English Primary and Secondary Stress

[Moose-tache]

My instinct is for photobomby to be prononounced as /ˌfoʊtoʊˈbɒmi/~/ˌfoʊtəˈbɒmi/ myself - pronouncing it as /foʊˈtɒbəmi/~/fəˈtɒbəmi/ does not feel natural to me at all.

Ditto. I'm having difficulty producing the latter pronunciation, in fact. I keep wanting to make it rhyme with "lobotomy".

OK, something to keep in mind, as I said it was a joke and is probably supposed to sound a little bit funny. The idea isn't that this is the only or best way to pronounce the word, but that there is clearly a productive rule or else it wouldn't be possible at all, even as a joke.

But linguoboy, how on Earth do you pronounce lobotomy if it doesn't rhyme with my description of photobomby? To me, it's lo-BOT-omy. Do you say LO-bo-TO-my or something?

[zompist]

But linguoboy, how on Earth do you pronounce lobotomy if it doesn't rhyme with my description of photobomby? To me, it's lo-BOT-omy. Do you say LO-bo-TO-my or something?

Your description was "pho-TOB-bomby", which suggested to me that you secondarily stress 'bomb'. Apparently you're saying [fɘ ˈta bɘm i], like [lo ˈba tɘm i]? If I heard that I don't think I'd make the connection to "bomb" [bam] at all.

Sometimes jokes just don't land. But I think the word does show what you want it to, i.e. that someone can follow the model of "photography" rather than "phonotactics".

[Moose-tache]

But linguoboy, how on Earth do you pronounce lobotomy if it doesn't rhyme with my description of photobomby? To me, it's lo-BOT-omy. Do you say LO-bo-TO-my or something?

Your description was "pho-TOB-bomby", which suggested to me (and apparently Travis and lingbuoboy) that you pronounce the second b, and possibly that you secondarily stress 'bomb'. Apparently you're saying [fɘ ˈta bɘm i], like [lo ˈba tɘm i]? If I heard that I don't think I'd make the connection to "bomb" [bam] at all.

Sometimes jokes just don't land. But I think the word does show what you want it to, i.e. that someone can follow the model of "photography" rather than "phonotactics".

Wait, have I been the only one who says "bomb" with only one b my whole life? I thought that was nearly universal in English. No one ever corrected me when I pronounced it like "bom."

If so, then let me revize my earlier pronunciation guides: phoTOBom(b)y, with a silent b, since I apparently have some weird word-final mb lenition that I'm just now learning is idiosyncratic.

[zompist]

Although I'm pleased that you are so eager to read my words that you respond in a flash, I actually revised the post. Please read that instead.

[zompist]

Also, I think the informal descriptions are directly leading to confusion; I switched to IPA and it would be helpful if you did too. "Bom(b)y" still does not tell us if you reduce the vowel, and that's why it surprised people when you said it rhymed with "lobotomy".

[Estav]

says "bomb" with only one b my whole life? I thought that was nearly universal in English. No one ever corrected me when I pronounced it like "bom."

If so, then let me revize my earlier pronunciation guides: phoTOBom(b)y, with a silent b, since I apparently have some weird word-final mb lenition that I'm just now learning is idiosyncratic.

"Bomb" usually ends in [m]. That is the usual pronunciation of word-final ⟨mb⟩ in English; [mb] is not in my inventory of allowed word-final sounds at all, any more than [ŋg]. Apparently some speakers tolerate word-final [mb] in iamb, but I would consider that to be a form not fully integrated into English phonotactics, like pronunciations of "loch" with [x] or of "chthonic" with [kθ].

[zompist]

I have helpfully gone back and highlighted that I said "bomb" is [bam] , since apparently people couldn't see that. I checked for invisible tiny b's, but no, it's just [bam] .

Admittedly I originally suggested "bomby" could have a b, which I edited out. There is no word-final b in "bomby".

[Moose-tache]

I think I found the problem: I pronounce "bomb" as "bom," and so I just assumed everyone would read the word "bomb" and understand that it doesn't have a second b in it. But the moment I started doing phonetic spelling, everyone assumed that the Bs were now deliberate.

