"Where's he?" vs. "Where's it?"

[tree123]

I learnt that in a sentence Americans would actually leave out "h" in "he" which is pronounced as /i:/ instead of /hi:/, and the word "it" is often pronounced as /i/ instead of /it/ which is stated in English dictionaries, unless the speakers do want to stress "he" or "it", then I can clearly hear "h" in "he" and /t/ in it.

If the above is correct, how do Americans distinguish the sentences between "where is he" and "where's is it"? Does it depend on the context?

Are these same in the Queen's English?

It would especially help me improve my listening if I consciously notice these subtleties. Now listening is more important than speaking to me. Sometimes, some words are very easy and simple to me if they are written, but I don't exactly know what speakers are talking about; sometimes I thought I clearly understood but now I guess it was my subconscious mind that did the job for me and automatically filled the right word in the context.

Edit :Add the link:
https://jia666-my.sharepoint.com/:v...pBhFxfplg82n8BjQVwHL5mffAp4Jmzt-bqLA?e=an3Vmj

P.S. I cannot upload the file as attachment because it is around 2.3M that is beyond the limitation of the each attachment on UingEnglish, so I uploaded to One Drive.

 

[tree123]

Where did you see/hear that?

I heard this from a course of English pronunciation. This is from a video which is illustrated mainly in Chinese. I can upload a snippet of the video to One Drive right now.

But the sentences of "where is he" and "where is it" are not available in the video. I have the questions after learning the subtlety.

I've added the link to the first post of the thread.

 

[GoesStation]

You can't contract "where is" to where's in a three-word sentence, and Americans tend to pronounce the final word as /i/.

We never drop the T in it, but we usually realize it as a stop rather than /t/ when it's a final consonant. Moreover, the vowel in "it" is /ɪ/, not /i/.

Therefore native speakers would not tend to confuse "Where is he?" and "Where is it?".

 

[tree123]

By the way, the teacher in the video is proficient in English pronunciation and is very helpful to me; but if I closed my eyes, and I could distinguish he is not a native speaker from his accent.

Because /o/ in "what" is a back vowel, but his pronunciation about /o/ is slightly front. That is not as back and round as the kid in the video and many other Americans say. Do you think so?

 

[GoesStation]

By the way, the teacher in the video is proficient in English pronunciation and is very helpful to me; but if I closed my eyes, and I could distinguish he is not a native speaker from his accent.

Because /o/ in "what" is a back vowel, but his pronunciation about /o/ is slightly front. That is not as back and round as the kid in the video and many other Americans say. Do you think so?

The link doesn't work from my phone.

 

[tree123]

The link doesn't work from my phone.

:-( I don't know how to share with you in another way.

I have been unable to access Google and YouTube since a couple days ago. I used to resort to VPN. It doesn't work now. So I cannot upload to YouTube or Google Drive.

You can forget it. That is not a very important question of mine.

 

[Glizdka]

You should never underestimate the number of accents in English. Who once sounded to my non-native, non-teacherly ear like "surely not a native speaker", turned out to be a person who'd lived their whole live in Edinburgh.

 

[tree123]

You should never underestimate the number of accents in English. Who once sounded to my non-native, non-teacherly ear like "surely not a native speaker", turned out to be a person who'd lived their whole live in Edinburgh.

To my best knowledge, not every British pronounces good English. Actually some of them don't even understand each other. I venture to assume that there's possibility that the native language of that person from Edinburgh is Scottish. That's why I am asking about "the Queen's English", and my wording in other post is English people.

Some people from Eastern London speak Cockney, and some outsiders don't understand either.

A Canadian from Quebec I know doesn't write good English.

 

[SoothingDave]

I would never say "where's he." It's not natural. "Where is he" is. Or even "where's he at."

"where is he" would usually sound like "where izzy," so the idea that the H is not always vocalized is correct.

But, the vowel sounds in "he" and "it" are completely different and would not be confused. "It"ends with a T and "he" doesn't. There are many reasons why these would never be confused.

 

[tree123]

I would never say "where's he." It's not natural. "Where is he" is. Or even "where's he at."

"where is he" would usually sound like "where izzy," so the idea that the H is not always vocalized is correct.

But, the vowel sounds in "he" and "it" are completely different and would not be confused. "It"ends with a T and "he" doesn't. There are many reasons why these would never be confused.

I've watched another video in which the Chinese teacher also indicates some Americans do not pronounce "t" if "it" is at the end of a sentence. However I am unable to find out which video I've watched right now. If I find it, I will upload it.

I feel some native speakers don't consciously realize these subtleties.

 

[tree123]

That depends on what you mean by 'good English'. All native speakers produce their own dialect of English naturally with the appropriate pronunciation.

I heard about some British people are/were accent conscious if not all.

Received Pronunciation is an accent of Standard English in the United Kingdom and is defined in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary as "the standard accent of English as spoken in the south of England"

The quoted words are from Wikipedia which indicates "standard English" with received Pronunciation.

There was a film named My Fair Lady starred by Audrey Hepburn. She was a florist. And her accent was corrected by a linguist and professor in the film. It was adapted on the drama of George Bernard Shaw who also commented on the accents.

I read an article before it was said some people who are native speakers were discriminated because of their accents according to a survey.

I think the British society has changed, and maybe the Received Pronunciation is not as important as it was before.

P.S. I'm not sure if I am allowed to talk about these, though I've talked on this thread. I'm not going further. If any of you would like to share more your opinion about the accent or pronunciation, I'll read and appreciate. You old timers know the house rule better than I do.

 

[GoesStation]

A Canadian from Quebec I know doesn't write good English.

Most Quebeckers speak French as their first language. Many of them also speak English as a second language. It's not unusual for a Quebecker to make errors in written English.