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The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 1:15 pm
by Mr. Z
Following the massive amount of replies the "How do you pronounce Wikipedia" thread got, and the fact that I have such a question as well, I decided to start a thread for this kind of questions. If you wonder how others pronounce something, you can post your question here, and I'll add it to the OP.

So, my question is: How do you pronounce "closer"?


1. How do you pronounce "closer"?
2. How do you pronounce "cuneiform"?
3. How do you pronounce hair, her and heir?
4. How do you pronounce
factory
factorial
century
centurion
victory
victorious
restaurant
restauranteur
history
historical
mystery
mysterious
interest
interesting
interestingly
?
5. How do you pronounce "plosive"?

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 1:21 pm
by rickardspaghetti
/"kloU.s@`/

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 1:46 pm
by Grunnen
I'd try to say [ˈkl̥əʊ̯.sə]. I also like to convince myself I in fact get very close to that.
I'd like to know how you pronounce cuneiform. If I'm correct British English has something like /ˈkjuːnɪfɔːm/ and Am E /ˈkjuːniːəfɔrm/... Is that recognisable?

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 1:51 pm
by Zumir
I pronounce it [kuˈneɪfɔɻm]

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 3:52 pm
by Mr. Z
Grunnen wrote:I'd try to say [ˈkl̥əʊ̯.sə]. I also like to convince myself I in fact get very close to that.
I'd like to know how you pronounce cuneiform. If I'm correct British English has something like /ˈkjuːnɪfɔːm/ and Am E /ˈkjuːniːəfɔrm/... Is that recognisable?
I learned how to pronounce it from IPA transcription, so my pronunciation is something like... [kju:nIform], I guess.

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 4:05 pm
by Grunnen
Mr. Z wrote: I learned how to pronounce it from IPA transcription, so my pronunciation is something like... [kju:nIform], I guess.
Haha, that is how I learn most of my English pronunciations. Myself, I pronounce it [kj̥uːnɪfɔːm], but that's just taken from a pronunciation dictionary. So I guess my source is prescriptive rather than descriptive, and therefore leaves me wondering how real people would say it.

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:10 pm
by äreo
comparative of close: [ˈkʰɫɞʉsɚ] / one who closes: [ˈkʰɫɞʉzɚ]

[cçyˈnɪjəˌfoɚm]

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:22 pm
by Beli Orao
I pronounce them how they're meant to be pronounced -- Standard American. :D

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:25 pm
by finlay
Closer is two separate words: close[adj]+COMP → /klosər/ [kʰɫ̥oʊsɚ]; close[vb]+AGT → /klozər/ [kʰɫ̥o:zɚ]

Cuneiform → /ˈkjunifɔrm/ [ˈcçynifɔɻm]

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:47 pm
by TaylorS
Mr. Z wrote:Following the massive amount of replies the "How do you pronounce Wikipedia" thread got, and the fact that I have such a question as well, I decided to start a thread for this kind of questions. If you wonder how others pronounce something, you can post your question here, and I'll add it to the OP.

So, my question is: How do you pronounce "closer"?


1. How do you pronounce "closer"?
2. How do you pronounce "cuneiform"?
Closer as in "nearer" is [ˈkʰɫoː.sɚˤ]
Closer as in a baseball pitcher is [ˈkʰɫoː.zɚˤ]
Cuneiform is [kʰjʉ.ˈneː.ɨ̈.ˌfɔɹˤm]

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:50 pm
by Radius Solis
/klos@r/ if the adjective, /kloz@r/ if the agentive noun.

I say /kju"ni.@form/ with the full four syllables: cue-KNEE-a-form.

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 11:15 pm
by Travis B.
Closer as in nearer is [ˈkʰʟ̞os̻ʁ̩ˤ(ː)]~[ˈkʰɰos̻ʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
Closer as in a baseball pitcher is [ˈkʰʟ̞oːz̻ʁ̩ˤ(ː)]~[ˈkʰɰoːz̻ʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
Cuneiform is [ˈk̟ʰj̠ũː(n)iˌfɔ(ː)ʁˤm]

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:28 am
by Aurora Rossa
Mr. Z wrote:1. How do you pronounce "closer"?
/kl@us@r/
2. How do you pronounce "cuneiform"?
/'ku.ni.@.form/

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:45 am
by Umega
closer as cloe-SUR

cuniform as [kyn'ifom:]

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:23 am
by makvas
Umega wrote:closer as cloe-SUR

cuniform as [kyn'ifom:]
Go away.


