The "How Do You Pronounce X" Thread

[bradrn]

How do you pronounce "antifa"? I realized I have no idea of its English realization, as "fa" is short for "fascist", but the "fa" of "fascist" can't typically end a word (in Dutch we have no such problem, as we have /fa/, for the first syllable of fascist, and thus also as last syllable of "antifa").

Hasn’t this been discussed before?

[Darren]

How do you pronounce "antifa"? I realized I have no idea of its English realization, as "fa" is short for "fascist", but the "fa" of "fascist" can't typically end a word (in Dutch we have no such problem, as we have /fa/, for the first syllable of fascist, and thus also as last syllable of "antifa").


JAL

Like most things in English it is a schwa

[Travis B.]

How do you pronounce "antifa"? I realized I have no idea of its English realization, as "fa" is short for "fascist", but the "fa" of "fascist" can't typically end a word (in Dutch we have no such problem, as we have /fa/, for the first syllable of fascist, and thus also as last syllable of "antifa").

To me 'antifa' is effectively a loanword. If you pressed me to give a pronunciation I would probably say something like /ænˈtifə/ [ɛ̃̆ə̯̃̆nˈtʰifə(ː)].

[jal]

Hasn’t this been discussed before?

If so I'm not aware or have forgotten, otherwise I wouldn't ask :D.


JAL

[jal]

Like most things in English it is a schwa

And where's your stress if I may ask? Travis has it penultimate, but that obscures the "anti".


JAL

[Darren]

Like most things in English it is a schwa

And where's your stress if I may ask? Travis has it penultimate, but that obscures the "anti".


JAL

Barring dialectal differences, the same as Travis's. It's not something I'd regularly parse as anti-fa (if I did it would be more like /ˈæntiˌfɑː/ instead of /ˌæːnˈtɪjfə/)

[anteallach]

How do you pronounce "antifa"? I realized I have no idea of its English realization, as "fa" is short for "fascist", but the "fa" of "fascist" can't typically end a word (in Dutch we have no such problem, as we have /fa/, for the first syllable of fascist, and thus also as last syllable of "antifa").

I don't really know; this is a word I've seen written much more than I've actually heard.

My instinct is to pronounce it essentially as a clipping of "anti-fascist", which does actually put a TRAP vowel ([a] in my accent) in word-final position (something which I can do, but mostly in obvious French loans) but it seems that it is more commonly pronounced as Darren and Travis suggest.

[Lērisama]

How do you pronounce "antifa"? I realized I have no idea of its English realization, as "fa" is short for "fascist", but the "fa" of "fascist" can't typically end a word (in Dutch we have no such problem, as we have /fa/, for the first syllable of fascist, and thus also as last syllable of "antifa").

I don't really know; this is a word I've seen written much more than I've actually heard.

My instinct is to pronounce it essentially as a clipping of "anti-fascist", which does actually put a TRAP vowel ([a] in my accent) in word-final position (something which I can do, but mostly in obvious French loans) but it seems that it is more commonly pronounced as Darren and Travis suggest.

This exactly – I don't think I've ever heard it pronounced, but it's /ˈantɪjˌfa/ in my head.

[Travis B.]

The thing is that final /æ ɑ/ outside of monosyllables (and then mostly interjections) or possibly some learnèd French loans are forbidden in the English here.

[Znex]

How do you pronounce "antifa"? I realized I have no idea of its English realization, as "fa" is short for "fascist", but the "fa" of "fascist" can't typically end a word (in Dutch we have no such problem, as we have /fa/, for the first syllable of fascist, and thus also as last syllable of "antifa").

To me 'antifa' is effectively a loanword. If you pressed me to give a pronunciation I would probably say something like /ænˈtifə/ [ɛ̃̆ə̯̃̆nˈtʰifə(ː)].

Pretty much how I've heard it said online and in the media by English speakers (not that exact phonetic realisation necessarily, but I'd transcribe it phonemically the same).

[StrangerCoug]

Does anybody else pronounce abaci with the C pronounced /k/ but abacist with the C pronounced /s/? I think I'm doing the former by analogy with abacus but the latter by analogy with other words that end in –cist (physicist in particular seems like a good example to mention).

[jcb]

The thing is that final /æ ɑ/ outside of monosyllables (and then mostly interjections) or possibly some learnèd French loans are forbidden in the English here.

The only two words that end with /{/ that I can think of are BAA (the sound a sheep makes) and YEAH. Are there any others?

[Raphael]

or possibly some learnèd French loans

*grins*

[Travis B.]

The thing is that final /æ ɑ/ outside of monosyllables (and then mostly interjections) or possibly some learnèd French loans are forbidden in the English here.

The only two words that end with /{/ that I can think of are BAA (the sound a sheep makes) and YEAH. Are there any others?

For me I have /æ/ in yeah and what I would spell as neah (this is not really a written word) and /ɑ/ in yah (think German ja), nah, baa, fa and la (as in the notes), and hah.

[Raphael]

and what I would spell as neah (this is not really a written word)

What is that? Some kind of local version of "no"?

[Travis B.]

and what I would spell as neah (this is not really a written word)

What is that? Some kind of local version of "no"?

Yeah, neah is a negative interjection, just like nah and the standard no.

[Travis B.]

There is one other example of final /æ/ I can think of -- /wæ/, which is onomatopoeia for the sound of a crying baby.

[anteallach]

The thing is that final /æ ɑ/ outside of monosyllables (and then mostly interjections) or possibly some learnèd French loans are forbidden in the English here.

The only two words that end with /{/ that I can think of are BAA (the sound a sheep makes) and YEAH. Are there any others?

For me I have /æ/ in yeah and what I would spell as neah (this is not really a written word) and /ɑ/ in yah (think German ja), nah, baa, fa and la (as in the notes), and hah.

What about spa?

For me yeah has /ɛ/ (i.e. it's simply yes without the /s/). The sheep noise is often /bɑː/ (as in "Baa Baa Black Sheep") but that seems like a terrible approximation to the noise sheep actually make (almost as bad as [vi]) and if for some reason I actually wanted to imitate one I'd use something based on the SQUARE vowel...

The actual examples of word final TRAP for me tend to be obviously French: pain au chocolat (which also has a nasalised vowel), fracas (where the s is silent here), etc. (NB the French I learned doesn't distinguish /a/ and /ɑ/.) Most examples I can think of are also often heard with /ɑː/.

[jal]

YEAH

I would think "yeah" has a falling diphthong, something like /eə/?


JAL

[Travis B.]

The only two words that end with /{/ that I can think of are BAA (the sound a sheep makes) and YEAH. Are there any others?

For me I have /æ/ in yeah and what I would spell as neah (this is not really a written word) and /ɑ/ in yah (think German ja), nah, baa, fa and la (as in the notes), and hah.

What about spa?

Yeah, I forgot about spa -- it also has /ɑ/ for me.

The actual examples of word final TRAP for me tend to be obviously French: pain au chocolat (which also has a nasalised vowel), fracas (where the s is silent here), etc. (NB the French I learned doesn't distinguish /a/ and /ɑ/.) Most examples I can think of are also often heard with /ɑː/.

I would pronounce pain au chocolat and fracas with final /ɑ/ but mind you my native /ɑ/ is normally [a(ː)] including in these two words.