Am I phonetically challenged?

Textkit is a learning community- introduce yourself here. Use the Open Board to introduce yourself, chat about off-topic issues and get to know each other.
Kopio
Global Moderator
Posts: 789
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 7:56 pm
Location: Boise, ID

Post by Kopio »

I think one of the things that we're missing is the fact that Empty Man is from Augusta, Georgia.

My wife is from Texas....every now and then she still says something that betrays her southern accent......Empty....do you have a Southern Drawl at all....that could be part of the issue.

Just like if you're in a New England state someone pahks their cah...not parks their car....there are quite a bit of regional accents in the US....I have a customer from Georgia, and she has a delightful lilting Southern accent.

FWIW...when I pronounce calm I can hear the l sound. My 2nd year Greek prof said he could hear a difference in an alpha and an omicron (oh no...am I opening another can of worms here?) even though many of the students in the class couldn't hear the difference....I could, but it was a very subtle difference.


Just food for though.

Lisa
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu May 22, 2003 8:38 pm
Location: Somerville, MA
Contact:

Am I phonetically challenged?

Post by Lisa »

Timothy wrote:
In Boston (Bah-stone) you would draw that 'a' out about four feet to kaaaah-m.
I'm a native Bostonian, and in most settings, I would say kah(l)m. Light on the "l" but it does not disappear altogether. I've never heard anyone draw out the "a"--we just mangle it until it hurts your ears and you leave us alone....

But it is a conscious effort on my part, depending on whom I am with, which is derived from trying not to sound like a townie while an undergraduate at school. I slip often, and there are words I will never be able to pronounce like a newsreader unless I get some heavy duty coaching.

For instance, I hear absolutely no distinction between the word pairs mentioned earlier in the thread: cot--caught, cod--cawed, and collar--caller.

I do recognize the difference between calm/top. That does strike me as southern, which, by "southern," I mean everything south of, oh say, the Massachusetts-Connecticut border. :wink:

Cheers,
Lisa

Democritus
Textkit Fan
Posts: 331
Joined: Fri May 07, 2004 12:14 am
Location: California

Post by Democritus »

Kopio wrote:I think one of the things that we're missing is the fact that Empty Man is from Augusta, Georgia.
I grew up on the East Coast and now live here on the left coast, we pronounce calm and top just as EmptyMan described. The vowel sound is almost identical.

But we don't pronounce corn the same way.
Kopio wrote:It may be the difference comes from the pronunciation of 'calm' in a manner similar to 'com' i.e. a calm communist. They should be distinct sounds.
Sez who?? :) Do you mean the vowel sound, or the "L" sound? The vowel sounds here are the same sound in my dialect. Calm is a longer vowel, but it's the same quality. :)

Phylax
Textkit Member
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:01 pm
Location: Lewes, East Sussex, UK

Post by Phylax »

pahks their cah
On this side if the pond those of us who talk Standard Recieived rather than one of the multitudinous regional and frequently delightful flavours of Brit-Eng. certainly pahk our cahs, and try to remain cahm while doing so! :).

Also we'd 'tawk' rather than 'tok' (aw as in awsome, and o as in tick-tock [I think we are going to have to ask for a phonetic alphabet font here!])

classicalclarinet
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 400
Joined: Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:27 am
Location: Anc, AK, USA

Post by classicalclarinet »

For me "calm" is "cahhrm" and communist "cuhmyunisst"

Timothy
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 374
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:16 pm
Location: Baltimore

Re: Am I phonetically challenged?

Post by Timothy »

Lisa wrote:I'm a native Bostonian,...
And we know there are no other kind, just imposters and wannbees. After 20 years I was still just passing through. 'Least that's what they told me.
I've never heard anyone draw out the "a"
My ear memory says "Billy Bulger." I can almost hear him still...every 'a' that came out of his mouth.
--we just mangle it until it hurts your ears and you leave us alone....
:lol: Effective, it 'tis, too.
For instance, I hear absolutely no distinction between the word pairs mentioned earlier in the thread: cot--caught, cod--cawed, and collar--caller.
But you can distinguish when others say CAWT, right?
I do recognize the difference between calm/top. That does strike me as southern, which, by "southern," I mean everything south of, oh say, the Massachusetts-Connecticut border. :wink:
I bet you have that "The World as seen through the eyes of a Bostonian" map?

Timothy
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 374
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:16 pm
Location: Baltimore

Post by Timothy »

Phylax wrote:I think we are going to have to ask for a phonetic alphabet font here!
I've been using Lucida Sans Unicode as it has most of the IPA.

But the phonetic spelling being used is much more entertaining. :lol:

Post Reply