trivial pronunciation problem

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sheikh radlinrol
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trivial pronunciation problem

Post by sheikh radlinrol » Fri May 11, 2007 9:05 pm

A student here in Spain was asked which of these four words had a different number of syllables from the others.

Wednesday vegetables languages excited

As I have a Scottish accent, I was stumped and embarrassed when she asked me for the answer. All comments welcome.

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Lorikeet
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Post by Lorikeet » Sat May 12, 2007 3:55 am

Wednesday has two syllables for me. ( Sort of sounds like wenzday)

sheikh radlinrol
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Post by sheikh radlinrol » Sat May 12, 2007 3:23 pm

We would pronounce it as wed-ens-day. Maybe we're in the minority and should be teaching them your version, which I suppose is easier for them. Thanks for the reply.

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Lorikeet
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Post by Lorikeet » Sat May 12, 2007 4:05 pm

Oh! I didn't know it was pronounced as 3 syllables anywhere. I wonder why it isn't "wed-nes-day." Silly English spelling.

Buddhaheart
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Post by Buddhaheart » Sat May 12, 2007 10:58 pm

&#65279;Canadian pronunciations of these words are as follows:

Wednesday
: 2 syllables. The middle ‘e’ is silent.
Vegetables: 3 or 4 syllables. The second ‘e’ may be uttered or not. If so, it’s pronounced as a schwa.
Languages: 3 syllables
Excited: 3 syllables

You might therefore say there could be 2 “words (that) had a different number of syllables from
the others.”

eslweb
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Wednesday Pronunciation

Post by eslweb » Mon May 14, 2007 8:36 am

I'd pronounce it exactly as the Cambridge Dictionary suggests:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... 9616&ph=on
IPA /'wenz.dei/

I hope this helps...

James

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