The "How Do You Pronounce X" Thread

[Rounin Ryuuji]

I tend to say something like ['sɒːd.(ə)ɹ], but when I see that word, it produces a mental reading ['souɫ.d(ə)ɹ]; It's one of those words I learnt without knowing how to spell it, and assumed it was either sodder or sauder, and only later saw written down (I didn't realise the two words were the same at first).

[Linguoboy]

/ˈsahder/ (i.e. [ˈsaˑɾɚ] ~ [ˈsɒˑɾɚ]). Like Rounin, I heard this word for years before I'd ever seen it spelled and probably would have written it "sodder".

[Rounin Ryuuji]

On which note, how are people pronouncing "Rounin"?

[Travis B.]

solder [ˈsaːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
rounin [ˈʁʷˤõ̞ːɾ̃ĩ(ː)(n)]

[Darren]

[ˈsɐ̹ʊ̯ɫdɜ]

[Titus Flavius]

[ˈsəɫdə]
I'm not a native English speaker. This is how I learnt it.

[bradrn]

[ˈsowdɐ]
[ˈʁ̞ʷɞ͡ʉnɘn]

[Nortaneous]

What about "solder"?

[sɑɾɚ]

[Raholeun]

[ˈsɐ̹ʊ̯ɫdɜ]

This would be my personal instinct too, and I was surprised at the elision of l when I heard it pronounced.

[Travis B.]

To me the spelling indicates [ˈso̞ːʊ̯ɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] (like sold [ˈso̞ːʊ̯t] and soldier [ˈso̞ːʊ̯tɕʁ̩ˤ(ː)]), and the pronunciation of [ˈsaːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] has to be specifically learned.

[anteallach]

To me the spelling indicates [ˈso̞ːʊ̯ɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] (like sold [ˈso̞ːʊ̯t] and soldier [ˈso̞ːʊ̯tɕʁ̩ˤ(ː)]), and the pronunciation of [ˈsaːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] has to be specifically learned.

I was aware that it was traditionally pronounced with no /l/ but the pronunciation I'm used to here has /l/.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

To me the spelling indicates [ˈso̞ːʊ̯ɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] (like sold [ˈso̞ːʊ̯t] and soldier [ˈso̞ːʊ̯tɕʁ̩ˤ(ː)]), and the pronunciation of [ˈsaːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] has to be specifically learned.

Either this, or one hears the word first, then has to learn an unexpected written form (as with words, not that uncommon, in which ea is either [ɛ] or [ei] — elementary spelling rules suggest steak and bread ought to be orthographically stake — or staik, though -aik is unusual pattern and looks a little odd to my English-accustomed eyes — and bred).

Now that I think on it, the way I was taught spelling is... maybe a little odd. I remember a rule (I think it was a song to help you remember) "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking" (i.e. a vowel digraph with two vowels, it's pronounced like the name of the first one), which does usually apply to "ea, ee, oa, ai", but then you have to learn that "ow" does this sometimes, "ou" does this rarely, and "oo" does this in "brooch" (which is often misspelled "broach"), "au" does this in "gauge" and the archaic given name "Morgause" but elsewhere sounds like the short-o (to my cot-caught merger ears), and "oi" does something else, too.

[Linguoboy]

To me the spelling indicates [ˈso̞ːʊ̯ɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] (like sold [ˈso̞ːʊ̯t] and soldier [ˈso̞ːʊ̯tɕʁ̩ˤ(ː)]), and the pronunciation of [ˈsaːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] has to be specifically learned.

Either this, or one hears the word first, then has to learn an unexpected written form

Guess it all comes down to what kind of environment you grew up in. My father was a carpenter so he talked about "soddering". He also had a "plum bob", a "cawking gun", "imry boards", a "splitting mall", and a "maddick".

[Travis B.]

To me the spelling indicates [ˈso̞ːʊ̯ɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] (like sold [ˈso̞ːʊ̯t] and soldier [ˈso̞ːʊ̯tɕʁ̩ˤ(ː)]), and the pronunciation of [ˈsaːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] has to be specifically learned.

Either this, or one hears the word first, then has to learn an unexpected written form (as with words, not that uncommon, in which ea is either [ɛ] or [ei] — elementary spelling rules suggest steak and bread ought to be orthographically stake — or staik, though -aik is unusual pattern and looks a little odd to my English-accustomed eyes — and bred).

Now that I think on it, the way I was taught spelling is... maybe a little odd. I remember a rule (I think it was a song to help you remember) "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking" (i.e. a vowel digraph with two vowels, it's pronounced like the name of the first one), which does usually apply to "ea, ee, oa, ai", but then you have to learn that "ow" does this sometimes, "ou" does this rarely, and "oo" does this in "brooch" (which is often misspelled "broach"), "au" does this in "gauge" and the archaic given name "Morgause" but elsewhere sounds like the short-o (to my cot-caught merger ears), and "oi" does something else, too.

There are some placenames around here which have spellings that are not obvious from their pronunciations, or vice versa, such as Waukesha [ˈwɒkɘˌʃɒ(ː)]~[ˈwɒkiˌʃɒ(ː)] (where the spelling implies *[ˈwɒkɘʃə(ː)] ~[ˈwɒkiʃə(ː)]), Okauchee [o̞ˈkʰatʃi(ː)] (where the spelling implies *[o̞ˈkʰɒtʃi(ː)]), Racine [ʁʷˤəˈsĩ(ː)(n)]~[ʁʷˤeˈsĩ(ː)(n)] (which one might expect to be *[ʁʷˤəˈsã(ː)ẽ̯(n)]~[ʁʷˤeˈsã(ː)ẽ̯(n)]), Shawano [ˈʃɒ̃ːˌnɵ(ː)] (which one might expect to be trisyllabic), and the infamous Oconomowoc (whose pronunciation I leave as an exercise to the reader).

[jal]

I was aware that it was traditionally pronounced with no /l/ but the pronunciation I'm used to here has /l/.

From what I gather watching YouTube tech vids, l-less solder is predominantly US, while l-having solder is predominantly UK. I had the UK "spelling pronunciation" (silently, I don't think I ever said the word aloud) until I started watching US tech vids like 8-Bit Guy's, though then I heard the UK pronunciation and switched again.


JAL

[Pabappa]

how about the rogue nasal vowel in chocolate? I like my chocolate refrigerated, and nasals sound warm to me, so i would never adopt that pronunciation even subconsciously, but i now know I'm not the only one who hears it.

does anyone here use that pronunciation? is it local, or widespread but yet rare? person who says it is in Florida.

[jal]

how about the rogue nasal vowel in chocolate?

What nasal vowel? The first one? "chõclet"?


JAL

[Travis B.]

I've never heard a nasal vowel in chocolate myself.

[Travis B.]

Does anyone have [o̞] or like with /l/-elision in almost, already, or all right? I've noticed my mom has this, where I have [ɒo̯] in almost and [ɒ] without /l/ in already and all right.

[Estav]

Does anyone have [o̞] or like with /l/-elision in almost, already, or all right? I've noticed my mom has this, where I have [ɒo̯] in almost and [ɒ] without /l/ in already and all right.

The only one of these where the vowel can be like [o̞] for me is almost. Already and all right have [ɑ(ɫ)] (I think elision of ɫ is more likely in all right).