Ireland / island

[hela]

Dear teachers,

In Br English would the words "Ireland" and "island" be pronounced the same or is there a slight difference?
Would you say /ailənd/ for both, or /ailənd/ for "island" and /aiələnd/ for "Ireland" ?
Are there two ways of pronouncing "debris", /deibri/ and /dɛbri/ ? Is the final /i/ short or long?

All the best,
Hela

[curmudgeon]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
is·land /ˈaɪlənd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ahy-luhnd] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun A tract of land completely surrounded by water, and not large enough to be called a continent.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source Ire·land /ˈaɪərlənd/Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ahyuhr-luhnd]Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation–noun Republic of. Formerly, Irish Free State (1922–37), Eire (1937–49). a republic occupying most of the island of Ireland. 3,555,500; 27,137 sq. mi. (70,285 sq. km). Capital: Dublin. Irish, Eire.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
de·bris /dəˈbri, ˈdeɪbri or, especially Brit., ˈdɛbri/Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[duh-bree, dey-bree or, especially Brit., deb-ree]Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation–noun The remains of anything broken down or destroyed; ruins; rubble: the debris of buildings after an air raid.

[hela]

Good morning Curmudgeon,

Thank you for your mail but I couldn't hear the pronunciation of the words on "Dictionary.com Unabridged"; I need to be a subscriber to do that, don't I?

Have a nice day

[curmudgeon]

It appears that you do...I didn't know that!. I'll see if I can find another site.

[curmudgeon]

Try this...
Go to 'control panel' on your pc. Click on 'Speech'. Click on 'Text to Speech' Tab. Type in- Ireland, Island then click preview voice. You should be able to detect the difference. You can slow down the speech to make it clearer. It's not perfect, it's a computer generated 'voice' but it might help.

[Tdol]

You can get it from Merriam Webster for free: Definition of Ireland - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Definition of island - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

[BobK]

Originally Posted by hela

Dear teachers,

In Br English would the words "Ireland" and "island" be pronounced the same or is there a slight difference?
Would you say /ailənd/ for both, or /ailənd/ for "island" and /aiələnd/ for "Ireland" ?
Are there two ways of pronouncing "debris", /deibri/ and /dɛbri/ ? Is the final /i/ short or long?

All the best,
Hela

Your transcriptions of island/Ireland are fine hela. The first vowel sound of Ireland is a triphthong (with no trace of an /r/ sound in RBP - I tried curmudgeon's trick, and Microsoft Sam gives it rather an AmE burr).

The final vowel in /'debri:/ is long, even in the AmE pronunciation (/də'bri:/).

b

[Englishuser]

Originally Posted by BobK

The final vowel in /'debri:/ is long, even in the AmE pronunciation (/də'bri:/).

b

American English doesn't have phonemic length distinction. I would pronoucne "debris" as [dəbri].

[hela]

Thanks to everyone
Thanks Bob for confirming my transcriptions. It's strange that Collins Dict. gives the sound /i/ in "debris" as short while I thought that it could rather be long (which you confirmed) since the word comes from French. Isn't it the same for "chassis"? Pronounced "sh" and not "tch" with a long /i/ at the end?

Have a nice day!

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Englishuser

American English doesn't have phonemic length distinction. I would pronoucne "debris" as [dəbri].

For my phonemic transcriptions I use the broad transcription system used in the OUP wallcharts used in every school I've ever taught in (not many, worst luck! ). All I meant when I used the symbol /i:/ was that it was not /ı/.

Originally Posted by hela

Thanks to everyone
Thanks Bob for confirming my transcriptions. It's strange that Collins Dict. gives the sound /i/ in "debris" as short while I thought that it could rather be long (which you confirmed) since the word comes from French. Isn't it the same for "chassis"? Pronounced "sh" and not "tch" with a long /i/ at the end?

Have a nice day!

(re debris); and re chassis, that's right for BE. I believe AmE puts an /ıs/ at the end of chassis, and maybe also an initial /t/ in some dialects - I'm not the man to ask in this regard.

b