The "How Do You Pronounce X" Thread

[Jonlang]

Kalamata as in the olive.

Something like [ˌkʰæ.lə.ˈmæ.tʰə] I guess.

[jal]

Kalamata as in the olive.

[kɐlɐˈmata] or the like, but that's in Dutch :). Never needed it in English.


JAL

[WarpedWartWars]

Something like [ˌkʰæ.lə.ˈmæ.tʰə] I guess.

That's how I've always thought of it, except with [ma] instead of [mæ].

[kɐlɐˈmata] or the like, but that's in Dutch . Never needed it in English.

You would if you had Kalamata olive bread, which I do.

[Linguoboy]

Kalamata as in the olive.

/ˌkɑləˈmɑtə/

[Travis B.]

Kalamata as in the olive.

/ˌkɑləˈmɑtə/

My pronunciation is phonemically identical.

[WarpedWartWars]

Kalamata as in the olive.

/ˌkɑləˈmɑtə/

I was thinking that too.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

I've never heard the word said before, but from the orthography, /kælə'mɑːtə/ ([kʰæː.ɫə'mɑː.də~kʰæː.ɫə'mɑː.ɾə]) would probably be my instinct.

[Travis B.]

I've never heard the word said before, but from the orthography, /kælə'mɑːtə/ ([kʰæː.ɫə'mɑː.də~kʰæː.ɫə'mɑː.ɾə]) would probably be my instinct.

The thing is that to me stressed ⟨a⟩ in non-Germanic loans and names is normally mapped to /ɑ/ (and even in Germanic loans long ⟨a⟩ often maps to that too). Note that this seems to be an American thing, as commonly non-Americans will map the same to /æ/.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

I've never heard the word said before, but from the orthography, /kælə'mɑːtə/ ([kʰæː.ɫə'mɑː.də~kʰæː.ɫə'mɑː.ɾə]) would probably be my instinct.

The thing is that to me stressed ⟨a⟩ in non-Germanic loans and names is normally mapped to /ɑ/ (and even in Germanic loans long ⟨a⟩ often maps to that too). Note that this seems to be an American thing, as commonly non-Americans will map the same to /æ/.

Note that I map one to [æ], and one to [ɑː]; I think it might be analogous with calamari.

[Travis B.]

I've never heard the word said before, but from the orthography, /kælə'mɑːtə/ ([kʰæː.ɫə'mɑː.də~kʰæː.ɫə'mɑː.ɾə]) would probably be my instinct.

The thing is that to me stressed ⟨a⟩ in non-Germanic loans and names is normally mapped to /ɑ/ (and even in Germanic loans long ⟨a⟩ often maps to that too). Note that this seems to be an American thing, as commonly non-Americans will map the same to /æ/.

Note that I map one to [æ], and one to [ɑː]; I think it might be analogous with calamari.

I likewise have /ˌkɑləˈmɑri/ ([ˌkʰaːɤ̯ə̃ːˈmɑːʁˤi(ː)]) for calamari.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

The thing is that to me stressed ⟨a⟩ in non-Germanic loans and names is normally mapped to /ɑ/ (and even in Germanic loans long ⟨a⟩ often maps to that too). Note that this seems to be an American thing, as commonly non-Americans will map the same to /æ/.

Note that I map one to [æ], and one to [ɑː]; I think it might be analogous with calamari.

I likewise have /ˌkɑləˈmɑri/ ([ˌkʰaːɤ̯ə̃ːˈmɑːʁˤi(ː)]) for calamari.

Ah, I have /kælə'mɑːri/ [ˌkʰæ.ɫə'mɑː.ɹij~ˌkʰæ.lə'mɑː.ɹɪ]; the maybe "interesting" feature is that I tend to reduce /iː/ to /ɪ/ terminally in a few contexts (usually at the end of longer words, when followed by another word beginning with a consonant utterance-medially), which is possibly regional influence; tomorrow is often /təmɑːrə/, the days of the week all end in roughly /di~dɪ/ rather than having a more fully realised [ou] or [ei], as might otherwise be expected (my speech is pretty close to General American, or so I tend to think). I don't go far enough to reduce /iː/ to [ə] — my very is not *['vɛ(ː).ɹə], though I have encountered that pronunciation before.

