The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

[Bob Johnson]

scion
Zion
Seuss
Zeus

[Rin]

scion
Zion
Seuss
Zeus

[saɪən]
[zaɪən]
[sus]
[zus]

[Thry]

:/ I had always said ['zi:.@s]. I prefer my mistake over real [zju:s] according to wiki, anyway.

[Bob Johnson]

Oh I was on the bottom of the page

This should be pretty transparent; I've heard two people who voiced initial /s/ in those words. Might just be a california thing.

[Shihali]

The only interesting pronunciation of mine is "century": [ˈsɛn̠.t̠ɕɚ.iː] Yes, I'm a native speaker of American English, really.

(At least that's how I think I say it; my command of IPA is shaky. There is definitely an affricate in the middle, and it is definitely not [tʃ]; this one is pronounced with the blade of my tongue hitting the hard palate right above the alveolar ridge.)

[communistplot]

scion
Zion
Seuss
Zeus

[saɪ̯.ɔn]
[zaɪ̯.ɔn]
[sɪuʊ̯s]
[zɪuʊ̯s]

Seems I got some triphthongs in there, it's amazing what actually listening to yourself speak can yield.

[ol bofosh]

scion
Zion
Seuss
Zeus

[si:Qn] (although this a word I usually only read and I have the temptation to say [skiQn], from days when I new no better)
[z6:jQn]
[sjUs] (though I'm tempted to say Zeus)
[zjUs]

EDIT: looked at the previous page and came up with these (as close as I can get them).
cumin - ["c_hjumIn]
probably - ["p_hr/Qb@Ii] (this varies, sometime the <bab> seems like [b@b] or sometimes it seems [BB]; mostly [b@l], I think)
particularly - [p_h@"t_hIc_hj@lIi]
valuable - ["v{lj@b@l]
bit of - ["bIt_h@v]
bit of a - ["bIt_h@v@]
kind of - ["k_h6ind@v]
kind of a - ["k_h6ind@v@]
sort of - ["sO:t_h@v]
sort of a - ["sO:t_h@v@]
plantain - [p_l6:nt_hein] (for both "banana" plant and weed, not knowing the former)

New:
Grandma and grammar.
Also pawn and porn.

[TaylorS]

New:
Grandma and grammar.
Also pawn and porn.

[ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmə] and [ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmɚ]
[pʰan] and [pʰɔɹˤn̠]

[Travis B.]

grandma: /ˈɡrɛmə/ > [ˈɡ̊ɰˤɛ̃ːmə(ː)], /ˈɡrɛmmə/ > [ˈɡ̊ɰˤɛ̃ːmːə(ː)]
grammer: /ˈɡrɛmər/ > [ˈɡ̊ɰˤɛ̃ːmʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
pawn: /ˈpɒn/ > [ˈpʰɒ̃(ː)n]
porn: /ˈporn/ > [ˈpʰɔ̃(ː)ʁ̃ˤn]

[finlay]

grandma: [ˈgɹamˌːa:]
grammer: [ˈgɹamɚ]
pawn: [pɔn] or [pɒn] or something.
porn: [poɚn] or [poɹn] or something.

people from England have the same for both the last two, so I've had my fair share of misunderstandings when talking to them about pawn/porn shops.

also, [sɑjən], [zɑjən], [sjys], [zʉs] (for some reason i find jod-insertion difficult after z; however, i'm just as likely to try and affect a greekesque pronunciation like [zeːəs])

[Travis B.]

scion: /ˈsae̯ɪn/ > [ˈsae̯ɨ̃(ː)n]
Zion: /ˈzae̯ɪn/ > [ˈzae̯ɨ̃(ː)n]
Seuss: /ˈsus/ > [ˈs̻ʉs]
Zeus: /ˈzus/ > [ˈz̻ʉs]

[Lyra]

New:
Grandma and grammar.
Also pawn and porn.

[ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmə] and [ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmɚ]
[pʰan] and [pʰɔɹˤn̠]

What dialect is this?


['gɹæm:a] and ['gɹæmɚ]
[pɑn] and [poɹn]

~Lyra

[Ser]

New:
Grandma and grammar.
Also pawn and porn.

[ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmə] and [ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmɚ]
[pʰan] and [pʰɔɹˤn̠]

What dialect is this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_c ... owel_shift

[Travis B.]

New:
Grandma and grammar.
Also pawn and porn.

[ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmə] and [ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmɚ]
[pʰan] and [pʰɔɹˤn̠]

What dialect is this?

He is from Minnesota, and happens to be both cot-caught-merged and to have shifted all three of historical /ɑː/, /ɒ/, and /ɔː/ to [a].

(Contrast how I, from southeastern Wisconsin, am not cot-caught-merged and have only shifted historical /ɑː/ and /ɒ/ to, conditionally, [a] or [ɑ], while preserving historical /ɔː/ as [ɒ].)

