The "How Do You Pronounce X" Thread

[Pabappa]

Maybe subconscious reading of it as a long "E" and trisyllabic laxing?

I dont really use the word naive much, and when I do it's usually with a dependent of some type. If i just want to call someone naive in an absolute sense I'll use a different word such as clueless.

I dont really distinguish between /a'i/ and /a'ji/ so cant really answer the main question here, and I dont use the words naiveté or naivety either. Though I would at least pronounce them "correctly' In the sense that the first ends with /e/ and the other ends with /i/.

[bradrn]

I dont really distinguish between /a'i/ and /a'ji/ so cant really answer the main question here…

Now that I think about it, I think that’s actually the situation with me as well. (Hence why I left my earlier answer a bit ambiguous as to whether I say [nɐˑˈiːv] or [nɐɪ̆ˈiːv].)

[Sol717]

• naive: [nɑɪˈ(j)ɪ̞jv̥~næɪˈ(j)ɪ̞jv̥] (the variant with the FACE vowel is prob. either a sort of spelling pronunciation or due to the back New Zealand English realisation of FACE's first element)
• naiveté: [nɑɪˈ(j)ɪ̞jvəˌtæɪ~nəˈ(j)ɪ̞jvəˌtæɪ]; maybe with [nɐ], but never with [-i]
• naivety: Would use naiveté instead.

[Space60]

How do you pronounce?

"doll"
"dolly"
"dollar"
"moll"
"want"
"wanna"
"wash"
"wasp"
"water"
"watch"
"wallet"
"wand"
"wander"
"waffle"

[Travis B.]

doll: /dɑl/ [ta(ː)ɤ̯]
dolly: /ˈdɑli/ [ˈtaːɤ̯i(ː)]
dollar: /ˈdɑlər/ [ˈtaːɤ̯ʁ̩(ː)]
moll: /mɑl/ [ma(ː)ɤ̯]
want: /wɔnt/ [wɒ̃ʔ], or before a vowel, [wɒ̃ɾ̃]
wanna: /ˈwɔntə/ [ˈwɒ̃ɾ̃ə(ː)]~[wɒ̃ːə̯̃]
wash: /wɔʃ/ [wɒʃ]
wasp: /wɑsp/ [ˈwɑsʲp]
water: /ˈwɔtər/ [ˈwɒɾʁ̩(ː)]~[wɒːʁ]
watch: /wɔtʃ/ [wɒʔtʃ]
wallet: /ˈwɔlət/ [ˈwɒːo̯ɘʔ], or before a vowel, [ˈwɒːo̯ɘɾ]
wand: /wɑnd/ [wɑ̃ːnt]
wander: /ˈwɑndər/ [ˈwɑ̃ːndʁ̩(ː)]
waffle: /ˈwɑfəl/ [ˈwɑfɯ(ː)]

[bradrn]

"doll" [dow]
"dolly" [ˈdɔɫiˑ]
"dollar" [ˈdɔɫɜ]
"moll" (not sure, although “mole” is [mow])
"want" [wɐntˢ]
"wanna" [ˈwɐnɐ ~ ˈwɐɾ̃ɐ]
"wash" [wɔʃ]
"wasp" [wɔsp]
"water" [ˈwoɾə]
"watch" [ˈwɔt͡ʃ]
"wallet" [ˈwɔɫətˢ]
"wand" [wɔnd]
"wander" [ˈwɐndɜ]
"waffle" [ˈwɔfɯ]

[quinterbeck]

"doll" [dɒʟʷ]
"dolly" [ˈdɒli]
"dollar" [ˈdɒlə]
"moll" don't know this word - "mall" and "maul" are both [mɔːʟʷ]
"want" [wɒnʔ]
"wanna" [ˈwɒnə]
"wash" [wɒʃ]
"wasp" [wɒsp]
"water" [ˈwɔːʔə]
"watch" [wɒtʃ]
"wallet" [ˈwɒlɪʔ]
"wand" [wɒnd]
"wander" ['wɒndə]
"waffle" ['wɒfʊʟʷ]

[Travis B.]

What did you, as in "what did you say?", in everyday informal speech.

[bradrn]

What did you, as in "what did you say?", in everyday informal speech.

[ˈwɐd.n̰̍.d͡ʑjɜ]

[Travis B.]

What did you, as in "what did you say?", in everyday informal speech.

[ˈwɐd.n̰̍.d͡ʑjɜ]

Why the [n̰̍]?

[bradrn]

What did you, as in "what did you say?", in everyday informal speech.

[ˈwɐd.n̰̍.d͡ʑjɜ]

Why the [n̰̍]?

From did. (I mentioned this earlier here, though I transcribed it somewhat differently.)

