This tag is for questions which a dictionary cannot answer about the sound, intonation, and stress of how words are uttered or produced.
Questions tagged [pronunciation]
1174 questions
103
votes
8 answers
How can native English speakers read an unknown word correctly?
I have learned English for many years, and from the first day I began to learn it I know the dictionary is necessary for the study. One of the important aspects is that English words, unlike German and Spanish, usually can not be read correctly…
monika
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28
votes
1 answer
How to pronounce "Gradle"?
We use a building tool named Gradle in our project, but we don't know how to pronounce the a in it.
Someone speaks it like a in cake, but someone speaks it like a in bad.
How may we determine the correct pronunciation of this unique proper name,…
Freewind
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25
votes
2 answers
How to pronounce the "s" in "apples" in English and American English?
I remember my teacher told me the "s" in "apples" should be pronounced as /z/, but in some American teaching programs, I heard it be pronounced as /s/.
Which one is correct? Does it follow the same rule in English and American English?
Update:…
Freewind
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19
votes
2 answers
How to pronounce 'll after ll?
“Reckon old Dill’ll be coming home tomorrow.” (Harper Lee, To Kill
A Mockingbird)
How do you pronounce ‘ll after ll?
(Would you let me get the IPA (phonetic alphabet))
Listenever
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16
votes
4 answers
How to pronounce "scorpion'll", "Jim'll", etc
I was talking to someone about a fight between a scorpion and a beetle before we watch the actual video. We were predicting what would happen.
I wanted to sound informal by saying, "the scorpion 'll kill the beetle". Then suddenly it came to me it…
Yuri
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16
votes
2 answers
How to pronounce "router" in English
How to pronounce router in English? I've heard it pronounced two different ways, ruter and router. Which is correct?
Rolf Schröder
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16
votes
3 answers
Are patients and patience homophones?
I thought "ts" should sound differently. I believe rights and rice are not homophones; if so, why should patients and patience be homophones? Because the sound t is canceled after n?
These two words, Patients vs. Patience, are no different. The…
joy2020
- 1,056
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15
votes
3 answers
Why are "baked" and "naked" not pronounced the same?
The word "baked" is pronounced as:
/ˈbeɪkt/
While "naked" is pronounced as:
/ˈneɪkɪd/
Why are these two words not pronounced the same?
B Faley
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15
votes
1 answer
"Cthulhu Fhtagn" - is there a rule how to pronounce artificially created words?
There are many such words in a fiction literature, including Jabberwocky, Cthulhu, Kilrathi, and many others. Of course, the authors intended to make these words appear most uncommon to an English reader, and it must have been a deliberate attempt…
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
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15
votes
3 answers
Are "mist" and "missed" really pronounced exactly the same in English?
Refer the section called "Pronunciation Features" in this page. In that section, you can find this sentence "Interestingly, mist and missed are pronounced exactly the same in English". Really? I don't pronounce both of them the same way.
Mist - I…
T2E
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13
votes
8 answers
The pronunciation of the word "honest" is with "h" or without?
I would like to know and to get some information about the pronunciation of the word "honest".
Some people told me that it's pronounced without the first letter "h" (as if: onest) but some told me that it's pronounced with the "h" as a full form…
Virtuous Legend
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13
votes
8 answers
Where do people pronounce "route" as ro͞ot, and as rout?
Where do people pronounce "route" as ro͞ot, and as rout?
In Maryland of U.S., I hear only rout, and I was looked at strangely when I said ro͞ot as if I wasn't speaking proper English. When I changed myself to get used to speaking rout, I hear only…
Tim
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13
votes
2 answers
Why is the letter S of the word "sure" - pronounced as "sh"?
Why is the letter S in the word "sure" is pronounced as "sh"?
If we compare most of the words in English (for instance: surface, surname, sum, sir, soup, sun etc.) then we can easily see that the pronunciation of "sure" is an exception.
Virtuous Legend
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11
votes
4 answers
In almost all dictionaries the transcription of "solely" has two "L" — [ˈs ə u l l i]. Does it mean to say "solely" with one "L" is unnatural?
The transcription of "solely" is [ˈsəʊlli].
The fact that there are two "L" perplexes me.
Is it unnatural for you to pronounce "solely" with one "L"? (I mean: [ˈsəʊli])
the list of the dictionaries where the pronunciation of "solely" is…
Loviii
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9
votes
4 answers
How should I pronounce "live music"?
How should I pronounce "live" when I mean, for example, "live broadcasting" or "live music"? Is it "laiv" or "liv"?
Islam
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