20 replies to this topic

[*Anastasia]

I was initially going to use 'hurry' as the rhyming descriptor for the second poll option until by chance Wikipedia told me that in most dialects of English 'hurry' and 'furry' do not rhyme, and only do so in some dialects of American English (and apparently Canadian English, though Wikipedia neglects to mention it). This is ridiculously called the hurry-furry merger.

[Shokkou]

Naturally, I pronounce it to rhyme with "berry" but I find that if I've been hearing it pronounced to rhyme with "furry" I will sometimes start pronouncing it that way. In fact, that's a common thing for me. I used to (and actually I guess I still do intentionally from time to time) imitate accents a lot, so nowadays it's kind of subconscious that I pick up bits of the accents of people I've been listening to.

[Haflinger]

Every Canadian I've ever heard has used the berry pronunciation. The other ones sound really weird to me.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

I pronounce it very close to the way I say "berry," which is more of an "eh" sound, not an "ai" sound. Do people pronounce "berry" to rhyme with "dairy?" That seems weird to me. But there is a subtle difference. "Bury" is more of an "uh." My guess is that non-native English speakers would not be able to hear the difference.

[*Anastasia]

I pronounce it very close to the way I say "berry," which is more of an "eh" sound, not an "ai" sound. Do people pronounce "berry" to rhyme with "dairy?" That seems weird to me. But there is a subtle difference. "Bury" is more of an "uh." My guess is that non-native English speakers would not be able to hear the difference.

According to Wiktionary—and with that disclaimer—the General American pronunciations of "dairy" and "berry" contain the same sound, but they provide a different British pronunciation for the former which inserts a schwa immediately before the "r". When I say the two words aloud, I can hear where that's coming from, and imagine you're doing the same thing. Is that how you pronounce "bury" then? As you do "dairy"? Or were you just using that as another "close" example?

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

No, I was using it as a NOT close example. "Dairy" and "berry" sound very different the way I say them, "ay" sound vs. "eh" sound. "Bury" is closer to the way I say "berry," but more of an "uh" sound. All three are distinct in my pronunciation, but a non-native ear would probably not hear the difference between my "berry" and my "bury."

 

You can do the same thing with "merry," "marry," and "Mary." The way I say them each has a distinct sound.

[*Anastasia]

No, I was using it as a NOT close example. "Dairy" and "berry" sound very different the way I say them, "ay" sound vs. "eh" sound. "Bury" is closer to the way I say "berry," but more of an "uh" sound. All three are distinct in my pronunciation, but a non-native ear would probably not hear the difference between my "berry" and my "bury."
 
You can do the same thing with "merry," "marry," and "Mary." The way I say them each has a distinct sound.

Ah, I see. I think you and me would get along swimmingly. Shall we form a secret society to preserve the purity of the English language from the foreign hordes (by which I primarily mean the Irish)?

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

The part of New England where I live, generally referred to as Boston's North Shore, has some of the least inflected speech patterns in American English. This is why my "New England accent" is actually quite subtle as compared to someone from Boston, Maine, etc. It comes out more when I get tired or overly animated, as anyone who has listened to our various podcasts has probably noticed.

 

We have posted this before on these forums, but here is an American dialect quiz that has proven to be pretty accurate.

[*Anastasia]

We have posted this before on these forums, but here is an American dialect quiz that has proven to be pretty accurate.

Rather interesting, though I feel it has a lot of limitations. The first question I got, for example, was, 'How would you address a group of two or more people?' but it didn't let me select multiple answers. I may very well say, 'You,' 'You lot,' 'You guys,' or, 'Y'all,' for that at any given time, and I'm not sure I'd use one of those options predominantly. Another question asked, 'What do you call an easy high school or college class?' and though I was able to select, 'Other,' I'm not certain I even have a word or phrase for such a course (though if I did, it certainly wasn't among their options).

