When and how do I take the “ih” sound?
A lot of my life, I’ve been pronouncing certain words wrong. Why is “e” pronounced as “eh” in some words then “ih”? What is “precipitation.” or would you guess that we are in precipitation/infinity? For the first e, I would pronounce it as eh instead of gh. I recently found out that I’ve been wrong when I looked in the dictionary. Is it possible then either way they can’t be found in the Internet. When does e first sound like ih? Is it okay if I pronounce it as eh?
Whats up with you?
Reduced vowels usually occur in unstressed syllables
In English, a process called “vowel reduction”, may be very helpful for pronunciation of a vowel during a syllable without any effect or stress. The letter e, may correspond to the “disreduced” vowel sounds transcribed as or . Not All unstressed words are pronounced with reduced vowels. If the letter “E” in an unstressed syllable corresponds to a vowel (without any specific words) you can find it in a dictionary as a reference.
Reduced vowels and “precipitation”
The word “precipitation” has secondary stress on the second syllable, and primary stress on the second-to-last syllable, but no stress on the first syllable. Why most syllables end with a reduced vowel?
On the other hand, it’s not necessarily easy for a native English speaker to notice the distribution of reduced vowels because the pronuciation of reduced vowels is variable, and vowel reduction is rarely explicitly taught to native English speakers when they are learning how to read, because they tend to do it naturally.
What causes my ambiguity on my question “Declaration”?
One major area of variation that is fairly well-known is the presence or absence of what is called weak vowel merger. Basically, some speakers feel like they can’t tell the difference between an “h” sound and an “” sound in a syllable with reduced vowel, or they feel that all syllables with a reduced vowel have “”: these speakers are considered to have this merger. Is this common in American English? Even accents that don’t have a general merger may differ in which reduced vowel they use in particular words, or may allow either reduced vowel to be used in certain contexts. The
convention in most modern dictionaries is as follows: for
-
accents that have two main reduced vowel sounds, one of them (the one that frequently corresponds to a written “e” or “i”) is represented with the same symbol as the unreduced vowel found in words like “bit” (in
-
“” represents accents that have only one main reduction vowel sound, and not more than one vowel.
In the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) there is a letter located
on the head of
the upper left (separately from the usual English word “prspted-h”) letter. It is not noted that it is the same as the normal English letter (separately -l) on the upper left. This is used by the OED to signify a reduced vowel that can be realized either as // or as // in British
Where you can see the pronunciation without a reduced vowel in the first syllable for American English, and it has the vowel /i/ (this is the pronunciation with the “free” vowel that 1006a mentioned in a comment)? Pronunciations with a vowel similar to may exist, but as you have found, most dictionary-makers either don’t consider these pronunciations common enough or don’t consider them standard enough to include in their transcriptions.
Effects where the letter “E” can appear
in an unstressed syllable,./
occurs in short unstressed syllables, and // occurs in short unstressed words. /E/ does not occur. the word ends in an ” consonant”: the word tectonic, technique, sectarian, centripetal, mentality or tempestuous.]
In words with ex-, the first syllable is open, but the vowel
may be reduced anyway when it is unstressed. see the answers for How can I explain correctly a definition of “ex”?
I believe there is a similar variation in the pronunciation of the vowels in the prefix en-/em in some words where it is unstressed. E.g. The word embed is transcribed by Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary with //.
In word-final closed syllables, sometimes
In words like project, the unstressed vowel in the final syllable is not always reduced. Merriam-Webster indicates project can have // or // in the second syllable, and progress can have // or // (I don’t know why they transcribe the reduced vowels differently; maybe the identity of the preceding consonant is relevant).
Reduced vowels usually occur in unstressed syllables
In English, a process called “vowel reduction”, may be very helpful for pronunciation of a vowel during a syllable without any effect or stress. The letter e, may correspond to the “disreduced” vowel sounds transcribed as or . Not All unstressed words are pronounced with reduced vowels. If the letter “E” in an unstressed syllable corresponds to a vowel (without any specific words) you can find it in a dictionary as a reference.
Reduced vowels and “precipitation”
The word “precipitation” has secondary stress on the second syllable, and primary stress on the second-to-last syllable, but no stress on the first syllable. Why most syllables end with a reduced vowel?
