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TO rh1 / wasn't it "miscellaneous" or "brother" ?
However good my English accent get to be (?), I just can't manage to pronounce these 2 words correctly!
No I don't think it was. She did tend to 'vv' the 'th' noises, but that's OK, you can still tell what people mean if they do that. The one that was funny was where I think she put emphasis on the wrong part of the word, so it sounded like a totally different word. I do wish I could remember!
It must be tricky, because in English emphasis can make a huge difference to comprehension, but am I right that there's no emphasis at all in French, or at least not in the same way? Like miscellaneous is "miss-ull-ay-nee-uss"...
Quote:
Originally Posted by beanandpumpkin
"You coming with?"
I had actually never heard that until we had a German exchange student. She would say it all the time... "You're going to the store? Can I come with?" "I'm walking up to the library. You will come with?" I assumed it had to do with imperfect translation. When she left the US, she was nearly as fluent as a native speaker, but still used that phrase.
That's very interesting, I always considered that to be an American phrase. Although I suppose a lot of people now learn American English as a foreign language, don't they? I don't know why that should seem odd to me but for some reason it does! Maybe they picked it up from the TV.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fishfister
Your mother in law was British and spoke English.
I was lost in the pronunciation aspect...Do the British in that region actually pronounce the hard H? Some regions do and others don't. Did you ever hear them tack an "R" onto some words such as America or Australia? A Scottish brogue is far different and the Irish can make you wish you never spoke to them.
Foreign accents or inflections are far from what I would categorize as mistakes in American language. We, the people of the USA, have many accents, inflections and regional slangs from sea to shining sea that are a mockery of our schooling systems. There are very few of us who care to engage in conversations that employ the use of simple rules of the English language as taught to us in grade school. Talk to your friends and take in the level at which they speak. Be assured they write quite the same. Ebonics is the worst example of this I can think of.
As far as the original question...was this meant for conversation or writing?
In some northern accents here people do drop their Hs, but I still consider that incorrect as you do get some people making an effort to speak correctly who will pronounce their Hs.
It annoys me more when some people tack an extra H on the beggining of the pronunciation of the letter! But I've already had that rant, so I'll stop...
Regarding the extra R for words like America and Australia - do you mean at the end? I could potentially hear that happening in some Scottish dialects where the R is rolled, but I can't think of an English accent where it might sound like there was an extra R.
How about "all the sudden" instead of "all of a sudden"??? UGH!! Also, when did it become correct to say "someone went missing." That's the dumbest thing. I mean, someone got lost .... they didn't 'go missing'
Regarding the extra R for words like America and Australia - do you mean at the end? I could potentially hear that happening in some Scottish dialects where the R is rolled, but I can't think of an English accent where it might sound like there was an extra R.
RH1, It's definitely not a Scottish thing. I've lived in Scotland much of my adult life. My wife and all my kids speak with a Scottish accent (although the younger ones are losing it rapidly). I've never heard a Scottish person do that.
I have however, heard it fairly frequently on British TV. Also my brother's college roommate was English, though I can't remember from where in England. He most certainly had that tendency.
I think you just may not be picking up on what previous posters mean. For example, my brother's roommate would say "pizzur" for "pizza", or "Americur" for "America" The "r" sound might be somewhat subdued, but is definitely there.
Hope that helps.
I should also say that I've come across a few people from the American Northeast, who have a similar tendency.
Edit: just thought of another example. Sometimes I've heard "draw" almost pronounced like "drawer."
Last edited by wrightclan; 04-15-2008 at 07:52 AM..
what bothers me is people saying, "you know" after every few words. Well you know I went to the mall today and you know i met my friend there you know, and you we are very good friends you know.
RH1, It's definitely not a Scottish thing. I've lived in Scotland much of my adult life. My wife and all my kids speak with a Scottish accent (although the younger ones are losing it rapidly). I've never heard a Scottish person do that.
I have however, heard it fairly frequently on British TV. Also my brother's college roommate was English, though I can't remember from where in England. He most certainly had that tendency.
I think you just may not be picking up on what previous posters mean. For example, my brother's roommate would say "pizzur" for "pizza", or "Americur" for "America" The "r" sound might be somewhat subdued, but is definitely there.
Hope that helps.
I should also say that I've come across a few people from the American Northeast, who have a similar tendency.
Edit: just thought of another example. Sometimes I've heard "draw" almost pronounced like "drawer."
I've just had another thought actually - I wonder if it depends on the preceding word? For example, if I said "I went to America in 2003" (I didn't by the way!) it would very likely come out "I went to Americurrin 2003." So where it's followed by another vowel you may well hear an extra R.
Fishfister - might that be the context where you've heard it?
"pizzur" for "pizza" I would consider an American thing, but we're hampered here by the fact that a person would pronouce "pizzur" according to their accent. Like above, if I said "Are you going to put the pizza in the oven yet?" it'd come out "...peetsurrin the...." but if I just said "I fancy a pizza" it would just come out as "peetsuh".
Wrightclan - depends how you pronounce drawer! I and probably everyone I know pronouces both exactly the same - it's like "dror" (with a silent 2nd R) again with the exception of following vowels "..in that drorover there..."
RH1, I think you may be right about the following vowel.
That said, I think this thread is in danger of becoming a thread about British/American pronunciation/usage, rather than its original intent. Having been a major culprit in that, I'll try to bring it back OT.
One of my pet peeves is the pervasive use of "partner" as a verb rather than a noun. Now I realize that partner can correctly be used as a verb, but it used to be a pretty rare thing. It seems to be be used as a verb constantly these days, and it's just a bit annoying.
Most people mispronounce the word forte. It is NOT pronounced fortay. It is pronounced fort.
Your turn....
One peeve is "warsh" in place of "wash". How in the name of all that is good, can a word with no "r" in it, all of a sudden have an "r" in it? Please, someone explain that to me.
One peeve is "warsh" in place of "wash". How in the name of all that is good, can a word with no "r" in it, all of a sudden have an "r" in it? Please, someone explain that to me.
I can't explain it, but I did have an Algebra teacher in my Chicago area high school who said, "warsh". He was the only person I've ever met who said this. I believe he was from Missouri...but my father was from Missouri and did not say "warsh"; he grew up on a farm and seemed to have NO regional accent whatsoever and spoke very "proper" English. He was from Salisbury, Missouri.
Then again, there are people in Chicago who say, "dese, dem and doze" and those who don't....
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