[anteallach]

I have TRAP (phonetically [a]) in both the first and third syllables of kalamata and in the first syllable of calamari but PALM/START in the third syllable of calamari.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

I have TRAP (phonetically [a]) in both the first and third syllables of kalamata and in the first syllable of calamari but PALM/START in the third syllable of calamari.

If your trap vowel is [a], what is your palm vowel? Still [ɑː]?

[Kuchigakatai]

"twenty"

Many sources state this word has DRESS or STRUT. What do you have? Are there any social connotations to using either vowel?

"son"

Just noticed Wiktionary claims this word can be pronounced with the LOT vowel, instead of the usual STRUT. Who pronounces it with LOT?

By the way, I eventually found, in J. C. Wells's Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (2000), that "son" is the pronunciation of the Spanish borrowing for the musical genre... Clarified it on Wiktionary.

[Travis B.]

"twenty"

Many sources state this word has DRESS or STRUT. What do you have? Are there any social connotations to using either vowel?

I have STRUT. Pronouncing it as DRESS sounds like a horrible spelling pronunciation/hypercorrection to me, TBH.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

"twenty"

Many sources state this word has DRESS or STRUT. What do you have? Are there any social connotations to using either vowel?

I have STRUT. Pronouncing it as DRESS sounds like a horrible spelling pronunciation/hypercorrection to me, TBH.

I have the two in free variation, but might have some slight preference for the strut vowel.

[Linguoboy]

"twenty"
Many sources state this word has DRESS or STRUT. What do you have? Are there any social connotations to using either vowel?

I have STRUT. Pronouncing it as DRESS sounds like a horrible spelling pronunciation/hypercorrection to me, TBH.

Same. For me it rhymes with "runny" and even pronouncing the second t sounds like a hypercorrection to me.

FWIW, I also frequently have the STRUT vowel in went, making it an occasional homophone for want.

[Travis B.]

"twenty"
Many sources state this word has DRESS or STRUT. What do you have? Are there any social connotations to using either vowel?

I have STRUT. Pronouncing it as DRESS sounds like a horrible spelling pronunciation/hypercorrection to me, TBH.

Same. For me it rhymes with "runny" and even pronouncing the second t sounds like a hypercorrection to me.

I normally do not realize twenty with even [ɾ̃], as my usual pronunciation is [tʰwʌ̃ːj] (yes, that's a monosyllable), but both the /n/ and the /t/ are still there underlyingly as the vowel is nasalized and only long rather than overlong. When pronouncing twenty more carefully it comes out as [ˈtʰwʌ̃ɾ̃i(ː)], which still reflects an underlying /t/ because the first vowel is short rather than long. Pronouncing twenty with a real live [nt] comes off as a serious hypercorrection to me.

FWIW, I also frequently have the STRUT vowel in went, making it an occasional homophone for want.

So you sometimes pronounce want with STRUT?

[Linguoboy]

FWIW, I also frequently have the STRUT vowel in went, making it an occasional homophone for want.

So you sometimes pronounce want with STRUT?

Is this a trick question? I always pronounce it that way. Using a rounded vowel sounds positively Bri'ish to me.

[Travis B.]

FWIW, I also frequently have the STRUT vowel in went, making it an occasional homophone for want.

So you sometimes pronounce want with STRUT?

Is this a trick question? I always pronounce it that way. Using a rounded vowel sounds positively Bri'ish to me.

In the dialect here in Milwaukee, want is pronounced with a rounded THOUGHT vowel, specifically [ɒ̃], unless one is actually from further south, e.g. Kenosha (my mother, who is from Kenosha originally, very frequently unrounds her THOUGHT as [ɑ], in this case as [ɑ̃], but is not cot-caught merged per se because her LOT is [a] except when adjacent to /r w h kw gw/).