Pronunciation

Question

Dear teachers,

How do you pronounce the following ?

a) Krebs (name of the soldier in Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemingway)

b) Goliath = /g + schwa + lai + schwa + 'th'/ or /g + (schwa + u = diphthong) lai + schwa + 'th'/ ? I hope I have been clear enough is there a way to use phonetic symbols ?

How nice it would be if we could hear the teachers read their answers... [8]

Look forward to "hearing" from you,
Hela

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Unless this is a trick question, I'd say 'Krebs' so as to rhyme with Jeb's or Deb's. 'Goliath' is said in American English as shown in your first 'phonetic transcription' (where 'lai' rhymes with "lie" or "rye" or "my"). The second sounds to me like a (possibly) British pronunciation, but you'll have to wait for that answer.

CJ

Hela · Answer

My hesitation is about the first syllable because it seems that the second is a triphthong
/lai??/ (as in "fire" /fai?/).

So for Golaith do you say:

a) /g?lai??/ = monophthong [as in "gazelle"] or

b) /g?ulai??/ = diphthong ? [as in "goal" or "to go"]

Thanks again,
Hela

Nona the brit · Answer

I think it is a simple schwa sound.

You could almost write it as G'liath.

CalifJim · Answer

Now that Nona has confirmed that American and British English both use the schwa there, I can say it's /g?'lai??/ or, perhaps more accurately, /g?'laj??/, the /i/ being no more than a quick glide /j/.

CJ

MrPedantic · Answer

Hello all

What is a 'schwa', out of interest?

MrP

CalifJim · Answer

Ah, yes, the famous little schwa! It is the sound of half a hand clapping.

It is the representative of several similar sounds which occur everywhere in the unstressed syllables of English. It's ubiquitous. (See bold face print.)

It varies from a sort of lax 'u' as in "sum" to a lax 'i' as in "win" to, occasionally, a lax 'oo' as in "book", and just about everything in between. In contrast to other phonetic symbols, which represent single sounds, the schwa represents many weak sounds, all subtly different, but all unstressed.

Or maybe it's a spice used in gourmet cooking. I forget.

CJ

Hela · Answer

Thanks Nona and Jim.

All the best,
Hela

MrPedantic · Answer

Thanks, Jim! So that's what the little blighter's called.

MrP
PS: I too am partial to a sprinkling of schwa. (I also seem to have some rtz on the shelf. That isn't bad, either.)

Hela · Answer

To phonetics experts...,

Regarding the place of articulation what's the difference between short "o" for "dog, shot" and long "o" for "bought, wall"? Do they both have a low back position ?

Thank you in advance,
Hela

CalifJim · Answer

In standard AmE the "o" of "dog", "shot" is not as far back as it is in Br E, where it is quite low and back -- unpronounceable, really!

In AmE the "ou" of "bought" and the "o" of "shot" are exact rhymes for almost everyone who lives west of the Mississippi. East of there, there is a difference. The "ou" of "bought" is mid-back, not quite so open perhaps as the last "o" in Parisian French "magnetoscope", but a similar sound. The corresponding British sound is much 'stronger', i.e., higher, farther back, and more rounded than the American version. All this is "to my ear" and "in my opinion", of course.

CJ

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