)kənz̥ɐ(s)]

[Bristel]

[foʊˈnɛmˌɪk]
[ɑrˌkənˈsɑ]

[sirdanilot]

I used to pronounce Arkansas as [ɑɹˈkʰæ̃nsəs] but I learned that it is actually prounced [ˈɑɹkæ̃nsɑː]

[Travis B.]

Okay, now, how do you pronounce Oconomowoc? (Hint, you can pronounce it with either three or four different vowel phonemes, with the careful pronunciation having four.)

[Bristel]

Okay, now, how do you pronounce Oconomowoc? (Hint, you can pronounce it with either three or four different vowel phonemes, with the careful pronunciation having four.)

[okanəmoʊwɑk]?