The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

[linguoboy]

Why do we even bother using IPA then?

Obviously you've never tried to decipher some older linguistic work with an ad-hoc transcription and run-on impressionistic descriptions of the various distinctive sounds.

[finlay]

You don't say. The short answer is that it generalises just about enough for most practical applications, and that any other system either makes too many distinctions to be useful, or is unreadable, particularly the ones that use a featural system to construct symbols rather than using a relatively familiar latin based system. In this instance, a system like canipa is much preferable to a system such as visible speech. Canipa is essentially too detailed, though - it makes distinctions in its phonetic symbols which are very rarely made in human languages, because our mouths are quite elastic and our ears tolerate a lot of variation.

[L'alphabētarium]

Why do we even bother using IPA then?

Obviously you've never tried to decipher some older linguistic work with an ad-hoc transcription and run-on impressionistic descriptions of the various distinctive sounds.

Obviously.

[Monk]

Can anyone explain to me in layman's terms how to pronounce the "voiceless alveolar lateral fricative" [ɬ]? I've tried it here, but it just sounds like a combination of [θ] and [s].

[----]

Hold your tongue in the position for an l and breath out.

[linguoboy]

Can anyone explain to me in layman's terms how to pronounce the "voiceless alveolar lateral fricative" [ɬ]? I've tried it here, but it just sounds like a combination of [θ] and [s].

Basically, you devoice an /l/ and add friction. Try this:

1. Put your tongue in position for /l/
2. Without moving it, try to say /h/.
3. Once you have a steady flow of air, try to increase the audible friction. This will probably require shifting your tongue more toward once side of your mouth than the other in order to let more air escape.
4. If you don't end up spitting a bit, you're not doing it right.

If you're having trouble with (2), keep in mind that what you're aiming for is the sound of /l/ when it's whispered, only louder.

[Monk]

Well, I kinda sound like a cat whispering to its death, slightly spitting. Am I doing it right? I think I'm not.

[Thry]

At the end it sounds like you're hitting the palate or top of the mouth rather than the sides, so that sounded more like [x] which is the dying cat. Lower your tongue.

[ol bofosh]

new
onion
regular
cute
huge
human
june
tube

I'll share mine later.

[----]

new [nʊu̯]
onion [ˈʌnjɨn]
regular [ˈɹʷɛgjʊɫɹ̩]
cute [cçʰɨu̯t]
huge [çɨu̯dʒ]
human [ˈçɨu̯mɨn]
june [dʒʊu̯n]
tube [tʰʊu̯b]

***Note that the vowel I have transcribed as [ʊ] is not actually rounded; I can't decide which symbol to use for how I actually say it so I just used what I believe is the standard for that vowel.

[Nortaneous]

new /nu/ [nɪ̞̹u̯]
onion /ʌnjɨn/ [ʔʌ̈njɪn]
regular /regjəlɚ/ [ɹɛi̯g(j)ĭɫ̩ɚ]
cute /kjut/ [kʰʲjʏu̯ʔ(t̚)]
huge /hjudʒ/ [(hj/ç)ʏu̯dʒ]
human /hjumən/ [(hj/ç)ʏu̯mn̩]
june /dʒun/ [dʒʉn]
tube /tub/ [tʉb]

I'm not quite sure what's going on with the allophones of /u/, and I'm probably overanalyzing it a bit, but it's not a diphthong in 'june' and it is in 'new', that much I'm reasonably sure of.

[Travis B.]

new: /ˈnu/ > [ˈn̻ʉ̯̆ŭ]~[ˈn̻ʉ̯u]
onion: /ˈʌnjɪn/ > [ˈʌ̃ːnjɨ̃(ː)(n)]
regular: /ˈrɜɡjələr/ > [ˈɰˤɜ̟ːɡ̊jɯ̞ːɰʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
cute: /ˈkjut/ > [ˈk̟ʰjʉ̯̆ŭʔ]
huge: /ˈhjudʒ/ > [ˈçjʉːtʃ]
human: /ˈhjumɪn/ > [ˈçjʉ̯̃ũmɨ̃(ː)(n)]
june: /ˈdʒun/ > [ˈd̥z̥ʉ̃(ː)(n)]
tube: /ˈtub/ > [ˈt̻ʰʉ̯ub̥]

[Nortaneous]

Do you distinguish unstressed /ə ɪ/?

[Travis B.]

Do you distinguish unstressed /ə ɪ/?

Yes.

I do tend to have a different distribution than many have, e.g. having unstressed /ɪn/ for historical unstressed /ən/ except initially.

[ol bofosh]

new [nʲʊu]
onion [ɐnʲən]
regular [ˈɹʷɛ.ɟə.lə]
cute [cʰʊutʰ]
huge [çʊudʒ]
june [dʒjʊun]
tube [tʃjʊub]

I'm a bit confused by palatisation and palatals, so that's as close as I can get so far.

Edit:

ban [bæːn]
bain [bɛin]
barn [bɐːn]
bairn [bɛːən]
Ben [bɛn]
been [bɪin]
bean [bɪin]
bin [bɪn]
bone [bəʉn]
boon [bʏʉn]
born [bɔːn]
Boyne [bɔin]
bun [bɐn]
burn [bœːn]

(any other bV(r)n words I might be missing?)

[Viktor77]

Does anyone else distinguish phonetically:

A seer (one who sees) [si:.j3`]

A seer (a prophet, an oracle, a clairvoyant) [si:`]

[ol bofosh]

Does anyone else distinguish phonetically:

A seer (one who sees) [si:.j3`]

A seer (a prophet, an oracle, a clairvoyant) [si:`]

Yes.
["sIi.@]

[sI@]

[L'alphabētarium]

Does anyone else distinguish phonetically:

A seer (one who sees) [si:.j3`]

A seer (a prophet, an oracle, a clairvoyant) [si:`]

Not really, no. For me, they're both ['si.ə].

[Viktor77]

Is it just my in family that we say Grilled Cheese as [g3`@5d tSiz] instead of [gr\I5d tSiz]?

[ol bofosh]

[gɹʷˠɪɫd tʃɪiz]

plural [pʰlʏː.rʷˠəl]

[----]

How do you guys say "withhold"?

[ol bofosh]

[wɪð.ˈhəʊɫd]

edit: Wait, I think I'm mistaken, it seems like: [wɪð.ˈɦəʊɫd]. I'd never noticed a voiced glottal fricative in my accent before, so I just ignored it and thought of it as unvoiced.

[finlay]

[wɪθhoːwd]

[Travis B.]

seer (both meanings): /ˈsiər/ > [ˈsiːʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
grilled cheese: /ˈɡrɪld tʃiz/ > [ˈɡ̊ɰˤɪːɯ̞̯d̥ ˈtʃʰiːs]
plural: /ˈplərəl/ > [ˈpʰʟ̞ʁ̩ˤːʁˤɯ̞(ː)]~[ˈpʰɰʁ̩ˤːʁˤɯ̞(ː)]
withhold: /ˌwɪθˈhold/ > [ˌwɪθˈhoːʊ̯d̥]

[JasonK]

new [njɪʉ̯]
onion [ˈɐ̃njən]
regular [ˈɹʷɛɡjələ]
cute [cçʰɪʉ̯t̚]
huge [çɪʉ̯dʒ]
human [ˈçɪʉ̯mən]
june [dʒʉːn]
tube [tʃʉːb]

seer [sɪə̯]
grilled cheese [ɡɹʷɘɫd̚tʃiːz]
plural [ˈpʰlɜːɹʷəɫ]
withhold [wɘðˈhɐʊ̯ɫd̚]