Pronounce "life" in different way?

Hi All,

I hear people pronounce "life" in two different ways, some people would pronounce as "lighf", phonetic symbol is "laɪf", some people would pronounce which is similar to "live" but the end sound will use "f" sound.....I was wondering which pronunciation is more common in the english world....hope you understand what I mean.

EngFan

Only the /laɪf/ pronunciation is possible in BrE.

It's just possible that you have heard 'live' (the verb) and thought you heard 'life' pronounced with /[FONT=&quot]I/. Voiced consonants tend to be devoiced slightly when followed by unvoiced sounds. So, if someone says, for example, "I want to live simply", the /v/ may sound a little like /f/.
[/FONT]

EngFan said:

Hi All,

I hear people pronounce "life" in two different ways, some people would pronounce as "lighf", phonetic symbol is "laɪf", some people would pronounce which is similar to "live" but the end sound will use "f" sound.....I was wondering which pronunciation is more common in the english world....hope you understand what I mean.

EngFan

Click to expand...

You are describing the same sound in four different ways. "Lighf, laif, 'live' with an 'f', 'life' - They are all /laɪf/ Which do you think is different?

PS, or do you mean /lɪf/ or /lif/ ? I've never heard that.

Raymott said:

You are describing the same sound in four different ways. "Lighf, laif, 'live' with an 'f', 'life' - They are all /laɪf/ Which do you think is different?

PS, or do you mean /lɪf/ or /lif/ ? I've never heard that.

Click to expand...

There are two different pronunciations of "life" what I heard, I think their initial sounds are different...do you think so?

Version one
Download Life 1 - MP3 Ringtone Life 1 by Life 1 - Free Music Hosting

Version two
http://www.supload.com/listen?s=9gW2IT

EngFan said:

There are two different pronunciations of "life" what I heard, I think their initial sounds are different...do you think so?

Version one
Download Life 1 - MP3 Ringtone Life 1 by Life 1 - Free Music Hosting

Version two
Download Life - MP3 Ringtone Life by Life - Free Music Hosting

Click to expand...

Yes, in the second recording the vowel is more central, and in the first, the diphthong tends a little towards /eI/.
Phonemically, they are both /laɪf/.

Raymott said:

Yes, in the second recording the vowel is more central, and in the first, the diphthong tends a little towards /eI/.
Phonemically, they are both /laɪf/.

Click to expand...

Great! So happy you understood what I said, if so I would like to know which pronunciation is more common, first one or second one?

EngFan said:

Great! So happy you understood what I said, if so I would like to know which pronunciation is more common, first one or second one?

Click to expand...

No, you're missing the point. There are not two different pronunciations of 'life'. There are an infinite number of ways of saying any vowel, because everyone's speech organs are different; and if you look at a cardinal vowel diagram, you will see that the position of the vowels can move around - they can be more or less open/close, central, rounded, anterior, and the rest.
So, there are many different accents. The men in your two recordings say 'life' in slightly different ways becaue they have different accents, not because they are choosing between two different ways that you can say 'life'. The first pronunciation sounds like British RP. The second is probably British as well.