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-   -   What is (http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=16432)

ROBINDESBOIS June 28, 2013 02:43 PM

What is
 
Can we pronounce what is like this. Wharis?
Or just whats?

chileno June 28, 2013 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS (Post 139824)
Can we pronounce what is like this. Wharis?
Or just whats?

Either one is OK

Ășaris

Ășats

ROBINDESBOIS June 28, 2013 03:47 PM

Thank u

chileno June 28, 2013 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS (Post 139834)
Thank u

You're very welcome.

pjt33 June 29, 2013 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS (Post 139824)
Can we pronounce what is like this. Wharis?

Yes, but people might think you're drunk.

chileno June 29, 2013 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjt33 (Post 139843)
Yes, but people might think you're drunk.

Or maybe that he has an accent? :rolleyes:

Rusty June 29, 2013 08:24 AM

Quite an accent, I might add. 'Is' is never pronounced with an 's' sound and we never pronounce 'what' like 'watt'.
Here is how it's said in many places in America: /wət ɪz/

pjt33 June 29, 2013 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty (Post 139855)
... we never pronounce 'what' like 'watt'.

They're homophones in my dialect. But I can't think of any dialect which replaces the stop in what with a flap (which I assume whar is supposed to indicate). Some might elide it completely and make what's and was homophones.

wrholt June 29, 2013 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty (Post 139855)
Quite an accent, I might add. 'Is' is never pronounced with an 's' sound and we never pronounce 'what' like 'watt'.
Here is how it's said in many places in America: /wət ɪz/

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjt33 (Post 139857)
They're homophones in my dialect. But I can't think of any dialect which replaces the stop in what with a flap (which I assume whar is supposed to indicate). Some might elide it completely and make what's and was homophones.

In many North American varieties it is common to pronounce intervocalic /t/ and /d/ as a voiced flap, especially when the preceding vowel is voiced stressed and the following vowel is unvoiced unstressed. Common homonym pairs include "latter"/"ladder" and "waiter"/"wader".

The same thing may or may not occur across word boundaries. For example, when I speak more carefully I typically use a glottal stop before the initial vowel of a word: that's how I render the pronunciation that Rusty gives as /wət ɪz/. However, when I speak more casually I may omit the glottal stop and render the /t/ as a voiced flap. Of course, I'm also just as likely to abbreviate "what is" to "what's" and say /wəts/.

Rusty June 29, 2013 11:05 AM

I agree with you wholeheartedly. This is exactly how a speaker of American English would pronounce that. I just didn't take the time to write about it.
It's interesting that the 's' in 'is' is pronounced as an 's' when used in a contraction. When used as a separate word, the 's' is pronounced like the letter 'z'.


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