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Picture someone saying it while wearing a big picture hat and a flowered dress. It will feel more natural.
I have a generic American accent, generally, but for things I have only heard my mother speak of, it's a Southern drawl. We had a lilac bush in the backyard when I was growing up, and I haven't really dealt with lilacs since.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:All your -bury endings were the same as I pronounce them also.
Really? Perhaps if we recorded ourselves we would talk apparantly differently but like phase shifted versions of each other (you with your Australian twang- is that what you mean by "strine"?), whereas the American accent is a stretched or compressed version.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote: Picture someone saying it while wearing a big picture hat and a flowered dress.
That is an entirely charming image.
Teshi - the 'strine is the twang. Most notable the long extended vowel - so Australian -> Austrine and hence 'strine.
I don't have it too badly. I have passed for English in South Africa and South African in England. So I guess my accent is clipped.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: lilac = LAH-luck
Really?! Wow. I cannot imagine that.
For me, lilac - Lie-lack (both quite short).
It's simply /ai/ monophthongization. The first vowel in lilac is a combination of "ah" and "ee." if you drop that trailing element, then you end up with "ah."
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JB, it's the back half of that I couldn't hear someone saying. That is to say, I've never heard anyone shorten the end of that enough to not clearly sound like 'ack'.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Does anyone pronounce the "o" in licorice? Is it like the second "a" in caramel, where some people actually pronounce it?
I say "CAR-m'l" and "LICK-rish".
Same with violets. I pronounce that as "VIE-lits". I found out last year that other people pronounce it with three syllables, when I tried to use it in a haiku and got called on it.
(Some roses are red And violets are always blue Haiku doesn't rhyme)
(But other forms of verse do)
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I pronounce the "o" in licorice. I also pronounce the second "a" in caramel (unless I'm talking about Caramel Corn or Caramel Apples, where for some reason I drop the second "a").
I seem to alternate back and forth on apricot, with either sounding perfectly acceptable.
Violets has three syllables. So does violence and violins.
Lilac is pronouced "Lie-lack" in my world.
Also, for some reason no one can figure out other than that I read way too much as a child, I also pronounce the "th" in clothes. Neither of my parents or my sister do that.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Violin has three syllables for me. But violence only has two.
I pronounce lilac the way you do, and I also pronounce the th in clothes, but it's very soft.
I never pronounce the "t" in whistle or often.
And I often use the contraction c'I. As in: "C'I see that for a second?" It's pronounced to rhyme with "buy" or "tie". The contraction c'you is similar, and is pronounced like the name of the letter Q. "C'you stop that, please?"
The contraction 'dyou is pronounced the same as "Jew", as in "'Dyou get that project done yet?"
('dyou should not be confused with d'you, which is a contraction of "do you", rather than "did you".)
I don't get why they don't teach these in school, along with wanna and dunno.
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How do you pronounce "clothes" without the middle "th"- is it just "close"? As in 'I close the door'?
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Does anyone want to get into the 'loo-tenant' vs. 'lef-tenant' issue? Skedule vs. Ssshedule? Shire vs. shuh, sha or sher (as in Yorkshire - Yorkshyer, Yorksha)?
Being from England, I pronounce them all the last way. Though I have no idea where the 'f' in lieutenant comes from.
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EDIT: Actually, I think I have. I just mentally insert the "th".
quote:Shire vs. shuh, sha or sher (as in Yorkshire - Yorkshyer, Yorksha)?
You could also a "borough" to that, Bella. Over here, we say "burrow" instead of "buruh" or "b'ruh".
Resulting in: Peterburrow, for example.
I say schedule and skedule with a huge amount of uncertainty. I have no idea which is my natural way. I say "shuh" or "shire" depending on the usual name of the place- as I do with "borough" and "burrow".
I'm a bit confused when it comes to speaking.
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Wow, I find it mind-boggling that you've never even heard "close" for "clothes". Even if that's not how it's said where you live, I think it's pretty standard U.S. pronunciation. I mean, the voiced "th" in the middle is a tongue-twister for me. (then again, I have an overbite so it could be a physical thing w/ me)
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I pronounce the o in licorice, although I NEVER eat it. <shudder>
I pronounce the second a in caramel when I'm talking about the chewy, gooey candy that covers apples or is dipped in chocolate (and I eat THAT quite frequently ) Carmel is completely different. It's what you get when you burn sugar, as for flan.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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quote:Originally posted by FlyingCow: I pronounce the "o" in licorice. I also pronounce the second "a" in caramel (unless I'm talking about Caramel Corn or Caramel Apples, where for some reason I drop the second "a").
I seem to alternate back and forth on apricot, with either sounding perfectly acceptable.
Violets has three syllables. So does violence and violins.
Lilac is pronounced "Lie-lack" in my world.
Also, for some reason no one can figure out other than that I read way too much as a child, I also pronounce the "th" in clothes. Neither of my parents or my sister do that.
This is starting to freak me out a little.
The "o" in licorice, check. (I think I pronounce it as a schwa, though.)
Caramel has three syllables (except when referring to the little squares Kraft makes, or related things like carmel apples), check.
I also never can decide between the two ways of saying apricot. (How do you feel about "orange"?)
Three-syllable "vio-" words, check.
"Lie-lack," check.
"Clothes," check.
Weird! Maybe my accent is more NJ-flavored than I thought!
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:I pronounce the o in licorice, although I NEVER eat it. <shudder>
AGREED!
quote:I pronounce the second a in caramel when I'm talking about the chewy, gooey candy that covers apples or is dipped in chocolate (and I eat THAT quite frequently ) Carmel is completely different. It's what you get when you burn sugar, as for flan.
