Here's Another Pronunciation Difference Thread for You

[madelise]

Pin vs. Pen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen-pin_merger#Pin.E2.80.93pen_merger

"People that have the merger will often use terms like ink pen and stick pin to make a clear distinction between the two words that are otherwise homophonous."


Fun stuff, scallops won.

 

[zoebartlett]

They have distinctly different sounds to me, but I've heard them pronounced the same way when I lived in the south.

 

[JewelFreak]

Southern pronunciation.

Chuckle last week: a friend (here in the south) has a Brittany spaniel whom she introduced to me years ago as Binny. Binny & I have been great buddies for 9 yrs, especially when I have treats in my pocket. Last week she emailed me that Binny went walkabout but they found him -- and I was surprised to see that his name is really BENNY! Next time I saw them I listened carefully -- yep, Binny.

--- Laurie

 

[sonnyjane]

They have distinctly different sounds to me, but I've heard them pronounced the same way when I lived in the south.

Yup! Different to me but I used to live in the South and that's where things get murky.

 

[Enerchi]

I hear them clearly pronounced differently where I live (Ontario) as both pin (that you'd poke a balloon with) and pen (a writing instrument). My version of "the south" would be Toronto, and they still pronounce the same -- at least all the 30+ years I lived there, we did!

 

[VapidLapid]

completely different sounds.

 

[VRBeauty]

Distinctly different when pronounced with just one syllable.

All bets are off when you get into two-syllable territory, at which point you could probably add "pan" and "pain" to the confusion- -er- discussion.

 

[amc80]

Exactly THE SAME sounds. I can say them differently, and I agree that they should probably be pronounced differently...yet, I still say "pin" for both.

 

[madelise]

YES, finally!

I find this stuff fascinating.

 

[AprilBaby]

Different

 

[distracts]

I live in Texas and I can always hear a difference when people say them BUT my mom's family is from Pennsylvania and they think they sound the same. I guess the difference that I'm hearing is just too subtle for them to hear since they haven't been trained to hear it. My mother can hear it now but she couldn't when I was a little kid; she would always ask for clarification.

 

[aviastar]

Random knowledge you gain as a theater major- I studied phonetics as part of the vocal training and had to take a whole semester long class in accents.

It's a regional acccent to confuse these two sounds- they are distinct phonetically, but if you can't hear you can't hear it! We had a girl in the class who could not hear the difference in these two sounds and it took almost the whole semester of paying attention to it before she could distinguish them.

I love accents; I met a little boy this week who informed me that accents come from the fillings in your teeth- the gold or silver and how much of it is in your mouth determines your accent!

 

[amc80]

It's a regional acccent to confuse these two sounds- they are distinct phonetically, but if you can't hear you can't hear it!

What if you can hear it but choose to pronounce them the same? I do the same thing with pull/pool, full/fool, and probably a bunch of other words as well.

 

[aviastar]

It's a regional acccent to confuse these two sounds- they are distinct phonetically, but if you can't hear you can't hear it!

What if you can hear it but choose to pronounce them the same? I do the same thing with pull/pool, full/fool, and probably a bunch of other words as well.

I'm no expert, but I'd imagine that you just have a regional accent. You can hear the difference- some people have a better ear for phonetics than others- but it's not how you pronounce the sounds. It's like pop vs. coke vs. soda in my mind. I know they all mean the same thing, but I say 'soda' because, well, that's what I say!

I don't think I have much of an accent (does anyone think they have an accent?) but I spent a long time learning 'Standard American' for performance. I spent some time in both Hawaii and Seattle, everyone there thought I spoke with the Southern-ist Southern you've ever heard. And when I do visit family in Tennessee, I can't hardly understand myself!

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Here in the Boston area...all bets are off!

"I left my c-a-h keys in my k-h-a-k-i-s."

"aahnt" = "aunt."

 

[madelise]

Here in the Boston area...all bets are off!

"I left my c-a-h keys in my k-h-a-k-i-s."

"aahnt" = "aunt."

LOL!!! I love Bostonian talk!!! There is a slight slight /r/ in there for car, though, no?

 

[amc80]

Here in the Boston area...all bets are off!

"I left my c-a-h keys in my k-h-a-k-i-s."

"aahnt" = "aunt."

LOL!!! I love Bostonian talk!!! There is a slight slight /r/ in there for car, though, no?

I had a very strong Bostonian accent when I was young.

The problem, however, is that I was not from Boston, nor had I ever been there. And off to speech therapy I went.

My brother used to tease me and make me say "I eat pork in New York with my fork." It came out like "I eat paaahk in New Yaaalk with my faaawk."

 

[madelise]

Here in the Boston area...all bets are off!

"I left my c-a-h keys in my k-h-a-k-i-s."

"aahnt" = "aunt."

LOL!!! I love Bostonian talk!!! There is a slight slight /r/ in there for car, though, no?

I had a very strong Bostonian accent when I was young.

The problem, however, is that I was not from Boston, nor had I ever been there. And off to speech therapy I went.

My brother used to tease me and make me say "I eat pork in New York with my fork." It came out like "I eat paaahk in New Yaaalk with my faaawk."

