The "How Do You Pronounce X" Thread

[jal]

width
breadth

IINANS, but I suppose something like [wɪd̪̟ð] and [bɹɛd̪̟ð].

EDIT: [r] must be [ɹ] of course.


JAL

[quinterbeck]

I consistently say /wɒn/, but it reduces to wè

IPA? And if it's consistently not [wɒn], how do you now the "wè" is not the reduction of /wʌn/?

Hold your horses! That was an accidental submission due to a failed attempt to input schwa using the android keyboard.

[quinterbeck]

width
breadth

[wɪʔθ]
[bɹɛʔθ]

[Richard W]

If you guys have rarely or never heard /wɒn/, and if they have rarely or never heard /wʌn/, it sounds like there's probably some curious societal effects going on, with non-intermingling social circles. Or just people somehow not paying attention to the difference in the phoneme used.

There the same selectional choice in 'once', 'wonderful' and trouble'. I grew up using the LOT vowel for them, but for the first two switched to the STRUT vowel to provide a correct model for my wife, who is not a native speaker. The LOT vowel has been denigrated as a 'spelling pronounciation'. You can hear the LOT vowel in Louis Armstrong 'What a wonderful world', Rod Stewart, Doris Troy 'Just one Look' and Mary Hopkin 'Those were the days' and Patti Page and Doris Day 'Tennessee Waltz'. I have wondered if these vowels are marks of people who have made an effort to speak proper, though obviously they can pass down the generations.

[Richard W]

width
breadth

[wɪdθ] or [wɪtθ] and [bɹedθ] or [bɹetθ]. My tongue’s against the teeth for the stop, but not on their tips. The voicing of the stop is variable.

[Travis B.]

If you guys have rarely or never heard /wɒn/, and if they have rarely or never heard /wʌn/, it sounds like there's probably some curious societal effects going on, with non-intermingling social circles. Or just people somehow not paying attention to the difference in the phoneme used.

There the same selectional choice in 'once', 'wonderful' and trouble'. I grew up using the LOT vowel for them, but for the first two switched to the STRUT vowel to provide a correct model for my wife, who is not a native speaker. The LOT vowel has been denigrated as a 'spelling pronounciation'. You can hear the LOT vowel in Louis Armstrong 'What a wonderful world', Rod Stewart, Doris Troy 'Just one Look' and Mary Hopkin 'Those were the days' and Patti Page and Doris Day 'Tennessee Waltz'. I have wondered if these vowels are marks of people who have made an effort to speak proper, though obviously they can pass down the generations.

I practically never hear Americans with LOT in these words, so it is interesting that Louis Armstrong would use LOT here.

[bradrn]

width
breadth

[wɨd̻̚θ] and [bɻʷe̞d̻̚θ], I think. (The /d/ seems to be reduced to pure modal phonation with the tongue alveolar laminal, released as a fricative [θ] rather than through the nose as [n] or through the mouth as [d].)

[anteallach]

width
breadth

/wɪtθ/ and /brɛtθ/, with the same consonant cluster as in eighth /ɛɪtθ/. The /t/ is dental.

[Travis B.]

width
breadth

/wɪtθ/ and /brɛtθ/, with the same consonant cluster as in eighth /ɛɪtθ/. The /t/ is dental.

That is almost how I pronounce them, except that in my speech I would consider [t̪͡θ] to be a dental affricate reflecting how I frequently realize /θ/ as opposed to a consonant cluster reflecting /tθ/, considering that I also pronounce with and breath with this affricate much of the time. The difference between width and breadth on one hand and with and breath (and also eighth) on the other is that the former take a long vowel and may take, when spoken carefully, a geminate coda consonant, while the latter always take a short vowel and and a short coda consonant.

[Kuchigakatai]

strength

Anyone got [ŋkθ] in this one?

What do you think of [stɹ̥ɛŋθ], [stɹ̥ɛnθ], [stɹ̥ɛntθ]?

[bradrn]

strength

Anyone got [ŋkθ] in this one?

What do you think of [stɹ̥ɛŋθ], [stɹ̥ɛnθ], [stɹ̥ɛntθ]?

All of these are fine for me. (I think my primary pronunciation is [stɹ̥ɛn(t)θ], though I’m not entirely sure.)

[Znex]

strength

Anyone got [ŋkθ] in this one?

What do you think of [stɹ̥ɛŋθ], [stɹ̥ɛnθ], [stɹ̥ɛntθ]?

[ŋkθ] is natural for me, maybe [ŋθ] too.

[nθ ntθ] aren't part of my idiolect, but they don't feel too unfamiliar to me. Maybe they're more American pronunciations?

[Travis B.]

strength

Anyone got [ŋkθ] in this one?

What do you think of [stɹ̥ɛŋθ], [stɹ̥ɛnθ], [stɹ̥ɛntθ]?

I have [ŋkθ] but [ŋθ] does not sound unusual to me. OTOH, I am not used to [nθ] or [ntθ] at all for this, and this is as an American.

[Nortaneous]

huh, "with" doesn't have θ-ð free variation for most people?

I am familiar with both pronunciations but consistently have /θ/ myself.

Even in the sequences "with a..." and "with it"?

(for "with the" I'd probably say [-ˀt̪d̪-], or [-θð-] in careful speech, although I'm not sure - I assume it's distinguished from "with a" somehow)

width
breadth

/witθ/ and /bredθ/, I think.

strength

Anyone got [ŋkθ] in this one?

What do you think of [stɹ̥ɛŋθ], [stɹ̥ɛnθ], [stɹ̥ɛntθ]?

It's hard to tell whether the stop is there, but I might have /ŋkθ/. /n(t)θ/ is common around here, but I don't say it.

[Travis B.]

huh, "with" doesn't have θ-ð free variation for most people?

I am familiar with both pronunciations but consistently have /θ/ myself.

Even in the sequences "with a..." and "with it"?

(for "with the" I'd probably say [-ˀt̪d̪-], or [-θð-] in careful speech, although I'm not sure - I assume it's distinguished from "with a" somehow).

Yes, I have /θ/ consistently in "with a..." and "with it". However, for "with the" I frequently have [t̪ː].

[Linguoboy]

reparative

[Travis B.]

reparative: [ʁʷəˈpʰɛːʁɘˌtʰɘːf]

[dɮ the phoneme]

How would you read the name of this dinosaur, Yandusaurus Hongheensis? I'd say [jɑ̃ndʉwsɔɻˤʷɨs hɑ̃ŋhʊɪ̃nsɨs].

[Travis B.]

I tried to google "Yandu Honghe" and absolutely nothing came up.

[Travis B.]

I tried to google "Yandu Honghe" and absolutely nothing came up.

Oh wait, it's not named after someone, but rather a place, Yandu (an ancient name for Zigong) and the dam Honghe.