Matryoshka Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 I have an aunt-by-marriage from Australia; after decades of living in the US her speech has Americanized considerably though it still have a touch of Australian accent to it. When I speak with someone with an accent different from my own I know I start to subconsciously imitate it. This bothers me as I am convinced it makes me sound phony, but it is almost impossible to stop myself. My kids tease me about it whenever they hear me talking to their Irish dance teacher. This happens to me too. It's the curse of the good ear. It's great when learning foreign languages, as no one can tell I'm not native (when I lived in Germany, I even picked up the regional accent... oy), but it's a bit annoying when I start morphing into a full-on Boston accent or a southern drawl without realizing it. My brother used to be able to tell when I was on the phone with a certain friend when I was a kid because all my r's were suddenly gone... I had no idea I was doing it.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Why yes, they were. It was called the Mid-Atlantic accent, and it was a made-up accent that intentionally blended American and British received pronunciations. It was taught to actors and broadcasters in the 1930's and 40's. And the linked Wikipedia page about it has some interesting tidbits about bits of persistence - apparently Darth Vader as well as Princess Leia and Queen Amidala when speaking in political situations were supposed to be speaking in Mid-Atlantic in the Star Wars movies? Now I need to go pay better attention.... Well now that is fascinating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8circles Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 The coronation speech was fascinating. I also noticed that "where" & "were" are almost identical. At least to my ear. To the OP, all the words rhyme. I would have described them as having the long 'e' sound. Since teaching phonics, I've learned that they are technically considered short 'i' sound. At first, I could't imagine how to pronounce them with a short i but I've figured it out. Now, when I purposely pronounce it with a short i it is almost identical to when I purposely pronounce it with a long e. Yes, I hear a difference, but it is very slight. In normal speech, I would still pronounce it with a long e sound but during reading lessons, I probably do the short i. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 "Power" is another word that stood out to me as different, but when I listen closely I realize there hardly a single word was spoken the way I would say it. The fact that I can understand in spite of the differences is I think rather a testimony to the flexibility of the human brain. The 'ou' in 'thousand' is peculiar too. It's almost THIGH-zund. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEK Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 (edited) I love this type of discussion, it is always so interesting :) To the OP, all the words rhyme. I would have described them as having the long 'e' sound. Since teaching phonics, I've learned that they are technically considered short 'i' sound. At first, I could't imagine how to pronounce them with a short i but I've figured it out. Now, when I purposely pronounce it with a short i it is almost identical to when I purposely pronounce it with a long e. Yes, I hear a difference, but it is very slight. In normal speech, I would still pronounce it with a long e sound but during reading lessons, I probably do the short i. This is so strange to me, short i and long e are COMPLETELY different sounds to me, they are not even close and definitely not interchangeable. As to water, I doubt I would understand any of you asking for water lol, it is pronounced WOR-ta where the a on the end has a short u sound like in tuba (and WOR is pronounced the same way as the word war) Edited July 3, 2016 by LEK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8circles Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 I love this type of discussion, it is always so interesting :) This is so strange to me, short i and long e are COMPLETELY different sounds to me, they are not even close and definitely not interchangeable. LOL I agree that it is strange, because to me they are also completely different. Except in these words. I think because the vowel is said quickly, and the short i sound is altered a bit when followed by the -nk so it sounds closer to the long e. If I say th[short i]nk, th[long e]nk th[short i]nk, th[long e]nk th[short i]nk, th[long e]nk th[short i]nk, th[long e]nk then I can definitely hear the difference, but just in casual conversation using these words, I think they sound pretty darn similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cake and Pi Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 The coronation speech was fascinating. I also noticed that "where" & "were" are almost identical. At least to my ear. To the OP, all the words rhyme. I would have described them as having the long 'e' sound. Since teaching phonics, I've learned that they are technically considered short 'i' sound. At first, I could't imagine how to pronounce them with a short i but I've figured it out. Now, when I purposely pronounce it with a short i it is almost identical to when I purposely pronounce it with a long e. Yes, I hear a difference, but it is very slight. In normal speech, I would still pronounce it with a long e sound but during reading lessons, I probably do the short i. Same here. I think the sound I use in regular speech for these words is something of a mix of the two, like an in-between sound or something. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cake and Pi Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 What about when kids make up their own pronunciations? My older three all speak differently than both my husband and myself and I cannot figure out where they get it. Maybe one just had articulation issues and the others picked up their brother's version preferentially over the way they hear it from DH and me (and everyone else around us)? For example, speaking of water, I say wadder for water, but my kids all turn water a one syllable word that is somehow difficult to distinguish from how they say more. Sounds kind of like wor. They say thet for that (and spell it that way too, lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 What about when kids make up their own pronunciations? My older three all speak differently than both my husband and myself and I cannot figure out where they get it. Maybe one just had articulation issues and the others picked up their brother's version preferentially over the way they hear it from DH and me (and everyone else around us)? For example, speaking of water, I say wadder for water, but my kids all turn water a one syllable word that is somehow difficult to distinguish from how they say more. Sounds kind of like wor. They say thet for that (and spell it that way too, lol). Articulation issues can get passed from child to child. They can also run in families. If your kids' speech is difficult to understand I would have them evaluated for speech therapy; four of my kids have needed it. If they're making all speech sounds and it's just a couple of words with odd pronunciations it might just be that one child's toddler speech never corrected and the other kids picked it up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 (edited) Hmmm.... I'm starting to wonder if maybe we're talking past each other. What does 'short i' sound like to those of you who think ink sounds like it has a 'long e'? By any chance are you from those places where 'pin' and 'pen' are pronounced the same? Because that would explain a lot... Could you say pin and just add a k sound at the end to make pink? That is what I think when someone says they use a short i sound. All examples posted sound like a long e sound to me. Edited July 5, 2016 by Meriwether Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 Could you say pin and just add a k sound at the end to make pink? That is what I think when someone says they use a short i sound. All examples posted sound like a long e sound to me. Yes, this is how I pronounce it. pin - n + ng + k = pink thin - n + ng +k = think sin - n + ng + k = sink The viowels stay short i. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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