[quinterbeck]

What did you, as in "what did you say?", in everyday informal speech.

If the context is already past tense [ˈwɒʔdʒə], otherwise [ˈwɒɾɪdʒə]

[alynnidalar]

/ˈwʌ.dʒə/, I think.

[Kuchigakatai]

TIL that Columbus, Ohio lies at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. I got the pronunciation of "Scioto" right on my second guess (my natural urge is to pronounce it as if it were Italian) but I munged "Olentangy". Let's see how the rest of you do!

I'd expect "Scioto" to be [saɪˈoʊtoʊ, ʃaɪ-, si-, ʃi-]. Possibly, but a lot less likely, with [-tə] or antepenultimate stress [ˈsaɪətoʊ, ˈʃaɪ-].

For "Olentangy", I'd expect [ˈoʊlənˌtʰæŋi, ˌɑɫ-], possibly, but a bit less likely, with [-ˌtʰɑŋ-].

I just remembered this, and when I looked them up I found /saɪˈoʊtoʊ/ and /oʊlənˈtændʒi/...

[Kuchigakatai]

Do you pronounce "average" with /ɛ/? And if so, do you have the Mary-marry-merry merger too?

[Estav]

Do you pronounce "average" with /ɛ/? And if so, do you have the Mary-marry-merry merger too?

Which syllable are you asking about? “Average” is [ˈævɹɪ̈dʒ]~[ˈævəɹɪ̈dʒ].

[Kuchigakatai]

Which syllable are you asking about?

The stressed one.

[bradrn]

Do you pronounce "average" with /ɛ/? And if so, do you have the Mary-marry-merry merger too?

/ˈævɻʷɘd͡ʒʷ/
/ˈme̞ːɻʷi/
/ˈmæɻʷi/
/ˈme̞ɻʷi/

So, no and no.

[Corumayas]

TIL that Columbus, Ohio lies at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. I got the pronunciation of "Scioto" right on my second guess (my natural urge is to pronounce it as if it were Italian) but I munged "Olentangy". Let's see how the rest of you do!

I'd expect "Scioto" to be [saɪˈoʊtoʊ, ʃaɪ-, si-, ʃi-]. Possibly, but a lot less likely, with [-tə] or antepenultimate stress [ˈsaɪətoʊ, ˈʃaɪ-].

For "Olentangy", I'd expect [ˈoʊlənˌtʰæŋi, ˌɑɫ-], possibly, but a bit less likely, with [-ˌtʰɑŋ-].

I just remembered this, and when I looked them up I found /saɪˈoʊtoʊ/ and /oʊlənˈtændʒi/...

I'm from Columbus, where both of these names are sometimes treated as shibboleths. Your source is correct for "Olentangy" (in my social circles growing up its nickname was "the Old and Grungy"); for "Scioto" the pronunciation I'm used to is actually /saɪˈoʊtə/ (with a flapped /t/, of course).

Perhaps related: at a family funeral in Columbus a few years ago, I was struck by hearing the pastor pronounce "Chicago" /ʃɪˈkɔgə/. Is this variation familiar to anyone else?

(The history of those river names is kinda interesting too:

More: show

Scioto is from Wyandot skɛnǫ·tǫ’ 'deer'; early spellings apparently included Scionto and Sciota—the latter suggesting the pronunciation I grew up with.

Olentangy is probably from Delaware/Lenape *olamtaanshi siipunk (or maybe a Shawnee cognate) which seems to mean 'at the river where [red clay for] facepaint comes from'—but this was actually the name of a different river, now called Big Darby Creek. The Delaware name for the river now called Olentangy is recorded as Keenhongsheconsepung, which is evidently *kiinanshikan siipunk 'at the sharp knife river', and for a while it was called the Whetstone in English—a name which is still attached to one of its tributary streams, as well as a large park I used to live near and one of the high schools I went to. The switch happened when official names were established by the state legislature in 1833.

[Main source: https://resources.ohiohistory.org/ohj/b ... play[]=158. I tried to check the Wyandot and Delaware words against other online sources, but the Delaware ones were difficult—not least because I'm not sure whether they're Munsee or Unami, or if the forms in that article are supposed to represent a reconstructed ancestor of both.]

)

Do you pronounce "average" with /ɛ/? And if so, do you have the Mary-marry-merry merger too?

I pronounce it with /æ/, and don't think I've ever heard it otherwise (from a native English speaker, anyway). I do have that merger.

[Pabappa]

I live in New England, but Ive heard /ɔ/ in Chicago by people from there. The word-final /o/ > /ə/ thing is Appalachian (the same people who shift /ə/ > /i/) but could have spread out at least sporadically.