The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

[Rui]

How about cumin? I swear every person I know pronounces it a different way.

I have [kʰjɪ̯uːmɨn], but I've heard non-yod pronunciations, so I was curious

[----]

I have that word as [cʰɨu̯mɨn]. The /j/ is there phonemically, but it disappears in the actual pronunciation.

[Rui]

Yeah, I'm not so sure about the actual quality of mine, but it's definitely there. It sounds like a [j] followed by a very short front-ish vowel before the [u:], but that could just mean it's [ɪ̯u] and not [jɪ̯u]. But yeah, I have a /j/ there

[Travis B.]

cumin: /ˈkjumɪn/ > [ˈk̟ʰjʉ̯̃ũmɨ̃(ː)n]

[Christopher Schröder]

Cumin — /kjum.ɪn/ — ['kjum.ɨn] or possibly [kjum.ɨ̃n]

My Grandmother says something like /kum.ɪn/ — something rather like ['ku:.mən] — her [u:] is about the same Length as my [ju], but it is completely yodless.

[Bob Johnson]

probably
particularly
valuable

[Rui]

probably
particularly
valuable

[ˈpʰɹɑ.bɐ.bɫi] (I used to pronounce it [pʰɹɑ.bɐ.ɫi] when I was little, but then I got made fun of in school for it so I started saying it with the second )
[pɐ.ˈtʰɪ.kjɐ.ɫəɹ.ɫi] (note the lack of rhotic. In careful speech it's there, though)
[ˈvæɰ.jə.bɫ̩]

[----]

[pʰɹaβ̞əbɫi ~ pʰɹabɫi]
[væɯ̯jəbʟ̩]

The word 'particularly' is kind of hard for me to say, so I don't usually say it, and if I do, it's slower than I usually say words. I don't think it's a very good example of my speech to put here because I always strongly enunciate it.

[Astraios]

[pʰɹɑ(β̞)l̩i]
[ptˢɪʔ̚çəli]
[ʋaɯ̯ɪ̯əbo]

Or something.

[Lyra]

probably
particularly
valuable

['pʰɹɔβlɪ]
[pʰɹ'tʰɪklɹlɪ]
['væjəbɫ]

~Lyra

[Travis B.]

probably: /ˈprai/ > [ˈpʰɰˤɑːi(ː)] or /ˈprali/ > [ˈpʰɰˤɑːɰi(ː)]
particularly: /pʌrˈtɪkjələrli/ > [pʰʌʁˤˈtʰɪʔkjɯ̞ːɰʁ̩ˤːɰi(ː)]
valuable: /ˈvɛljəbəl/ > [ˈvɛːɤ̯jəːb̥ɯ̞(ː)]

[jmcd]

The first two of these have a significant different between the careful version and the casual version (the second one is probably idiosyncratic):
probably:
careful: pɾɔbəbɫe
casual: pɾɔbɫe
particularly:
careful: pɐɾtɪkjʉɫɐɾɫe
casual: pɐtɘç(ə)ɫe

The third one's nothing special though:
valuable: vaɫjʌbəɫ

[communistplot]

probably
particularly
valuable

probably [pʋɔbliɪ̯]
particularly [pɑətɪkjuəli]
valuable [væljʊbl̥] or [væljʊbəʊ̯]

[clawgrip]

My best guess:

probably: [pʰɹɑːbəbli ~ pʰɹɑˁːɫi]
particularly: [pʰɚtʰɪːkjəɫɚːɫi ~ pʰtʰɪːkʲɫɚːɫi]
valuable: [væʊ̯ˁjəbʊˁ]

[Travis B.]

How do you guys actually (not carefully) pronounce:

bit of (not followed by a vowel) and bit of a
kind of (not followed by a vowel) and kind of a
sort of (not followed by a vowel) and sort of a

I am not going to give my pronunciation right away just to avoid biasing your answers.

[linguoboy]

bit of (not followed by a vowel) and bit of a
kind of (not followed by a vowel) and kind of a
sort of (not followed by a vowel) and sort of a

For me, I think these pairs are the same less the addition of [və].

New question: I have a contrast in my speech between /'plæntn̩/, a common weed of the Plantago genus, and /ˌplæn'teːn/, a fruit related to the banana that is usually cooked before eating. Both words are spelled plantain. I know I got this distinction from my father, who probably became acquainted with the fruit while living in Central America. Most people I know couldn't tell you the name of the weed. (As children, we called Plantago alpina "shooter weed" because you could loop the stalks around and "shoot" flowerheads at each other.)

[Travis B.]

The fruit to me is:

plantain: /ˌplɛnˈten/ > [ˌpʰʟ̞ɛ̃(n)ˈtʰẽ(ː)n]~[ˌpʰɰɛ̃(n)ˈtʰẽ(ː)n]

which is what one would expect given my dialect's phonology.

As for the weed, I did not know any name for it previously, so I cannot say that I have a pronunciation for its name.

