zompist bboard

A friend of mine in my English class the other day commented on how he only hears the word caribbean pronounced [ˌkeɹəˈbin̩] when the name of the movie series Pirates of the Caribbean is spoken, and elsewhere as [kəˈɹɪbin̩]. The issue of how this word is to be pronounced has always vexed me, and I very often will utter both in discourse, just to "balance out" my usage of both of them.

How do you guys pronounce caribbean?

joey wrote:How do you guys pronounce caribbean?

I vacillate between [ker@'bi.@n] and [k@'rIbi.@n].

/karɪˈbiːən/ (definitely four syllables).

/kɚɪˈbi:ã/

[kʰɛːɹəˈbiːɨn] for me. I think that sounds a bit more natural than stress on the second syllable. The prosody and stress flows a lot better.

Close to Theta's pronunciation, but I also vacillate between the two main pronunciations.

/kæɹɪˈbiːən/ or /kəˈɹɪbiːən/

Same as Bristel for both the main pronounciations (penultimate stress preferred), except with [ɪ] as the final vowel.

Joey: three syllables, really?

/kɛɹəˈbiən/ when referring to the movies or the ride, /kəˈɹɪbiən/ otherwise.

/kæ.ɹɪ.ˈbi.ən/ [kʰʲæ.ɻɪ.ˈbi͡ɨ.ən] I'd say.
I don't count.

[kʰɛːɻəˈbiːɨn]

cromulant wrote: Joey: three syllables, really?

No, not really. There's a syllabic mark under the n but it's hard to see because the bracket covers it up.

I have:

Caribbean:
/kəˈrɪbiɪn/ > [kʰʁ̩ˤːˈʁˤɪːbiː(j)ɨ̃(ː)n], which is perceived as more prescriptively correct
/ˌkerɪˈbiɪn/ > [ˌkʰɛ̝ːʁˤɨːˈb̥iː(j)ɨ̃(ː)n], which is not but is still common in practice

I think of Caˈribbean as the American pronunciation – ˌCariˈbbean is pretty much the only one you'll hear in BrE, I think. Of course, it causes endless problems for the spelling, because the second would be more naturally spelt "Carribean".

I've been confused by it too, but I think I'm setting on pronouncing it with the stress on the second syllable. That seems like the logical choice, if it's named after the Carib people.

I stress -RIB-. I really dislike the other pronunciation. It sounds silly.

din wrote:I stress -RIB-. I really dislike the other pronunciation. It sounds silly.

And I stress the -be-. The feeling is mutual.

Hearing the 3rd syllable stressed (i.e. "CaribBEan") always makes me think of carabiners...

Yeah, I stress the 2nd syllable and agree that anything else sounds weird

NE: Even more irksome are the people who are like "oh, I pronounce it Ca'ribbean normally, but for Pirates I always pronounce it Carib'bean because that's how they said it in the commercials." I think people have mostly gotten over that dumbassery, though

I'm not a native English speaker. I used to stress the second syllable, but then I heard my native speaker friend (and others, perhaps) stress the third syllable. I've been stressing the third syllable ever since.

[k_h@'r\Ibi@n]

Bob Johnson wrote:

Chibi wrote:Hearing the 3rd syllable stressed (i.e. "CaribBEan") always makes me think of carabiners...

Carob bean

Human bean.

/kæɹɪˈbiːən/, like Bristel. (I speak something close to SSBE.)

Similar but with one difference: /kæɹəˈbiːən/

/ˌkærəˈbiːən/

EDIT: In other words, the same as Tree God.

Jesus, am I the ONLY one here who uses a rhotacized vowel?

/ke˞ɻʷɪbɪən/