Tag Archives: phonetics

I’m Hoarably Sorey

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Ben

Canadians (or those familiar with the Canadian accent), may recognize the weak pun in today’s title: ‘I’m horribly sorry‘ can sound to someone from the UK or elsewhere a bit like ‘I’m hoarably sorey.’ (I’m using ‘hoar’ to be family friendly; … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged , , , | 39 Comments

Bidder Budder Badder: The Extent of T-tapping

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Ben

Americans like myself ‘tap’ the ‘t’ in between vowels.  This means that the ‘t’ in ‘butter’ is pronounced not with a /t/ sound, but rather with the ‘r’ consonant in Spanish ‘pero.’  The common impression, though, is that ‘t’ becomes … Continue reading →

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , , , | 32 Comments

Auld Lang Syne FAQ

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Ben

Last night was New Years’ Eve, which brings about the yearly revival of the song Auld Lang Syne.  Originally penned by Robert Burns (the melody is traditional), the lyrics are in the Scots language (or dialect, depending on your point of … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English | Tagged , | 13 Comments

An Accent Myth? The East Asian L/R Mix-Up

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Ben

A few days ago, I watched the American holiday classic A Christmas Story.  At the end of the film, the family of the main character visits a Chinese restaurant.  Being Christmas, the wait staff attempts to entertain their American patrons … Continue reading →

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Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged , | 31 Comments

Leeds or Manchester?

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Ben

Turning back to the world of accent minutiae, a reader emailed me with a conundrum regarding the difference between Leeds and Manchester accents. This concerns ‘punk poet’ John Cooper Clarke, from Salford in Greater Manchester: I like to think of … Continue reading →

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Posted in British English, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 30 Comments

Vocal Fry

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Ben

I don’t have time for a full-on post today, but I would be negligent if I didn’t point out the recent buzz on the web and elsewhere about ‘vocal fry.’  This term, which is more or less synonymous with creaky … Continue reading →

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Polar Bears and Cross Dressers

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Ben

One of the handful of slips the excellent British actor Hugh Laurie made on House (he speaks with an American accent on the show) was when he had a line with the term ‘cross dresser.’  Every vowel and consonant was technically correct, … Continue reading →

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , | 19 Comments

The Odd Vowel Out

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Ben

Years back, an actor asked me a dialect ‘riddle’ of sorts: is there any vowel represented by the International Phonetic Alphabet that does not exist in any accent of English? I don’t know how to answer that question; it depends … Continue reading →

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , | 30 Comments

The Advance of ‘Goose’

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Ben

Apropos of our recent discussion of the ‘oo’ vowel in Multicultural London English: The ‘oo’ vowel in ‘goose’ is undergoing a fairly remarkable worldwide shift. When we transcribe this vowel in the International Phonetic Alphabet, we typically use the symbol … Continue reading →

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Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged | 11 Comments

What’s with the Western US and Velars?

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Ben

I’d like to address something that has frequently been brought up in the comments.  One of the most salient (and ‘exotic’) features of accents in the Western US is the way vowels behave before voiced velar consonants (i.e. ‘-g‘ and ‘-ng‘).  This … Continue reading →

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Posted in American English | Tagged , | 34 Comments