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1Likes- 28-Dec-2010, 00:44 #1
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/j/ I have a question. Why the /j/ in "university" /ju:nɪ'vɜ:sətɪ/ is pronunced "J" but the /j/ in "onion" /'ʌnjən/ is pronunced "i"? Why "onion" is not /'ʌnɪən/?
- 28-Dec-2010, 00:50 #2
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Re: /j/ What do you mean by "J" and "i"? What is the difference?
- 28-Dec-2010, 06:15 #3
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Threadstarter / Original Poster Re: /j/ "j" and "i" are totally different!
Originally Posted by birdeen's call 
- 28-Dec-2010, 06:33 #4
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Teacher Re: /j/ Well, no, not totally different.In English /j/ is a glide from from an approximate position of /i(:)/ to the following vowel. Originally Posted by devonpham1998
As regards your first question: "I have a question. Why the /j/ in "university" /ju:nɪ'vɜ:sətɪ/ is pronunced "J" but the /j/ in "onion" /'ʌnjən/ is pronunced "i"? Why "onion" is not /'ʌnɪən/?"
/'ʌnjən/ represents the way we pronounce it, with two syllables, and a /j/ sound; /'ʌnɪən/ would have three syllables and there would be a /j/ glide between /i/ and /ə/.Last edited by 5jj; 28-Dec-2010 at 07:51.
- 28-Dec-2010, 09:07 #5
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Re: /j/ The letters "j" and "i" are different. The phonemes /j/ and /i/ are different too. Originally Posted by devonpham1998
Did you mean the phonemes?
Why did you capitalize "J"?
Do you really mean the phoneme /i/ or do you mean /ɪ/?
Do you think the sounds in "university" and in "onion" are different or do you think they're the same?
- 28-Dec-2010, 09:21 #6
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Teacher Re: /j/ The symbol /j/ is pronounced like the letter <y> as is in yellow. The symbol /j/ could also be represented as /y/;e.g., [y]university, on[y]ion. Originally Posted by devonpham1998
- 28-Dec-2010, 10:27 #7
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Re: /j/ The vowel /ɪ/, when followed by another vowel is usually written as /j/ (to better indicate that there is no pause between the two vowels)
/ənɪən/ = /ənjən/ (onion)
/loɪɚ/ = /lojɚ/ (lawyer)
/ˈneɪˌseɪɚ/= /ˈneɪˌsejɚ/ (naysayer)
- 28-Dec-2010, 11:09 #8
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Teacher Re: /j/ No. Originally Posted by thatone
The semi-vowel /j/ is considered a distinct phoneme, as are the vowels /i(:)/ and /I/
/ʌnɪən/ is not the same as /ʌnjən/
- 28-Dec-2010, 15:11 #9
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Threadstarter / Original Poster Re: /j/ But what is the difference between /i/ and /I/?
- 28-Dec-2010, 15:13 #10
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Re: /j/ /i:/ (long /i/) is the sound that you hear in "feet".
/I/ is the sound that you hear in "fit".