On the other hand, it’s not necessarily easy for a native English speaker to notice the distribution of reduced vowels because the pronuciation of reduced vowels is variable, and vowel reduction is rarely explicitly taught to native English speakers when they are learning how to read, because they tend to do it naturally.
What causes my ambiguity on my question “Declaration”?
One major area of variation that is fairly well-known is the presence or absence of what is called weak vowel merger. Basically, some speakers feel like they can’t tell the difference between an “h” sound and an “” sound in a syllable with reduced vowel, or they feel that all syllables with a reduced vowel have “”: these speakers are considered to have this merger. Is this common in American English? Even accents that don’t have a general merger may differ in which reduced vowel they use in particular words, or may allow either reduced vowel to be used in certain contexts. The
convention in most modern dictionaries is as follows: for
-
accents that have two main reduced vowel sounds, one of them (the one that frequently corresponds to a written “e” or “i”) is represented with the same symbol as the unreduced vowel found in words like “bit” (in
-
“” represents accents that have only one main reduction vowel sound, and not more than one vowel.
In the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) there is a letter located
on the head of
the upper left (separately from the usual English word “prspted-h”) letter. It is not noted that it is the same as the normal English letter (separately -l) on the upper left. This is used by the OED to signify a reduced vowel that can be realized either as // or as // in British
Where you can see the pronunciation without a reduced vowel in the first syllable for American English, and it has the vowel /i/ (this is the pronunciation with the “free” vowel that 1006a mentioned in a comment)? Pronunciations with a vowel similar to may exist, but as you have found, most dictionary-makers either don’t consider these pronunciations common enough or don’t consider them standard enough to include in their transcriptions.
Effects where the letter “E” can appear
in an unstressed syllable,./
occurs in short unstressed syllables, and // occurs in short unstressed words. /E/ does not occur. the word ends in an ” consonant”: the word tectonic, technique, sectarian, centripetal, mentality or tempestuous.]
In words with ex-, the first syllable is open, but the vowel
may be reduced anyway when it is unstressed. see the answers for How can I explain correctly a definition of “ex”?
I believe there is a similar variation in the pronunciation of the vowels in the prefix en-/em in some words where it is unstressed. E.g. The word embed is transcribed by Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary with //.
In word-final closed syllables, sometimes
In words like project, the unstressed vowel in the final syllable is not always reduced. Merriam-Webster indicates project can have // or // in the second syllable, and progress can have // or // (I don’t know why they transcribe the reduced vowels differently; maybe the identity of the preceding consonant is relevant).
Reduced vowels usually occur in unstressed syllables
In English, a process called “vowel reduction”, may be very helpful for pronunciation of a vowel during a syllable without any effect or stress. The letter e, may correspond to the “disreduced” vowel sounds transcribed as or . Not All unstressed words are pronounced with reduced vowels. If the letter “E” in an unstressed syllable corresponds to a vowel (without any specific words) you can find it in a dictionary as a reference.
Reduced vowels and “precipitation”
The word “precipitation” has secondary stress on the second syllable, and primary stress on the second-to-last syllable, but no stress on the first syllable. Why most syllables end with a reduced vowel?
On the other hand, it’s not necessarily easy for a native English speaker to notice the distribution of reduced vowels because the pronuciation of reduced vowels is variable, and vowel reduction is rarely explicitly taught to native English speakers when they are learning how to read, because they tend to do it naturally.
What causes my ambiguity on my question “Declaration”?
One major area of variation that is fairly well-known is the presence or absence of what is called weak vowel merger. Basically, some speakers feel like they can’t tell the difference between an “h” sound and an “” sound in a syllable with reduced vowel, or they feel that all syllables with a reduced vowel have “”: these speakers are considered to have this merger. Is this common in American English? Even accents that don’t have a general merger may differ in which reduced vowel they use in particular words, or may allow either reduced vowel to be used in certain contexts. The
convention in most modern dictionaries is as follows: for
-
accents that have two main reduced vowel sounds, one of them (the one that frequently corresponds to a written “e” or “i”) is represented with the same symbol as the unreduced vowel found in words like “bit” (in
-
“” represents accents that have only one main reduction vowel sound, and not more than one vowel.
