Do British people pronounce the "w" in "Halloween"?
Is the American pronunciation the same as the British?
Thanks in advance.
Hi!
yeah! the "w" of halloween is pronounciated as a "u" but the mouth has got the same shape as you were saying a "o".The phonetic symbol of this kind of "u" is "ʊ", but i don't know the difference beteween the U.S. pronounciation and the british one...
Thanks for the correction of "pronounced"; as for halloween, why is the u of halloween written like a /ʊ/ on the vocabulary?.I'm asking you this question because this difference between the real sound and that which is written on the vocabulary it's very common in other words! For example the word "more" is written on the vocabulary with this symbol /ɔ/. but actually "more" is pronounced with this kind of o /o/ (closed). could you explain this difference to me?
As far as BrE is concerned, hallowe'en is pronounced/hæləʊˈiːn/; the /əʊ/ symbols represent the O (oh) diphthong sound of hallow. We do not usually put in a symbol for /w/, as this sound happens automatically when the speaker glides from /əʊ/to /iː/.
As regards more, /ɔ:/ is the generally accepted symbol for this sound. For most writers on phonology, the sound represented by the symbol /o/ does not exist in English.
Last edited by 5jj; 03-Nov-2010 at 10:48. Reason: typo
On the other hand, I say /ˌhæləˈwi:n/, which is given as an alternative pronunciation here: Halloween | Define Halloween at Dictionary.com
If you don't pronounce a full /əʊ/, you need to insert the /w/.