[Travis B.]

bit of (not followed by a vowel) and bit of a
kind of (not followed by a vowel) and kind of a
sort of (not followed by a vowel) and sort of a

For me, I think these pairs are the same less the addition of [və].

Part of what I am actually looking for is modifications to each element by what follows. I am not going to give pronunciations here, but for each of these, to me, the nominal stem is modified by of, which in turn is modified by the a when it is placed after it, in one case not simply by inserting a [v]. I know these kinds of modifications are not actually idiosyncratic, as I have heard people from about the Inland North (and even out here by Maryland, even though the people may be from elsehwere) that have similar phological processes. Hence it would be interesting just to see how widespread they are.

[----]

bit of: [bɨɾə]
kind of: [kʰãnə]~[kʰæ̃nə]
sort of: [sɔɹɾə]

+ [və] for ...of a

[Astraios]

I was watching a documentary in American and there were funny pronunciations of two words I wasn't expecting to hear:

root [rUt]
processes [prA:s@si:z]

Anyone here has them, or is it just the person who said them? (Don't ask me where they were from, I have no idea.)

[Bob Johnson]

root [rUt]

Common

processes [prA:s@si:z]

That's a noun, right? [ˈprɑː.səˌsiːz] doesn't sound too awful. Somewhat scientific, in fact.

[Travis B.]

How do you guys actually (not carefully) pronounce:

bit of (not followed by a vowel) and bit of a
kind of (not followed by a vowel) and kind of a
sort of (not followed by a vowel) and sort of a

I am not going to give my pronunciation right away just to avoid biasing your answers.

I figured it was long enough of a wait, so here's my versions:

bit of: /ˈbɪt ə/ > [ˈb̥ɪ̂ə̯], /ˈbɪt əv/ > [ˈb̥ɪ̂ːf], before a vowel [ˈb̥ɪ̂ːv]
bit of a: /ˈbɪt əv ə/ > [ˈb̥ɪ̂ːvə(ː)]
kind of: /ˈkae̯n ə/ > [ˈkʰãẽ̯ə(ː)], /ˈkae̯n əv/ > [ˈkʰãẽ̯əːf], before a vowel [ˈkʰãẽ̯əːv]
kind of a: /ˈkae̯n əv ə/ > [ˈkʰãẽ̯əːvə(ː)]
sort of: /ˈsort ə/ > [ˈsɔʁˤə(ː)], /ˈsort əv/ > [ˈsɔʁˤəːf], before a vowel [ˈsɔʁˤəːv]
sort of a: /ˈsort əv ə/ > [ˈsɔʁˤəːvə(ː)]

I wonder how common these sorts of pronunciations really are, as, for instance, I just today heard a coworker from Pennsylvania pronounce rid of the as what I clearly heard as [ˈɹɪːə̯ðəː], awfully close to my own /ˈrɪd ə ðə/ > [ˈɰˤːɪ̂ːːðəː], differing really only in that I turn the new diphthong back into a monophthong and the (irrelevant) quality of the /r/.

[Davoush]

bit of [bıɾɛ]
bit of a [bıɾəvɛ]

kind of [kʰa:indɛ]
kind of a [kʰa:indəvɛ] (although more usually [kʰa:indɛ] in normal speech)

sort of [sɔ:tʰɛ]
sort of a [sɔ:tʰəvɛ]

[Astraios]

I wonder how common these sorts of pronunciations really are, as, for instance, I just today heard a coworker from Pennsylvania pronounce rid of the as what I clearly heard as [ˈɹɪːə̯ðəː], awfully close to my own /ˈrɪd ə ðə/ > [ˈɰˤːɪ̂ːːðəː], differing really only in that I turn the new diphthong back into a monophthong and the (irrelevant) quality of the /r/.

I have the same sort of thing, except the [ð] is approximanty. (Since I just happened to be listening to Danish music when I thought about it, how I pronounce it really sounds almost the same as the /id/ in 'altid' in this song.)

[Nortaneous]

probably
particularly
valuable

[ˈpɹɑβɫɨi̯]
[p(ɚ)ˈtɪkj̥ɨ̥ɫ(ɚ)ɫɨi̯]
[ˈvæɐ̯ˤ(ɫ)jɨbɫ̩]

I'm not quite sure what's going on with /l/ before /j/; it loses its coronal articulation, but beyond that, I have no idea. Might be an uvular approximant or something, maybe pharyngealized.

bit of (not followed by a vowel) and bit of a
kind of (not followed by a vowel) and kind of a
sort of (not followed by a vowel) and sort of a

[ˈbɪə], [ˈbɪəvə]~[ˈbɪːvə]
[ˈkã(ɾ̃)ə], [ˈkã(ɐ̃)və]
[ˈsoɹɽə], [ˈsoɹ(ɽə)və]

not bothering with length, aspiration, getting the rhotics down, etc.