Question about pronunciation

Sawr might be dumb to you, but I've clearly stated this is for British English. You know there are things other than America. And using those signs won't result in us taking you more seriously, partly because we're dealing with IPA here.

Finally, the chart I linked to does cater for different pronunciations, if you haven't checked. I think you meant dialects. Get your terms right before you start getting cheeky.

 

..... two words, one question.... 5 pages, i sense a conspiracy......

 

Dialect is used to refer to the regional or social variety in a language in terms of pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary while accent is only used to refer to the regional or social variety in a language in terms of pronunciation. So, my use of the word accent is the correct usage of that word as we are only talking about pronunciation here. Thank you and have a nice day.

 

...which are dealt with in that Wikipedia entry. I'm open to anyone to post constructive messages related to the subject but at least scan the content of the thread and the links beforehand.

 

@ kuvasz. About the 'r' carrying onto the 'a', I'm perfectly aware that the extra 'r' sound is linked to the word 'saw', but it the flow of speech, it's easier for it to be linked more to the 'a'. It's more awkward to say 'sawr a' than it is to say 'saw ra' or even 'sawra', so in the flow of speech, it may not always sound as though it's linked to the 'saw'.

About the 'Jack would like two/to', it's still dependant of the standard pronunciation. You've almost confirmed this with marking the stresses, etc. If you were just to say each word individually, they would sound exactly the same, but when put in context, the stresses, etc, change and they sound slightly different.

@ Nikzad. All I was doing was clarifying my original point. That's it. Either way, I still don't understand why you'd bring up something like that if you already knew it was irrelevant.

 

According to my IPA handbook which I'm looking at here (I took a diction class freshman year because of my music major) two and to are considered different pronunciations because of vowel differences.

However, the book also states that because there is a minimal difference, the words can be assumed to be pronounced the same.

So the correct answer is, yes, they are pronounced the same, but technically the correct pronunciations are slightly different. One is a closed o and one is more an open u.

 

The poll needs the option: Close enough that no one would ever notice.

 

hahaha too true

and yes jon, i was trying to articulate that but couldn't think of how to word it in terms of a "closed o" and an "open u"

kudos

 

Agreed, and the option "you will not use these words the same way, so it's not that important".

I pronunce them differently, but coming from France with only scholar english, I admit I pronunce everything differently.

The "oo" of "two" and "too" is longer to me than the one of to, as already detailed in the kuvasz's message.

 

Wait, wait, wait... Is 'kudos' supposed to have a closed 'o' and open 'u' or am I looking into that too deeply?

If there's physical proof that they're pronounced differently in Australian English, then I guess it's just the way I talk that makes them sound the same. Either that or my vocal palate(sp?) is just too primitive to pick up on it.

 

Ummmm, I can't tell if you are asking just to be funny and open up another can of worms or if you are serious....either way, I'll just say it's pronounced like this in the US:
koodoze

 

oh i pronounce it koodós

 

Nah, I was just wondering whether you were using it as an example of the closed 'o' and open 'u' or if you were using it in the true sense of the word.

 

I think he was saying "well done" to Jon for wording it nicely

It's nice to see lots of votes in the poll. Thanks people (even if the vast majority is wrong ).

 

Yeah, that's what I was hoping. Got a little confused at first.