[Linguoboy]

My instinct is for photobomby to be prononounced as /ˌfoʊtoʊˈbɒmi/~/ˌfoʊtəˈbɒmi/ myself - pronouncing it as /foʊˈtɒbəmi/~/fəˈtɒbəmi/ does not feel natural to me at all.

Ditto. I'm having difficulty producing the latter pronunciation, in fact. I keep wanting to make it rhyme with "lobotomy".

OK, something to keep in mind, as I said it was a joke and is probably supposed to sound a little bit funny. The idea isn't that this is the only or best way to pronounce the word, but that there is clearly a productive rule or else it wouldn't be possible at all, even as a joke.

I get that. I'm simply reporting that I'm find it difficult to produce your target pronunciation under any conditions.

But linguoboy, how on Earth do you pronounce lobotomy if it doesn't rhyme with my description of photobomby? To me, it's lo-BOT-omy. Do you say LO-bo-TO-my or something?

No, I say [ɫəˈbɑˑɾəmi], not *[ɫəˈtʰɑˑbəmi], so the two words don't rhyme.

[Richard W]

To me, photobomby is Latinate, not 'pure' English suffix at all, so the second 'b' is no more silent than in bombard (just as the 'g' in signify or signal is a full consonant), so I would pronounce the word photo-BOM-BY if it's an abstract noun, analogously to thermoPLASty. Now, if it meant 'to do with photobombs', then it would be photo-BOMmy.

[Travis B.]

To me, photobomby is Latinate, not 'pure' English suffix at all, so the second 'b' is no more silent than in bombard (just as the 'g' in signify or signal is a full consonant), so I would pronounce the word photo-BOM-BY if it's an abstract noun, analogously to thermoPLASty. Now, if it meant 'to do with photobombs', then it would be photo-BOMmy.

See, the "to do with photobombs" meaning is the meaning that immediately comes to mind when I see photobomby - the other meaning is not intuitive for me at all.

[Richard W]

To me, photobomby is Latinate, not 'pure' English suffix at all, so the second 'b' is no more silent than in bombard (just as the 'g' in signify or signal is a full consonant), so I would pronounce the word photo-BOM-BY if it's an abstract noun, analogously to thermoPLASty. Now, if it meant 'to do with photobombs', then it would be photo-BOMmy.

See, the "to do with photobombs" meaning is the meaning that immediately comes to mind when I see photobomby - the other meaning is not intuitive for me at all.

But Moosetache told us, "This pattern was later extended by analogy to any word with nominalizing -y, even in words with no Greek etymology, like "photobomby." Therefore, the word we were discussing cannot be an adjective!

[Moose-tache]

To me, photobomby is Latinate, not 'pure' English suffix at all, so the second 'b' is no more silent than in bombard (just as the 'g' in signify or signal is a full consonant), so I would pronounce the word photo-BOM-BY if it's an abstract noun, analogously to thermoPLASty. Now, if it meant 'to do with photobombs', then it would be photo-BOMmy.

See, the "to do with photobombs" meaning is the meaning that immediately comes to mind when I see photobomby - the other meaning is not intuitive for me at all.

But Moosetache told us, "This pattern was later extended by analogy to any word with nominalizing -y, even in words with no Greek etymology, like "photobomby." Therefore, the word we were discussing cannot be an adjective!

Indeed, I always have adjectival -y with no stress change. This could be far form universal, though. One thing I've learned from this thread is that I need a survey of exactly how people pronounce words in English before I can draw any conclusions.

[mocha]

But what about the comparative form, photobombier? Or the superlative, photobombiest?

[Linguoboy]

But what about the comparative form, photobombier?

I kind of want to say /fotoˌbɔ̃mˈbje/ and assume this is what you call a photobomber in French.

[mocha]

But what about the comparative form, photobombier?

I kind of want to say /fotoˌbɔ̃mˈbje/ and assume this is what you call a photobomber in French.

I think I prefer *photobombeur so there's presumably a *photobombeuse, which sounds even more ridiculous

[Ryusenshi]

I kind of want to say /fotoˌbɔ̃mˈbje/ and assume this is what you call a photobomber in French.

Photobombier sounds like someone who photobombs for a living, while photobombeur could be either a professional or an amateur. Though it could be an adjective: l'art photobombier, photobomb art.