Closer as [ˈkʰɫʌw.sɹ̩] or [ˈkʰɫʌw.zɹ̩]

Cuneiform as [ˈkʰjɨw.nɨ.fɔɹm] to rhyme with Uniform

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 4:58 am
by Umega
Zoris wrote:
Umega wrote:closer as cloe-SUR

cuniform as [kyn'ifom:]
Go away.


Closer as [ˈkʰɫʌw.sɹ̩] or [ˈkʰɫʌw.zɹ̩]

Cuneiform as [ˈkʰjɨw.nɨ.fɔɹm] to rhyme with Uniform
:x now what, oh i used approximation and IPA wow

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 11:23 am
by Drydic
Umega wrote:
Zoris wrote:
Umega wrote:closer as cloe-SUR

cuniform as [kyn'ifom:]
Go away.


Closer as [ˈkʰɫʌw.sɹ̩] or [ˈkʰɫʌw.zɹ̩]

Cuneiform as [ˈkʰjɨw.nɨ.fɔɹm] to rhyme with Uniform
:x now what, oh i used approximation and IPA wow
Your reform of english is stupid and can't accurately transcribe vowels. And you didn't use IPA anywhere.

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:29 pm
by Umega
Drydic Guy wrote:
Umega wrote:
Zoris wrote:
Umega wrote:closer as cloe-SUR

cuniform as [kyn'ifom:]
Go away.


Closer as [ˈkʰɫʌw.sɹ̩] or [ˈkʰɫʌw.zɹ̩]

Cuneiform as [ˈkʰjɨw.nɨ.fɔɹm] to rhyme with Uniform
:x now what, oh i used approximation and IPA wow
Your reform of english is stupid and can't accurately transcribe vowels. And you didn't use IPA anywhere.

not a reform and i was to lazy to copy and paste.

closer should be ['kɫoʊ.sʊɹ̩]
cuniform ['kjyn.ɪ'fɔm]

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 2:28 pm
by Yng
cuneiform as either /kjunɪfɔːm/ to rhyme with uniform or /kunɪfɔːm/ to rhyme with, uhh, soon-i-form.

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 4:14 pm
by Mr. Z
How do you pronounce hair, her and heir?

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 4:27 pm
by finlay
/heər/, /hər/ and /eər/. You're not going to find an awful lot of variation in this one unless a) you're looking at more precise phonetics or b) you're looking at h-dropping, blur/blair-merging dialects from places like merseyside. But this is all the same variation that you'd find between the dialects anyway; I don't think any dialect changes the sort of basic phonemic set of any of these words. The only thing worth noting is that I don't know of a dialect in the world that can't drop the /h/ in "her" in unstressed position; unlike the /h/ in "hair". And it's possible that people have /h/ in "heir" as a spelling pronunciation.

As for more precise phonetics... um [heːɚ], [hɚ(ː)] or [ə], [eːɚ] (at least prototypically – I think I often have [ɛːɻ])

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:18 pm
by Umega
[hɛːɻ] for both hair and heir
[hʊr] for her

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:20 pm
by Yng
Umega wrote:[hɛːɻ] for both hair and heir
'heir' does not have an /h/ in it

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:32 pm
by Lyhoko Leaci
1. How do you pronounce "closer"?

[kʰɫoʊsɚ] or [kʰɫoʊzɚ], depending on what meaning of "closer" you mean.

2. How do you pronounce "cuneiform"?

[ˈkʰjuːnɪfoɹm] (rhymes with uniform)

3. How do you pronounce hair, her and heir?

[hɛɚ], [hɚ], [ɛɚ]/[hɛɚ]

Re: The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:44 pm
by Umega
YngNghymru wrote:
Umega wrote:[hɛːɻ] for both hair and heir
'heir' does not have an /h/ in it
notice it says 'how do YOU pronounce X'