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31-Dec-2006, 03:02
| | Member | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Country: China
Posts: 114
Current Location: Beijing First Language: Chinese Member Type: Student or Learner | |  either
Could anyone tell me how to pronounce "either"? I am puzzled because I don't know how the Americans pronounce it and if the British pronounce differently.
Again, please correct me if there is any mistake in the above question itself or better way to express it. Great thanks!
Emily |
31-Dec-2006, 05:39
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2006 Country: Belarus
Posts: 1,335
First Language: Russian | |  Re: either
Hi, Emily,
AE -[i:]
BE -[ai]
It's up to you, but it must be consistent with your general choice (other words that are pronounced differently, eg past, ask etc).
Regards | | The Following User Says Thank You to Humble For This Useful Post: | |
31-Dec-2006, 06:14
| | Member | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Country: China
Posts: 114
Current Location: Beijing First Language: Chinese Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: either
Wonderful! But, haven't realized that the American pronunciation and the British pronunciaiton differ regarding even the simple words like "past" and "ask". Could you, Humble, or anyone else tell me how? Thanks!
And, again, need some one to correct each and every error I've made so far. Yes, even in this "pronunciation and phonetics" forum, haha!
Emily
Last edited by emily wong; 31-Dec-2006 at 06:24.
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31-Dec-2006, 17:22
| | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2005 Country: India
Posts: 440
Current Location: In India at present First Language: hindi Member Type: Other | | Re: either
Quote:
Originally Posted by emily wong  Wonderful! But, haven't realized that the American pronunciation and the British pronunciaiton differ regarding even the simple words like "past" and "ask". Could you, Humble, or anyone else tell me how? Thanks! | AmE - past, ask - The "a" sounds as in "cat"
BrE - past, ask - The "a" sounds as in "cart"
You hear people say "Tomato (toh-may-toh), tomato (toh-mah-toh), what's the difference?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by emily wong And, again, need some one to correct each and every error I've made so far. Yes, even in this "pronunciation and phonetics" forum, haha! Emily | some one --> someone 
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01-Jan-2007, 00:44
| | Member | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Country: China
Posts: 114
Current Location: Beijing First Language: Chinese Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: either
Thank you! I don't really know the "tomato" thing. Which is AmE? Emily |
01-Jan-2007, 05:12
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2006 Country: Belarus
Posts: 1,335
First Language: Russian | | Re: either
AE - tomato [ei]
Cheers | | The Following User Says Thank You to Humble For This Useful Post: | |
01-Jan-2007, 14:42
| | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2005 Country: India
Posts: 440
Current Location: In India at present First Language: hindi Member Type: Other | | Re: either
Quote:
Originally Posted by emily wong Thank you! I don't really know the "tomato" thing. Which is AmE? Emily | AmE - American English
BrE - British English | | The Following User Says Thank You to englishstudent For This Useful Post: | |
01-Jan-2007, 18:10
|  | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Country: Hungary
Posts: 336
Current Location: Budapest, Hungary First Language: Hungarian Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: either
Quote:
Originally Posted by Humble Hi, Emily,
AE -[i:]
BE -[ai]
It's up to you, but it must be consistent with your general choice (other words that are pronounced differently, eg past, ask etc).
Regards | However, I've heard some AmE speakers saying [ai]. | | The Following User Says Thank You to retro For This Useful Post: | |
02-Jan-2007, 23:54
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Country: USA
Posts: 3,275
Current Location: Detroit, Michigan First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | | Re: either
AUE: The Audio Archive
If you're able to listen to audio files on your computer, the above site has a variety of different people reading sample passages with both an AmE and BrE accent. | | The Following User Says Thank You to Ouisch For This Useful Post: | |
23-Jan-2007, 02:45
| | Newbie | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Country: USA
Posts: 22
Current Location: Idaho First Language: English Member Type: Other | | Re: either
Actually in American English, [i] and [aI] are interchangeable in this word, although [i] is more common. Same for "neither". Quote: |
However, I've heard some AmE speakers saying [ai].
| I highly doubt that. In the Southern dialect, "past" would be pronounced as [pæjʌst], which can sound like [paɪst].
In General American, it's [æ].
Both the California and the Canadian vowel shifts shift /æ/ to [a], however, so in progressive speakers of those dialects, "past" would be [past]. Conservative speakers tend to still use [æ] though.
The Northern (especially Inland Northern) dialect on the other hand shifts /æ/ to [eɘ] or [ɛ] or even [iɘ]. Most other dialects do that only before nasals. | | The Following User Says Thank You to Englishuser For This Useful Post: | | |
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