English questions

Natural languages and linguistics
Travis B.
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Re: English questions

Post by Travis B. »

zompist wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 3:55 pm
Travis B. wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 2:56 pm The classic American realization of /nt/ between vowels where the following vowel is unstressed is a nasal flap [ɾ̃]. Some people have a contrast with /n/ in pairs like winter and winner where [ɾ̃] is distinguished from [n] (I distinguish the two words by vowel length even though I either merge /nt/ and /n/ in these words as [ɾ̃] or elide them in both).
Wow, not for me— I have [wɪ̃tr̩], without even voicing the t.
When speaking carefully I may pronounce winter as [ˈwɪ̈̃nˌtʲʰʁ̩ˤ(ː)]. The key word, though, is 'carefully'.
zompist wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 3:55 pm Do you also have [ɾ̃] in banter, painter?
Yes.
zompist wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 3:55 pm How about accountant? Here I have something like [əkãwʔn̩ʔ].
When speaking normally I pronounce it as [{ə,ɘ}ˈkʰɑ̃̆ɔ̯̆̃ʔn̩ʔ]. (When speaking carefully I may pronounce it [əˈkʰɑ̃̆ɔ̯̆̃nˌtʰɪ̈̃ʔt].) The double-glottal-stop pronunciation is probably due to the second /n/.
Yaaludinuya siima d'at yiseka wohadetafa gaare.
Ennadinut'a gaare d'ate eetatadi siiman.
T'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa.
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Re: English questions

Post by zompist »

Travis B. wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 5:28 pm
zompist wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 3:55 pm
Travis B. wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 2:56 pm The classic American realization of /nt/ between vowels where the following vowel is unstressed is a nasal flap [ɾ̃]. Some people have a contrast with /n/ in pairs like winter and winner where [ɾ̃] is distinguished from [n] (I distinguish the two words by vowel length even though I either merge /nt/ and /n/ in these words as [ɾ̃] or elide them in both).
Wow, not for me— I have [wɪ̃tr̩], without even voicing the t.
When speaking carefully I may pronounce winter as [ˈwɪ̈̃nˌtʲʰʁ̩ˤ(ː)]. The key word, though, is 'carefully'.
On reflection, I can say it with [ɾ̃] too. The [wɪ̃tr̩] pronunciation is more likely if it's stressed.
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Man in Space
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Re: English questions

Post by Man in Space »

zompist wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 6:14 pmOn reflection, I can say it with [ɾ̃] too. The [wɪ̃tr̩] pronunciation is more likely if it's stressed.
Same here. I generally say winterize with [ɾ̃] unless I'm being very deliberate (like if I'm repeating myself to one of my family members).
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Raphael
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Re: English questions

Post by Raphael »

What is the usual way to pronounce year numbers from the 12th or 13th century, such as "1148" or "1273"? I mean in terms of syllables, not phonemes.
bradrn
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Re: English questions

Post by bradrn »

Raphael wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2025 6:24 am What is the usual way to pronounce year numbers from the 12th or 13th century, such as "1148" or "1273"? I mean in terms of syllables, not phonemes.
I think I would usually say ‘eleven-forty-eight’ and ‘twelve-seventy-three’. For that matter, I also say ‘twenty-twenty-five’, but ‘two thousand and five’: the range of ’two thousand and ___’ extends from 2000 to around 2015, I think.
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Raphael
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Re: English questions

Post by Raphael »

Thank you!
Lērisama
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Re: English questions

Post by Lērisama »

bradrn wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:01 am
Raphael wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2025 6:24 am What is the usual way to pronounce year numbers from the 12th or 13th century, such as "1148" or "1273"? I mean in terms of syllables, not phonemes.
I think I would usually say ‘eleven-forty-eight’ and ‘twelve-seventy-three’. For that matter, I also say ‘twenty-twenty-five’, but ‘two thousand and five’: the range of ’two thousand and ___’ extends from 2000 to around 2015, I think.
The same here, although the crossover is ‘twenty-ten’ (as opposed to ‘two thousand and nine’). I do have ‘twelve-oh-five’ etc. for all the other first decades of each century, at least back to 1101 ‘eleven-oh-one’. Before that, just reading it as if it were a number becomes more common
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Travis B.
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Re: English questions

Post by Travis B. »

bradrn wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:01 am
Raphael wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2025 6:24 am What is the usual way to pronounce year numbers from the 12th or 13th century, such as "1148" or "1273"? I mean in terms of syllables, not phonemes.
I think I would usually say ‘eleven-forty-eight’ and ‘twelve-seventy-three’. For that matter, I also say ‘twenty-twenty-five’, but ‘two thousand and five’: the range of ’two thousand and ___’ extends from 2000 to around 2015, I think.
I am pretty much the same here.
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Ennadinut'a gaare d'ate eetatadi siiman.
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Raphael
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Re: English questions

Post by Raphael »

Thank you two, too!
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Linguoboy
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Re: English questions

Post by Linguoboy »

I often count to put myself to sleep, varying the base for my own diversion, and so I've thought a lot about the oddities in how English-speakers speak numbers aloud. Like how when counting by hundreds we switch to thousands for the tens but when speaking years aloud, we can use decads as long we drop the "hundred". So:

...
eighteen-hundred
nineteen-hundred
two thousand
twenty-one hundred
...

but: "twenty ten" for 2010 as a year is fine.

I would understand "twenty-hundred" in context, but it's so jarring.
Travis B.
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Re: English questions

Post by Travis B. »

I mentioned before how I have partial non-rhoticism in order. Well, this appears to be a regular pattern with START and NORTH/FORCE:

order: [ˈɔːːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
quarter: [ˈkʷʰw̥ɔːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
corner: [ˈkʰɔ̃ːːɾ̃ʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
porter: [ˈpʰɔːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
Carter: [ˈkʰɑːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
barter: [ˈb̥ɑːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
martyr: [ˈmɑːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)]
cartridge: [ˈkʰɑːtʃɹ̠ʁɘːtʃ]
partridge: [ˈpʰɑːtʃɹ̠ʁɘːtʃ]

Note how START contrasts with LOT as in:
cotter (as in cotter pin): [ˈkʰaɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)]

and with THOUGHT as in:
daughter: [ˈd̥ɒɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)]~[d̥ɒːʁˤ]

I have not noticed this particular pattern except with START and NORTH/FORCE, where not only is the first rhotic elided but compensatory lengthening occurs and r-coloring is retained. This ensures that no mergers occur because of this. Also note how raising of START before fortis obstruents is blocked by this.
Yaaludinuya siima d'at yiseka wohadetafa gaare.
Ennadinut'a gaare d'ate eetatadi siiman.
T'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa.
Darren
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Re: English questions

Post by Darren »

I remember seeing this mentioned someone in a book, where a fronted GOAT /ɵ/ was distinct dissimilated rhotic FORCE /o/ e.g. corporation /kopəˈreʃən/ vs. cooperation /kɵapəˈreʃən/.
Travis B.
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Re: English questions

Post by Travis B. »

Darren wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2025 4:52 pm I remember seeing this mentioned someone in a book, where a fronted GOAT /ɵ/ was distinct dissimilated rhotic FORCE /o/ e.g. corporation /kopəˈreʃən/ vs. cooperation /kɵapəˈreʃən/.
I forgot to mention that order and odor are distinguished, with order being [ˈɔːːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)] (as mentioned) and odor being [ˈo̞ːɾʁ̩ˤ(ː)].
Yaaludinuya siima d'at yiseka wohadetafa gaare.
Ennadinut'a gaare d'ate eetatadi siiman.
T'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa.
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