How odd. You have that exactly backwards of the correct way. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Orange is pronounced "are-inge" not "oar-inge" in my linguistic bubble.
Caramel is weird. I eat carmul corn, carmul apples, carmulized onions... but milky way has caramel in it.
And I'm with you on the not eating licorice (which, btw, I *read* as lick-or-iss but *say* as lick-or-ish... odd)
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: "oar-inge" or "ah-ringe," none of this "are-inge" stuff.
And the difference between "ah-ringe" and "are-inge" is...? I pronounce "are" as "ahr". Doesn't everyone?
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Carimel. Ahhringe for the fruit, awwringe for the color. Lick-a-rish. Close. (the th is a tongue twister for me as well)
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I say the a in caramel. And while I can imagine 'carmul', 'carmulized' just sounds very very odd. Car-a-mil-ised - 4 distinct syllables.
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posted
Interestingly enough, it's always either car-uh-mel with the first 'a' sounding like the one in "cat", or car-mel with the first syllable sounding like the 'a' in "are". At least as I've heard it. I pretty much always use three syllables.
Three syllables for licorice, too. But only two for violets and violence. But violin has three again. How much sense does that make? Maybe it's because the stress isn't on the "vi" syllable?
Orange is with ore, not are.
Not so sure that "close" for "clothes" is pretty standard US pronunciation. Common, perhaps, but far from standard. (As you might guess, I pronounce the "th".)
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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quote:Originally posted by FlyingCow: Also, for some reason no one can figure out other than that I read way too much as a child, I also pronounce the "th" in clothes.
Gah! I pronounce it that way too, and some of my friends tease me about it all the time. I don't think either of my parents pronounce it that way, and I was raised as an only child, so I'm thinking it must have been something I picked up from reading a lot.
I don't do it as much anymore, but I also habitually used to pronounce all the syllables in 'interesting' - 'in-ter-es-ting' rather than 'in-tris-ting'. This one may have come from my mom - English isn't her native language. She's fluent in it, but she still has a little bit of an accent. I'm not sure if she says 'in-ter-es-ting', but I know she says 'come-fort-a-ble' instead of 'comftorble'.
I say ap-ricot, but I've never felt certain that that was the "right" pronunciation. "Ape-ricot" often sounds charming, but I always feel weird if I say it that way.
And it's definitely ore-inge, not are-inge.
Caramel, I think, is usually car-uh-mel, but if I'm being lazy it'll turn into carm'l. I like the way care-uh-mel sounds, but I never actually say that.
What about pecans? I've always said it "p'cahn", but my dad (who's from Texas) and people here on Long Island say it "pee-can", which to me is just not right.
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Ahhringe for the fruit, awwringe for the color.
Wow, interesting. Is there anyone else here who divides their oranges up like this?
It's the same way I divide Kerri-be-in and Karr-i-BE-an (former generally for adjective and latter as the noun). (That's Caribbean in case it doesn't make any sense).
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by MyrddinFyre: It's the same way I divide Kerri-be-in and Karr-i-BE-an (former generally for adjective and latter as the noun). (That's Caribbean in case it doesn't make any sense).
I've heard (though I haven't been able to find a source for it) that it was originally always care-uh-BEE-in until some song in the 1920s or so pronounced it cuh-RIB-ian in order to make it fit the tune of the song. And that pronunciation sort of caught on from there.
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sL, everything in Rhode Island is pronounced with a wide mouth with lots of ahhhhh. Lois on Family Guy is vaguely close, though no one on that show says Quahog right! I don't believe I've ever heard anyone say ore-ange!
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Do you say car-uh-mul or care-uh-mul or care-uh-mehl?
I guess there are more variations than I thought. I'm with FlyingCow on this one, I think. Accent is on the first syllable and the vowels are short 'a' (like cat), schwa, and short 'e' (like, um, Dell).
posted
Ooh, Flying Cow, you probably came up w/ every word my conflicted brain isn't sure how to pronounce anymore: I grew up saying Kahh-ri-mel but now it sometimes comes out CAR-muhl; I grew up saying pih-CAHN but here in the south it's PEE-can; Grew up saying orange like you do but now sometimes it comes out ore-ange; and I think I grew up w/ cuh-RIB-bee-an but now generally say Ca-rih-BEE-an.
And I often say Ape-ricot now but for years that sounded absolutely silly to me. I guess I'm just really easily influenced, and I tend to absorb whatever the predominant pronunciation is that I'm hearing.
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It amuses me that in this thread I read all of the pronounciations out loud to see what they sound like Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I have a small sort of story about pronunciation stuff. While in Japan, I hung around with people from a lot of different places in the US. One day I was at lunch with two girls and I was saying something and I used the word life. One of the girls looks at me and says "You know, I never realized you were from the south until you said life." I was surprised by this for two reasons: 1. I was sure I had a Southern accent of some kind (even if a diminished one) and 2. how many ways are there to pronounce life? I mean it rhymes with wife and knife, and it's not a complicated word at all. I've since told this story to a few people back home and they all look at me and say "Well how does she pronounce life if it's so different from you?" to which I just shrug since I couldn't really tell a difference.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Really? I don't know that I've ever heard lahf (other than in exaggerated imitations).
It just sounds like that to you. I mean, it sounds normal. But if someone commented on your word you probably have a little more "ah" in your life than a more northerly person.
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) Carmel is completely different. It's what you get when you burn sugar, as for flan.
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