"puky"

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Should the adjective "puky" be written with a "Y" or "EY" and the end? And should it be pronounced /pjuki/ or /pjukei/, the last syllable is a monophthong or diphthong?

Thanks

[Tdol]

I've seen both spellings, and would use /i:/

[j4mes_bond25]

Dear teachers,

Should the adjective "puky" be written with a "Y" or "EY" and the end? And should it be pronounced /pjuki/ or /pjukei/, the last syllable is a monophthong or diphthong?

Thanks

Firstly, I'm afraid that I NEVER heard of the word "puky".

Assuming such word exist, I would say /pjuki/ makes MORE sense than /pjukei/. It's like:

pukY = /pjuk.i/
happY = /h{p.i/
very = /ver.i/ (NOT /ver.ei/)
curry = /cur.i/ (NOT /cur.ei/)

As far as I'm aware, "y" when used as a vowel, is ALWAYS a monophthong such as "i" (ONLY possiblity) & NOT the diphthong (NO WAY "ei").

[hela]

Dear j4mes,

Would you pronounce the "y" as a short vowel /i/ or a long volwel /i:/, like tdol?

Best wishes

[rogusx]

It has become customary to represent the sound at the end of words of the "happy" group with the symbol [i]. In the past, the short vowel /ɪ/ might have been preferable. The change is supposed to reflect the neutralization of the distinction between /i:/ and /ɪ/ in this context, since they never contrast. For most speakers of RP and GenAm, the quality of the vowel is closer to /i:/, but it is shorter in duration, hence the choice of [i].

[hela]

Hi rogusx,

There's a symbol that didn't appear so would you please try again? And what's the difference between the sound (allophone?) [i] and the sound (phoneme?) /i/, please ?

Regards

[rogusx]

I don't know what symbol did not appear. I used /ɪ/ and /i:/ since they have phonemic status in English, but I'm reluctant to use /i/ in spite of the fact that most dictionaries use it to transcribe the neutralized vowel. That's why I used the square brackets for [i]. Neutralization means that for some speakers it could be /ɪ/, for others /i:/, and for others something in between.

[hela]

Hi Rogusx,

Apart from /i/, [i] and /i:/ I cannot read you other symbol, sorry. So I really don't see what you mean.

[j4mes_bond25]

Dear j4mes,

Would you pronounce the "y" as a short vowel /i/ or a long volwel /i:/, like tdol?

Best wishes

Hi,

I would most certainly go with short vowel /i/ as in:

curry = /cur.i/
murry = /mur.i/
hurry = /hur.i/
harry = /h{r.i/
berry = /ber.i/
bury = /bur.i/

beauty = /bju:.ti/ (notice the short vowel of /i/)
pretty = /prIt.i/

As a general rule, "y" appearing right at the end of the word (last syllable on its own) could NEVER be long vowel /i:/

[hela]

Thanks James