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Cool Breeze Posted 17 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Sword
I know the correct pronunciation of sword. I also know that at least some blacks pronounce the w in it. (Mahalia Jackson certainly does in her marvellous rendition of the song Down By The Riverside.) As the word existed in Old English, it is highly likely that the w was commonly pronounced in those days. What I don't know is how common it actually is to pronounce the w today and whether this pronunciation is confined to African Americans only. Is the w pronounced in any American or British dialect spoken by white people as well? In New Zealand or Australia?
What about former US or British colonies in which English isn't spoken by all, such as India or the Philippines, for example? Thank you for your replies.
CB
What about former US or British colonies in which English isn't spoken by all, such as India or the Philippines, for example? Thank you for your replies.
CB
Top answer
here in Canada we say it like sohrd, we don't pronounce the W and sometimes you see some people, specially children spelling it like SORD. Americans pronounce it like that as well. I think it's the standard pronunciation.
- here in Canada we say it like sohrd, we don't pronounce the W and sometimes you see some people, specially children spelling it like SORD.
- Americans pronounce it like that as well.
- I think it's the standard pronunciation.
- I don't know how the English and Australian people woould say it.
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31 Answers
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here in Canada we say it like sohrd, we don't pronounce the W and sometimes you see some people, specially children spelling it like SORD. Americans pronounce it like that as well. I think it's the standard pronunciation. I don't know how the English and Australian people woould say it.
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The standard pronounciation is without the 'w' sound.
Perhaps that singer just had her own special way to sing it!
Perhaps that singer just had her own special way to sing it!
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http://community.livejournal.com/linguaphiles/2160945.html
There's not much on the net, but someone seems to say it with the W too. It seems to be extremely rare though. It might be a "personal" mistake too, that is, a weird way of pronouncing a word that all the others around you don'
There's not much on the net, but someone seems to say it with the W too. It seems to be extremely rare though. It might be a "personal" mistake too, that is, a weird way of pronouncing a word that all the others around you don'
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Hey,
It's not only foreigners who mispronounce words in English. Even here in Canada we hear people mispronouncing words. Of course, it's not often but it happens. A word that people here misuses all the time is the verb To lie, they mix it up with To lay all the time. Other mistake that I usually hear is that of people using span as the past of To spin, when actually, the past form is s
It's not only foreigners who mispronounce words in English. Even here in Canada we hear people mispronouncing words. Of course, it's not often but it happens. A word that people here misuses all the time is the verb To lie, they mix it up with To lay all the time. Other mistake that I usually hear is that of people using span as the past of To spin, when actually, the past form is s
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rafaelinrioIt's not only foreigners who mispronounce words in English. Even here in Canada we hear people mispronouncing wordsMispronouncing isn't what I had in mind. Just a different pronunciation. I am versed enough in English to know that virtually everything that passes for modern English is mispronounced and ungrammatical if we compare it with what
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Well, I do consider some "mispronunciations", and those are part of the "odd features that don't belong to a specific variety of English. One example was pronouncing "iron" as "eye-run" in a community where no one else pronounces it that way. Those mispronunciations are actually the things that sound funny for real to other people around you.
Anyway, did you hear that from an African American
Anyway, did you hear that from an African American
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KooyeenAnyway, did you hear that from an African American?Hi Kooyeen
I have said twice that Mahalia Jackson pronounces sword that way in her version of Down By The Riverside. She is the best-known black gospel singer in the world.
CB
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I know I'm replying to an old thread. Anyway, there's at least one further example, and that's RZA in the song "Samurai Showdown" (Ghost Dog soundtrack); that's why I've done a search on the topic of pronunciation of sword, which brought me here. Might really be an African-American thing, then?
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Wow...interesting thread you all have going... as a Southern African American (reared in Mississippi, no less), I must say that I pronounce sword as sord (without the w), the way that I was taught to pronounce it in school. I don't think the pronunciation of sword with the w is an exclusively African American "thing". All of the African Americans I know (and I do know a lot of them) pronounce it
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Hey Cool Breeze, there are a couple of recordings by her out there, I don't believe she's pronouncing 'w' in this one at least
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