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Monday, April 30, 2018

The Curious Incident of the SatNav ...

... well, any time really. Here are the remaining notes for the *AR* chapter including a SatNav reference that I thought long and hard over (with vanity in the end overcoming common-sense :-)).

Notes for /æ/

  1. aristocrat
    The traditional British English pronunciation has the /æ/ vowel and stress on the first syllable). Probably because of the Disney film The Aristocats, the American English pronunciation (with /ə/ in the first syllable and stress on the second) is steadily growing in popularity.
  2. arriviste
    The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has primary stress on the last syllable (as in French) and secondary stress on the first. But audio puts primary stress on the first.
  3. barbaric
    This sound is in the second syllable. See also under /ɑ:/.
  4. Caribbean
    A pronunciation with stress on the second syllable and initial /ə/ is becoming common.
  5. garage
    A pronunciation with stress on the second syllable, given by many dictionaries as American, is increasingly common in British English.
  6. harakiri
    The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this vowel but - as is commonly the case with foreign borrowings - a range of vowel sounds is possible (ranging from /ʌ/ to /ɑ:/ ). The Macmillan English Dictionary does have /æ/ , but has /i:/ in the second syllable (that is, the one written "ra").
  7. harassed and harassment
    This - more readily than the bare infinitive - often has stress on the second syllable and /ə/ in the first. For more about this alternation, see this blog.
  8. maraschino
    Note that the Macmillan English Dictionary transcribes this (accurately, in an Italian word) with /k/, but the audio has /ʃ/ The Macmillan English Dictionary gives no transcription for the collocation "maraschino cherry", but again the audio sample has /ʃ/. This rogue /ʃ/ is not uncommon in other Italian borrowings – for example, bruschetta.
  9. paragliding
    This is the sole representative of the many sports that combine a parachute with another pursuit.
Notes for /eə/
  1. Aryan
    The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this vowel sound but the audio sample has /æ/.
  2. barbarian
    The second "ar" has this sound. See also /ɑ:/.
  3. bridgeware
    This evades the usual no-compounds rule (which excludes for example, chinaware) because it refers to an intangible sort of -ware. This is the sole representative of other such words (software, wetware, etc.)
  4. carefree
    This is the sole representative of words that use care (both as a prefix and as a suffix)
  5. cheeseparing
    Students of English for Speakers of Other Languages may want to note that the source of the verb is paring (a small amount cut off) and not sparing.
  6. contrary and contrariwise
    This pronunciation marks a particular usage. A more common meaning (but quite distinct) has primary stress on the first syllable, and /ə/. The Macmillan English Dictionary  gives only the /eə/ pronunciation for the word "contrariwise", which might seem a little perverse (some might say contrary). But the Collins English Dictionary gives "contrariwise" with primary stress on the first syllable and /ə/ in the second; the /eə/ pronunciation (strictly speaking, following the phonemic scheme always used in that dictionary, /ɛə/) is also given – with the sense "in a contrary way" (but their link does not make it clear which sense they mean). The adverb is rare enough for this lack of clarity not to have a serious impact for the student.
  7. harum-scarum
    This pronunciation occurs in both words.
  8. parliamentarian
    This sound is in the third syllable from last. See also above, /ɑ:/.
  9. prepared and preparedness
    Students of English for Speakers of Other Languages should note that while the adjective has two syllables the abstract noun has four.
  10. rarefied
    Students of English for Speakers of Other Languages should note that, unlike many other words with the spelling "*are+<suffix>" (such as barely, daresay  etc.), the written "e" represents a separate sound – /ɪ/. That is, the word has three syllables.
  11. veterinarian
    Note that although this word has six syllables (with the -ter- being fully enunciated the word veterinary (see under /ə/) may have either four or five (and sometimes even three: /vetənri:/).
Notes for /ᴐ:/
  1. That is [the text has averred that /wᴐ:/ CAN be represented by "w|wh|qu+ar"]  the condition is necessary, but not sufficient  – there are several counterexamples: square, wary, quarry, warrant....
  2. lukewarm
    This escapes the usual exclusion of compound words because the fossil "luke" that appears in it has no current life as a free-standing word.
  3. toward and towards
    Students of English for Speakers of Other Languages should note that, unlike all other words of the form <direction-or-destination>+"ward[s]" (for example backward, downward, forward, homewardonward, upward, <compass-point>+"ward" or any other such word) this word has stress on the second syllable. Moreover, the first syllable, given by the Macmillan English Dictionary as /tə/, is sometimes heard as /tʊ/ and is sometimes dropped entirely. The Macmillan English Dictionary recognizes this reduced variant with a separate transcription and audio sample, but only for the first of the two words: /tɔ:(r)d/ but not  /tɔ:(r)dz/. It's not clear to me whether this has any basis in observed fact; I don't believe I've heard a person say /tɔ:(r)dz/, but my SatNav says it, and I have no reason to believe that the voiceover artist who recorded it was being intentionally perverse.
Notes for other sounds
  1. /ɒ/ – unwarranted
    Rarely used in the positive, unless the context is negative: example - "His intrusion was not warranted". (Note that a negative context need not involve a negative particle; consider, for example, "Such heavy-handed intervention was hardly warranted.")
  2. /ʌ/ – Bharat
    This escapes the general exclusion of loanwords used primarily in a non-UK English-speaking country as it offers an occasion to show two things: that the Macmillan English Dictionary contains many such words, and that the pronunciation of such words is always problematic - the Macmillan English Dictionary's transcription has this vowel but the audio example has /ɑ:/.
  3. Null (no sound) – secretary
    The Macmillan English Dictionary gives this three-syllable version as British English, and the American English version (with primary stress on the *AR* syllable) having the sound /e/. (In many other cases, a null pronunciation of an *AR* syllable is given as an alternative to  /ə/, but this is the only case I have found where no /ə/ option is given). The four-syllable version is becoming common in British English; indeed, many speakers of British English regard the three-syllable version as quaint and/or amusingly old-fashioned.
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