In the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) there is a letter located
on the head of
the upper left (separately from the usual English word “prspted-h”) letter. It is not noted that it is the same as the normal English letter (separately -l) on the upper left. This is used by the OED to signify a reduced vowel that can be realized either as // or as // in British
Where you can see the pronunciation without a reduced vowel in the first syllable for American English, and it has the vowel /i/ (this is the pronunciation with the “free” vowel that 1006a mentioned in a comment)? Pronunciations with a vowel similar to may exist, but as you have found, most dictionary-makers either don’t consider these pronunciations common enough or don’t consider them standard enough to include in their transcriptions.
Effects where the letter “E” can appear
in an unstressed syllable,./
occurs in short unstressed syllables, and // occurs in short unstressed words. /E/ does not occur. the word ends in an ” consonant”: the word tectonic, technique, sectarian, centripetal, mentality or tempestuous.]
In words with ex-, the first syllable is open, but the vowel
may be reduced anyway when it is unstressed. see the answers for How can I explain correctly a definition of “ex”?
I believe there is a similar variation in the pronunciation of the vowels in the prefix en-/em in some words where it is unstressed. E.g. The word embed is transcribed by Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary with //.
In word-final closed syllables, sometimes
In words like project, the unstressed vowel in the final syllable is not always reduced. Merriam-Webster indicates project can have // or // in the second syllable, and progress can have // or // (I don’t know why they transcribe the reduced vowels differently; maybe the identity of the preceding consonant is relevant).
Reduced vowels usually occur in unstressed syllables
In English, a process called “vowel reduction”, may be very helpful for pronunciation of a vowel during a syllable without any effect or stress. The letter e, may correspond to the “disreduced” vowel sounds transcribed as or . Not All unstressed words are pronounced with reduced vowels. If the letter “E” in an unstressed syllable corresponds to a vowel (without any specific words) you can find it in a dictionary as a reference.
Reduced vowels and “precipitation”
The word “precipitation” has secondary stress on the second syllable, and primary stress on the second-to-last syllable, but no stress on the first syllable. Why most syllables end with a reduced vowel?
On the other hand, it’s not necessarily easy for a native English speaker to notice the distribution of reduced vowels because the pronuciation of reduced vowels is variable, and vowel reduction is rarely explicitly taught to native English speakers when they are learning how to read, because they tend to do it naturally.
What causes my ambiguity on my question “Declaration”?
One major area of variation that is fairly well-known is the presence or absence of what is called weak vowel merger. Basically, some speakers feel like they can’t tell the difference between an “h” sound and an “” sound in a syllable with reduced vowel, or they feel that all syllables with a reduced vowel have “”: these speakers are considered to have this merger. Is this common in American English? Even accents that don’t have a general merger may differ in which reduced vowel they use in particular words, or may allow either reduced vowel to be used in certain contexts. The
convention in most modern dictionaries is as follows: for
-
accents that have two main reduced vowel sounds, one of them (the one that frequently corresponds to a written “e” or “i”) is represented with the same symbol as the unreduced vowel found in words like “bit” (in
-
“” represents accents that have only one main reduction vowel sound, and not more than one vowel.
In the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) there is a letter located
on the head of
the upper left (separately from the usual English word “prspted-h”) letter. It is not noted that it is the same as the normal English letter (separately -l) on the upper left. This is used by the OED to signify a reduced vowel that can be realized either as // or as // in British
Where you can see the pronunciation without a reduced vowel in the first syllable for American English, and it has the vowel /i/ (this is the pronunciation with the “free” vowel that 1006a mentioned in a comment)? Pronunciations with a vowel similar to may exist, but as you have found, most dictionary-makers either don’t consider these pronunciations common enough or don’t consider them standard enough to include in their transcriptions.
Effects where the letter “E” can appear
in an unstressed syllable,./
occurs in short unstressed syllables, and // occurs in short unstressed words. /E/ does not occur. the word ends in an ” consonant”: the word tectonic, technique, sectarian, centripetal, mentality or tempestuous.]
In words with ex-, the first syllable is open, but the vowel
may be reduced anyway when it is unstressed. see the answers for How can I explain correctly a definition of “ex”?
I believe there is a similar variation in the pronunciation of the vowels in the prefix en-/em in some words where it is unstressed. E.g. The word embed is transcribed by Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary with //.
In word-final closed syllables, sometimes
In words like project, the unstressed vowel in the final syllable is not always reduced. Merriam-Webster indicates project can have // or // in the second syllable, and progress can have // or // (I don’t know why they transcribe the reduced vowels differently; maybe the identity of the preceding consonant is relevant).