[ol bofosh]

grandma - [gr/{m:6:]
grammar - [gr/am@]

The next two I presumed were the same until I discovered there was a slight difference, with my tongue slightly higher for pawn than porn.
porn - [p_hO:n]
pawn - [p_ho:n]

[finlay]

grandma - [gr/{m:6:]
grammar - [gr/am@]

The next two I presumed were the same until I discovered there was a slight difference, with my tongue slightly higher for pawn than porn.
porn - [p_hO:n]
pawn - [p_ho:n]

Without knowing any more about it, I'd assume this is because you're pronouncing them next to each other and trying to find a difference. This is why we generally don't do linguistic analysis on ourselves.

[Lyhoko Leaci]

grandma: [ˈgɹeəmːa]
grammar: [ˈgɹeəmɚ]
pawn: [pʰaːn] ([pʰɑːn]?)
porn: [pʰɔɹn]

[vampireshark]

More from my slightly idiosyncratic manner of speaking:

grandma: [ˈgɹæn.mɔ]
grammar: [ˈgɹæ.mɚ]
pawn: [pʰɔn]
porn: [pʰoɹn]

bit of : [bɪt.əf]
bit of a: [bɪt.ə.və]
kind of: [kʰaɪ̯n.də] as an exclamation, [kʰaɪ̯n.dəf] as a modifier
kind of a: [kʰaɪ̯n.də.və]
sort of: [soɹ.tə] as an exclamation, [soɹ.təf] as a modifier
sort of a: [soɹ.tə.və]


Contributions: Some place names.
Pennyrile
Kanawha
Cabell
Fond du Lac

[Travis B.]

Fond du Lac: /ˈfandəˌlɛk/ > [ˈfãːndəːˌʟ̞ɛʔk]~[ˈfãːndəːˌɰɛʔk]

I do not really have pronunciations for the other three, but here are my guesses:

Pennyrile: /ˈpɜniˌrae̯l/ > [ˈpʰɜ̟̃ːniːˌʁˤae̯ɯ̞̯]~[ˈpʰɜ̟̃ːniːˌʁˤăĕ̯ɯ̞̯]~[ˈpʰɜ̟̃ːniːˌʁˤa(ː)ɯ̞̯]~[ˈpʰɜ̟̃ːĩ̯ˌʁˤae̯ɯ̞̯]~[ˈpʰɜ̟̃ːĩ̯ˌʁˤăĕ̯ɯ̞̯]~[ˈpʰɜ̟̃ːĩ̯ˌʁˤa(ː)ɯ̞̯]
Kanawha: /kəˈnɑɔ̯wə/ > [kʰə̃ːˈnɑɔ̯wə(ː)]
Cabell: /kəˈbɜl/ > [kʰəːˈb̥ɜ̟(ː)ɤ̯]

[ol bofosh]

Without knowing any more about it, I'd assume this is because you're pronouncing them next to each other and trying to find a difference. This is why we generally don't do linguistic analysis on ourselves.

I didn't know if it was my dialect or a personal compensation, me trying to make a difference between things that are very different. Now I've "analysed" (if I can call it that) what I think is my pronunciation, the next step is listen to my family saying those words or similar and see if I can hear a difference.

[finlay]

Contributions: Some place names.
Pennyrile
Kanawha
Cabell
Fond du Lac

[ˈpɛniɾɑɪɫ]
[ˈkʰanəwaː]
[kʰɐˈbɛɫ]
[ˈfõːdylakʰ] (most frenchily) or [ˈfɔndəɫaʔk] (most englishly) or [ˈfɔ̃dɪɫaʔk] (most frenchily that I could probably get away with in a string of english)

Ironically, when I pronounce the last one frenchily the [a] is further frontwards, verging on [æ]. I'm aware that my french pronunciation isn't quite right.

[----]

Grandma: [gɹɛ̃mːa]
grammar: [gɹɛ̃mɹ̩]
pawn: [pʰɑ̃ːn]
porn: [pʰɔ̃ɹn]

There's some sort of retraction on the vowels of the two last words, but I don't want to mark it as anything specific because I'm not sure of where exactly it's articulated. This is regular for me when these vowel sounds appear.

[Rin]

Grandma and grammar.
Also pawn and porn.

[ˈgɹæmɒ] and [ˈgɹæmɚ]

[ˈpɒn] and [ˈpɔ˞n]

[TaylorS]

New:
Grandma and grammar.
Also pawn and porn.

[ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmə] and [ˈɡ̥ɹˤæmɚ]
[pʰan] and [pʰɔɹˤn̠]

What dialect is this?

He is from Minnesota, and happens to be both cot-caught-merged and to have shifted all three of historical /ɑː/, /ɒ/, and /ɔː/ to [a].

(Contrast how I, from southeastern Wisconsin, am not cot-caught-merged and have only shifted historical /ɑː/ and /ɒ/ to, conditionally, [a] or [ɑ], while preserving historical /ɔː/ as [ɒ].)

Thank you, and note how /æ/ does not rise after /r/.

[jmcd]

Grandma: gɾanmɐ
grammar: gɾaməɾ
pawn: pɔn
porn: pɔɾn