Oh how I love the voices and accents of old-time radio or movies from Hollywood. The american accents seem to change quite a bit in merely 50 years or so. It’s personal opinion for sure but I do prefer the actor’s voices in Cassablanca then current day TV news anchors. That makes me wonder what … Read more
I am learning accents (differences in pronunciation), and I was wondering how to pronounce the word “array” in Australian English, and how it’s pronounced in other variants of the language. Is it AH-ray or uh-ray, and which variant does the other belong to? Answer Australian Oxford Dictionary (2nd ed.) has /əˈreɪ/, which is the usual … Read more
I came across a song performed by Daniel Kahn, and I really liked his pronunciation. They say he comes from Detroit. Is this a typical accent for that region? Or is he doing something else? Answer Although Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird is based in Berlin, Kahn himself was born in Detroit and moved … Read more
I’d like to ask what kind of accent it is. Is it Geordie of British English? Please refer to this video hyperlink: a British English accent. Answer The video is of ‘Question Time’, a question answer series for politicians to answer local problems. This means that the panel is usually speaks with less of an … Read more
In the television show Frasier, the protagonist’s brother, Niles Crane, is a haughty, snobby, obsessive-compulsive psychiatrist who frequently obsesses about knowing the right people and climbing the social ladder. Unique to him is his accent, which serves to complement his upper-class persona. People often call the stereotypical “upper-class” accent the Mid- or Trans-Atlantic accent, but … Read more
I was wondering what exactly happens when the common English speaker* pronounces /z/ and /ð/ right after, for example , the word – combo “is this …”. Honestly, for me it’s almost impossible to pronounce this combination without making a very small break between the /z/ and the /ð/. When I hear Americans pronounce this … Read more
I am looking for an alternative to the word nonstandard (if necessary). I used the word in my answer to a question at Academia SE. Let me first lay out the context. The question I was offering an answer to was I just had a lecture from someone who has been a senior scientist (and … Read more
What is the most common American way of pronouncing “with”? I’m asking specifically about “th” combinations – dictionaries give both the unvoiced (wɪθ) and the voiced (wɪð) ones? Personally, I’ve heard it pronounced most of the times as wɪð (note: I’m not American) and this is why I’m constantly surprised when online pronunciation tutorials encourage … Read more
I’m Chinese and am learning English. When I watch video materials from US and UK, I’ve noticed a phenomenon: in British, a word may sound much different when it’s said in a sentence compared to when it’s spoken solely. For example, when saying dangerous [ˈdeɪndʒərəs] all by itself as a single word, British English pronunciation … Read more
There is an American English dialect/accent that pronounces words like "heard" and "bird" as "hu-yd" and "bu-yd". One example of this would be CCR’s song "I Heard it Through the Grapevine". Another is LaMonica Garrett’s character in the series "1883". It’s fairly subtle, but still distinctive and although I’ve often heard it, I can’t place … Read more
