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Questions tagged [pronunciation]

for questions about the sound, stress, or intonation of spoken words.

This tag is for questions about sounds, intonation, stress, and similar aspects of uttering spoken words.

For questions about the physical aspects of sound such as the acoustic properties, auditory perception, or neurophysiological status, see . For technical questions about the systematic grammatical characterization of sounds, and the sound system of English, use .

The pronunciation of spoken English is only loosely connected to its representation in written English. See for questions about their divergence, and for questions about words with pronunciations that are based on their spellings. Because of this weak tie, and because sounds can be pronounced differently in the various s and of the language, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is strongly preferred to represent pronunciations on this site; see for questions about that system.

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Is there any word in English where "th" sounds like "t+h"?

It might be a strange question, but I, as a non-native speaker (Pakistani), have listened to English pronunciations by my native people who have over time developed their own pronunciations. So, I heard the word "THUG" with the pronunciation "T" +…
Usman
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How to pronounce "tuple"?

A recent question has reminded me of something I’ve been wondering about for a while: what is the correct way to pronounce tuple?
NPE
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What is the correct way to pronounce 'router'?

Merriam-Webster lists both ˈrüt and ˈrau̇t as possible pronunciations for route but only ˈrau̇-tər for router. Is it really wrong to pronounce router as 'rüter ?
stacker
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Is "forte" pronounced "fort" or "for-tay"?

I've always heard people say something like "Pronunciation is not my [for-tay]" ... but I feel that I've heard that the correct pronunciation is "Confusing people is my [fort]" What is the proper way to pronounce this word?
Daniel LeCheminant
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Should the number "0" be pronounced "zero" or "oh"?

I have often heard people say 101, as one-zero-one, and also as one-oh-one. Which is correct, and why? Does the difference between British English and American English have to do something with it?
Logophile
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Is there any English word in which "ph" is not pronounced as "f"?

A few days ago, a friend and I were discussing how every "rule" of English spelling or pronunciation has an exception, and every exception has an exception as well. Then I brought up the rule of a ph cluster equaling an f sound (as in phonetic,…
Nicole
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What is the word for pronouncing ‘th’ as ‘v’ as part of your English accent?

Some people I know have a ‘lazy tone’ on their British accent pronouncing their ‘th’ as ‘v’. Don’t bover about the weava. (Don’t bother about the weather.) It’s not a slur, because the ‘t’ in don’t and about is still there. It’s not a lisp…
hawkeye
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How do you pronounce numbers written in different bases?

The decimal (base 10) number "2" can also be represented as the binary (base 2) number "10". Let's use binary "10" (equivalent to decimal "2") as an example. I could see a few different ways to go here. Assume that the base doesn't need to be…
Asmor
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What is the correct pronunciation of the word “processes”?

What is the correct pronunciation of the word processes? I am confused because my mother tongue is not English, and I've heard two variants: "process-eez" [-siːz] and "process-es" [-sɪz]
AbdulAziz
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What does "Do you haz teh codez?" mean?

There is a banner in StackOverflow pointing to the careers website (programmers): Do you haz teh codez? My questions about the sentence/question are: What's the question in plain English? Why do they write it like that? Is it like a word…
Shaz
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Should "Los Angeles" rhyme with "cheese" or "less"

There seems to be two (main) ways of pronouncing "Los Angeles": Los An-jel-eeze Los An-jel-ess It's clearly Spanish, and my limited Spanish skills suggest option 2, but I've heard many people use option 1 (including commercial aircraft pilots over…
Bohemian
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Pronunciation of "have" in "I don't have to" [do something]

Normally when I say "I don't have to do that" (meaning I'm not obliged to), I find that as well as putting heavy stress on the word "have", I pronounce if haff. Is this common? If so, why does the trailing consonant change from "v" to "f"? Are there…
FumbleFingers
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How to pronounce "favicon"?

Yesterday my boss called our design person on the phone and asked her about designing a /fave-eye-con/. She asked him to repeat it a couple of times, and then finally (after a convoluted explanation about favorites and icons), the lightbulb came on…
Marthaª
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What is the correct pronunciation of "Caribbean"?

Sometimes I hear the emphasis placed on the second syllable, and other times on the second to last syllable. I myself use both pronunciations depending on context, and it makes me wonder if there is an underlying rule that I can't quite put my…
Chris Noe
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How to pronounce "Linux"

A co-worker and I are fairly strongly divided on how to pronounce Linux. For a northern Midwest American (Milwaukee area, Wisconsin, to be exact), should it be pronounced lin-uh ks or li'nuks? pronunciations from: Linux. (n.d.). Dictionary.com…
Scott Chamberlain
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