That's one of the topics that speech language pathology is moving to educate: speech differences are not speech disorders. Someone may have an articulation issue (in your example, the /r/), but if it's consistent, there's no language disorder.. maybe an articulation one (the /r/ is pretty hard for kids, so you are def not alone lol, if anything, you're part of the majority!), if that. So many kids are tossed into speech because their teachers think they talk funny, when really they just have an accent. I love accents, and I love varying dialects and think it's wonderful. :apple:

As one of my favorite profs have said, just move those kids to Boston, and they'll be perfectly fine! No speech therapy necessary

 

[Maria D]

Here in the Boston area...all bets are off!

"I left my c-a-h keys in my k-h-a-k-i-s."

"aahnt" = "aunt."

LOL!!! I love Bostonian talk!!! There is a slight slight /r/ in there for car, though, no?

Nope, no slight /r/. We save those r's to transition from a word ending in a vowel to a word beginning with one. Example: That idea /r/ of yours is great!

The short vowel sounds of i and e are completely different to me. Also, pin and pen are one syllable words the way I say them. When I think of the sound of someone pronouncing those words identically I think of a drawn-out southern accent making it 1 1/2 syllables. Pi - en.

How about merry, marry and Mary? Not homonyms to me!

 

[madelise]

Here in the Boston area...all bets are off!

"I left my c-a-h keys in my k-h-a-k-i-s."

"aahnt" = "aunt."

LOL!!! I love Bostonian talk!!! There is a slight slight /r/ in there for car, though, no?

Nope, no slight /r/. We save those r's to transition from a word ending in a vowel to a word beginning with one. Example: That idea /r/ of yours is great!

The short vowel sounds of i and e are completely different to me. Also, pin and pen are one syllable words the way I say them. When I think of the sound of someone pronouncing those words identically I think of a drawn-out southern accent making it 1 1/2 syllables. Pi - en.

How about merry, marry and Mary? Not homonyms to me!

LOL!! I'm seriously having a ball with this. I <3 <3 <3 pronunciation differences, and dialects. The 3 Mary's are homonyms to me. I'm loving that ya'll stick the /r/ in between two vowels, that is so interesting!

If I ever decide to phonetically write out a script that needs a necessary dialect, I'm coming to PS first!

 

[amc80]

How about merry, marry and Mary? Not homonyms to me!

I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to say those differently. Definitely homonyms.

I'll add those to my list of words I'm too lazy to pronounce correctly:

pull/pool, full/fool, merry/marry/Mary, pen/pin, gym/gem

I might as well add a citation from the Voice of California study (http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201211231630/a) to my signature:
The researchers say mergers, words that have traditionally been pronounced differently but have lost their distinction, are common throughout the Central Valley.

Guess where I grew up?

 

[Maria D]

How about merry, marry and Mary? Not homonyms to me!

I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to say those differently. Definitely homonyms.

I'll add those to my list of words I'm too lazy to pronounce correctly:

pull/pool, full/fool, merry/marry/Mary, pen/pin, gym/gem

I might as well add a citation from the Voice of California study (http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201211231630/a) to my signature:
The researchers say mergers, words that have traditionally been pronounced differently but have lost their distinction, are common throughout the Central Valley.

Guess where I grew up?

Well, merry rhymes with berry, and marry rhymes with Barry, while Mary rhymes with fairy.

hahaha bet that didn't help at all!

edited to add: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNPDGuKZDpo

 

[amc80]

How about merry, marry and Mary? Not homonyms to me!

I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to say those differently. Definitely homonyms.

I'll add those to my list of words I'm too lazy to pronounce correctly:

pull/pool, full/fool, merry/marry/Mary, pen/pin, gym/gem

I might as well add a citation from the Voice of California study (http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201211231630/a) to my signature:
The researchers say mergers, words that have traditionally been pronounced differently but have lost their distinction, are common throughout the Central Valley.

Guess where I grew up?

Well, merry rhymes with berry, and marry rhymes with Barry, while Mary rhymes with fairy.

hahaha bet that didn't help at all!

edited to add: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNPDGuKZDpo

But don't berry, Barry, and fairy all rhyme?

That video is great, ha.

 

[Chewbacca]

Pin/win and pen/when. Mary/fairy, merry/berry and marry/Barry!

A New Zealand accent has other problems!

 

[amc80]

Pin/win and pen/when. Mary/fairy, merry/berry and marry/Barry!

A New Zealand accent has other problems!

Win = when.

What about cot/caught and hairy/Harry?

 

[madelise]

ROFL!!!! All those words sound the same to me! ALL OF THEM! The only one I say differently is the pen/pin. I'm chuckling to myself. Fascinating!!

 

[amc80]

ROFL!!!! All those words sound the same to me! ALL OF THEM! The only one I say differently is the pen/pin. I'm chuckling to myself. Fascinating!!

Umm, are you from the Central Valley of CA?

BTW, I find it hilarious that the only ones I pronounced differently are won/one, where most people pronounce those the same.

 

[sonnyjane]

My co-worker, the one who made fun of me for my "won" pronunciation, also told me that he pronounces "are" and "our" the same. I totally don't so that. My "our" is the same as "hour".

 

[amc80]

My co-worker, the one who made fun of me for my "won" pronunciation, also told me that he pronounces "are" and "our" the same. I totally don't so that. My "our" is the same as "hour".

I want to pronounce our/are the same, but I make a conscious effort to say our like hour. It's not natural for me though.

 

[Chewbacca]

But don't berry, Barry, and fairy all rhyme?

None of those rhyme for me!

Win = when.

What about cot/caught and hairy/Harry?

None of these, either!

Cot/rot, caught/fought, hairy/fairy, Harry/Larry.

I wish we had audio clips to go with this thread!