And then there was, 'How do you pronounce crayon?' among the answers for which were, 'With two syllables—sounds like cray-ahn,' and, 'With two syllables, where the second syllable rhymes with dawn.' These are the same answer for me, and unless Americans just have a really weird idea of how "ahn" is pronounced, I can't imagine how there'd be a difference for anyone.

That said, fudging my way through these sorts of poorly-worded questions, which gave me a dialect most similar to Spokane, Buffalo, and Boston.

[Haflinger]

Berry almost rhymes with dairy in Canadian English, and probably in midwest English too.

 

Dairy rhymes with scary.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

I think they would have been better served to transliterate it as "cray-yawn," but that seems to be what they were going for. There were a couple of questions in there for which I had no word, like the grassy strip between the sidewalk and the curb. We don't call that anything here as far as I know. I think the "how would you address a group of people" question is looking for your first, default answer. Because I too might say "you lot" or "you guys" or even "y'all" if I were joking around, but my default is a simple "you."

[CeltSoldierKev]

Barry, bury, and berry all are the same for me. And yes, they rhyme with dairy, Mary, marry, and merry.

 

Then again, I have strong Upper Mid-West and Canadian roots, so the ya go.

 

Also, that quiz is invalid.  The "addressing a group of people" question is missing the answer "Hey fuckwads."

[HordeLorde]

Editor is stupid.... pay no attention to his post

Edited by HordeLorde, 27 May 2016 - 12:54 AM.

[HordeLorde]

Naturally, I pronounce it to rhyme with "berry" but I find that if I've been hearing it pronounced to rhyme with "furry" I will sometimes start pronouncing it that way. In fact, that's a common thing for me. I used to (and actually I guess I still do intentionally from time to time) imitate accents a lot, so nowadays it's kind of subconscious that I pick up bits of the accents of people I've been listening to.

Dammit.... Shokkou took my answer....
*pouts*

[*Anastasia]

I think they would have been better served to transliterate it as "cray-yawn," but that seems to be what they were going for. There were a couple of questions in there for which I had no word, like the grassy strip between the sidewalk and the curb. We don't call that anything here as far as I know. I think the "how would you address a group of people" question is looking for your first, default answer. Because I too might say "you lot" or "you guys" or even "y'all" if I were joking around, but my default is a simple "you."

But I'd pronounce 'cray-ahn' and 'cray-yawn' the same, and they'd both rhyme with 'dawn.'

The grassy strip question I didn't mention, but it also threw me for a bit of a loop. Like you, I don't particularly have a word for it, but I answered 'boulevard' because that's what I call a road with lanes separated by a grassy strip, though not the grassy strip itself. It was interesting to me to see 'median' on that list, however, because it's also a word I use for a similar concept, though specifically not for what it referenced. A median for me is either a concrete or otherwise specifically not-grassy strip in the middle of a road, or else a grassy area between two multiple-lane, opposite-direction highways, but which is not built into the roads themselves.

[Redezra]

Crayon does not rhyme with dawn

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Crayon does not rhyme with dawn

 

"Dawn" is a bit more elongated, but the vowel sound is the same the way I say it. My accent is pretty close to the old idea of "network standard," i.e. modern American English mostly lacking in inflection. Perhaps a better way to have transliterated it would have been "CRAY-on."

[*Anastasia]

Crayon does not rhyme with dawn

 
"Dawn" is a bit more elongated, but the vowel sound is the same the way I say it. My accent is pretty close to the old idea of "network standard," i.e. modern American English mostly lacking in inflection. Perhaps a better way to have transliterated it would have been "CRAY-on."

It seems to me you're talking about stress more than sounds, then, and in that case, I'd pick what you just said: that is to say, I'd stress the first syllable of "crayon" rather than the second. I'd still say it rhymes with "dawn", though. It also rhymes with "Huron", where I'd stress the second syllable. Stress doesn't really contribute to rhyming, at least in my view.

[Redezra]

Huron rhymes with crayon

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Yeah, Huron rhymes with crayon. So does moron. And micron. And meson. And... OMG IT NEVER ENDS!!!