Pronunciations you had to unlearn

[mèþru]

In that case treat it as Old Norse.

[Linguoboy]

I may have posted this to the other thread but for years I metathesised bowdlerise to boulderise. I still have to think about how to say it almost every time.

[Vlürch]

I may have posted this to the other thread but for years I metathesised bowdlerise to boulderise. I still have to think about how to say it almost every time.

...

I've always read it as *bowlderise. Every single time I've seen it. Whenever I've heard it, I've just taken it as if it was that and never paid any attention to it actually not being that. I even had to read your post a couple of times to see where the metathesis was... I'm not even dyslexic... or at least I haven't been diagnosed. This has happened with so many words so many times, though, that I've already been questioning whether I could actually have some mild form of dyslexia for years.

EDIT:

Also replying to this because it's also bowly:

hyperbole

I simply refuse to pronounce it as anything other than /haɪ̯pəboʊ̯l/ because "hyperbowl" sounds cute, even after learning (in the "how do you pronounce X" thread on the old forum) that it's wrong. Not that I'd say it often, or ever really, or even speak English much, but... the point is that it'll always be hyperbowl to me.

PS: I've also realised that I'm somehow becoming less rhotic as my overall pronunciation improves... not sure what that's all about.

[Linguoboy]

debacle. I used to say it with initial stress, i.e. /ˈdehbəkəl/.

[mèþru]

I say it with an initial stressed reduced vowel.

[Travis B.]

I used to pronounce velar as [ˈvɜːɰʁ̩(ː)].

[Aftovota]

[ˈsɪfn̩] or [sɪˈfɑn] for <siphon> (expected: [ˈsaɪfn̩]). My family had fun with that one.

[Pabappa]

I used to pronounce velar as [ˈvɜːɰʁ̩(ː)].

me too. Between myself and others here, I've seen mispronunciations for labial, alveolar , velar, and uvular. Labial with /æ/, alveolar with 3rd syllable stress, velar with short e, and uvular without the /j/.

[jal]

me too.

Ditto. Same for velum.

uvular without the /j/.

Isn't that a generic American thing?


JAL

[Zaarin]

me too.

Ditto. Same for velum.

I've always heard short /e/ in velum, and Wiktionary lists both pronunciations.

uvular without the /j/.

Isn't that a generic American thing?


JAL

No, generally we only yod-drop after a palatalized /t d k g s z/.

[Linguoboy]

uvular without the /j/.

Isn't that a generic American thing?

We have yod-deletion in a lot contexts but not generally after /v/, if that's what you're asking.

I was thinking yesterday about my pronunciation of Birne, which in Standard German is something like [bɪɐ̯nə]. Since it's weird for me to have a diphthong beginning with [ɪ] I used to raise this to [i] or lower it to [e]. I didn't think about what I was doing until my acting teacher in Germany gave me a hard time about it.

[jal]

No, generally we only yod-drop after a palatalized /t d k g s z/.

I recall it being dropped in "new" as well?

We have yod-deletion in a lot contexts but not generally after /v/, if that's what you're asking.

Ok, thanks.

I've always heard short /e/ in velum, and Wiktionary lists both pronunciations.

You're right, which makes it even more remarkable that "velar" doesn't have it.


JAL

[Zaarin]

No, generally we only yod-drop after a palatalized /t d k g s z/.

I recall it being dropped in "new" as well?

...I forgot some dialects have one there. Maybe more generally we drop them after coronals (+ palatalized k g)?

[Travis B.]

Some people here have restored /ju/, or shall I say, [i̯ʉ] or even [i̯y] in words like new and stupid through fronting and breaking of /u/ after a coronal.

[Travis B.]

I was thinking yesterday about my pronunciation of Birne, which in Standard German is something like [bɪɐ̯nə]. Since it's weird for me to have a diphthong beginning with [ɪ] I used to raise this to [i] or lower it to [e]. I didn't think about what I was doing until my acting teacher in Germany gave me a hard time about it.

I often have trouble with Standard German /ɪ/ because, as my native "/ɪ/" is really [ɘ] and I have no native [ɪ] except before /r/ (where then I think of it as an allophone of /i/), I would raise Standard German /ɪ/ to [i], and, as I do not really think of vowel length as anything other than a consonant contrast, I would merge it with Standard German /iː/.

[Zaarin]

Some people here have restored /ju/, or shall I say, [i̯ʉ] or even [i̯y] in words like new and stupid through fronting and breaking of /i/ after a coronal.

I have heard that pronunciation of stupid before.

[Pabappa]

I meant the first u. "Oovular", I only saw it because it was written "an uvular stop". Probably he got the second u still correct. Also lapis, from the other thread, which I've been thinking was /ei/, butve never said out loud.

[Zaarin]

I meant the first u. "Oovular", I only saw it because it was written "an uvular stop". Probably he got the second u still correct.

Are you sure the person wasn't British? British style uses "an" before /h/ and words written with a vowel but pronounced with /j/.

[Estav]

I meant the first u. "Oovular", I only saw it because it was written "an uvular stop". Probably he got the second u still correct.

Are you sure the person wasn't British? British style uses "an" before /h/ and words written with a vowel but pronounced with /j/.

As far as I know, there is no common style of English that uses "an" before words written with a vowel but pronounced with /j/. I have heard scattered reports of this usage, but I don't know of any style or usage guides that countenance it.

And I think the use of "an" before /h/ is not restricted to British style: there are also Americans who do this, although I think it is unpopular (in both the US and the UK). From what I understand, an + /h/ is usually only accepted as a "valid" (if eccentric) variant usage before words starting in an unstressed syllable, so "an historic" is more commonly accepted than "an history".

[mèþru]

I see it often enough in British English that I assumed it is the norm there. Here, both are acceptable in writing but you never insert /n/ before /h/ in speech.