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Old June 28, 2013, 02:43 PM
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What is

Can we pronounce what is like this. Wharis?
Or just whats?
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  #2  
Old June 28, 2013, 03:22 PM
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Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS View Post
Can we pronounce what is like this. Wharis?
Or just whats?
Either one is OK

úaris

úats
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Old June 28, 2013, 03:47 PM
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Thank u
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Old June 28, 2013, 06:51 PM
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Thank u
You're very welcome.
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Old June 29, 2013, 01:21 AM
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Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS View Post
Can we pronounce what is like this. Wharis?
Yes, but people might think you're drunk.
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Old June 29, 2013, 07:52 AM
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Yes, but people might think you're drunk.
Or maybe that he has an accent?
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Old June 29, 2013, 08:24 AM
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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/
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Old June 29, 2013, 09:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
... 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.
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Old June 29, 2013, 10:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
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 View Post
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/.

Last edited by wrholt; June 29, 2013 at 01:43 PM. Reason: Correct word choice (un)voiced -> (un)stressed
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Old June 29, 2013, 11:05 AM
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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'.

Last edited by Rusty; June 29, 2013 at 11:32 AM.
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