What your name?

Question

Hi,what your name? What you waiting for?I don't know if this is a matter of pronunciation, but it's strange. I often hear seantences like those as:Whuch your name? - Instead of "what's your name"Whuch you waiting for? - Instead of "what are you waiting for"Now, I think it can't be a matter of pure pronunciation, because I don't know of any cases where the s is skipped. And in the second case it's a whole "are" that is skipped. And I don't think it is something regional, because in American Accent Training those pronunciations and reductions are listed (and they say they are teaching you a "standard" kind of American English).So what is it? Some verbs left out just because it sounds better without?Thank you

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

What's your > Whuch your is completely explainable from glide absorption and the phonetic "definition" of ch.

s + y = sh [glide absorption; c.f. impression > impreshin]
t + sh = ch [the "affricate" sound "ch" is a plosive ("t") combined with a fricative ("sh")]

wha t + s + y our > wha ch our
________

What are you > Whuch you is not explainable that way. The are in an are you question is frequently dropped in casual conversation, leaving What you / Where you / When you. As far as I can tell, only What you sets up a situation where glide absorption can form Whuch you.

In the past the did you questions work in a similar way.
What did you / When'd you / Where'd you > Wudijoo / Wenjoo / Wairjoo

CJ

Kooyeen · Answer

Oh, thank you. I hadn't thought about that.

So I see it's a matter of pronunciation, in the case of "what's your". I'd like to add something else, so since this thread is actually about pronunciation issues, the mods are free to move it to the pronunciation section.

Two questions:
1) I know s + y = sh. But I've never thought about t + sh, actually. Is that a real ch sound, or is it something similar? In other words, is "what's your name" actually "whuch your name" (pure ch sound), or does it just have a distorted sh sound that sounds very similar to ch?

2) I know that a ch sound can be found where there is an n sound and an sh sound (n + sh, as in attention).
Is that a pure ch sound too?
And in any case, should I replace my n + sh with n + ch? Do (American) native speakers always do that or can I keep making an sh sound?

Thanks

CalifJim · Answer

There are an infinite number of shadings between what you call a true "ch" and a distorted "sh" that sounds like "ch", so I think it's counterproductive to go down this path.

Each utterance of these combinations is slightly different depending on the temporal spacing of the componentst and sh, and it's unlikely that even a native speaker could be trained to do all of them in the exact same way every time he or she utters them.

Imitate the "ch" (or whatever it sounds like to you) in combinations like "What's your ...?" and "attention" -- however you hear native speakers say it -- and you will hear different speakers saying them at different points of the continuum between 'true' and 'false' "sh"s and "ch"s. And the same speaker in different social contexts also may use different pronunciations. Pick the pronunciation of someone you admire, maybe, and use that as your model.

In an effort to be clear in my own speech I say "What's your ...?", especially when talking to a stranger. But in private conversations with personal friends I've known for years I probably say something more like "Whuch yer ...?" In the case of "attention" and the like, I rarely use the full "ch" in any situation. To my ear, my own pronunciation is closer to the "sh" than to the "ch".

Does that help?

CJ

Kooyeen · Answer

I see, thank you so much Jim. I'll pay attenchun! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/5.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/5.gif' alt='Emotion: wink'/>

What your name?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions