the mall

[tzfujimino]

Hello.:-D

I've noticed that the word "mall" has two pronunciations in BrE: http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/mall

Just out of curiosity, how do you(=BrE speakers) pronounce "Let's go to the mall."?
Is it pronounced in the same way as "The Mall"?

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

The use of the word "mall" to mean a shopping centre has come to BrE from AmE. I had never heard anyone in the UK say "shopping mall" until about ten years ago. I have heard people pronounce is so it rhymes with "fall" and others so that it rhymes with "gal". If there were any logic to British pronunciation, it would always be pronounced to rhyme with "fall" because every other one-syllable word ending "fall" is pronounced the same way (all, ball, call, fall, gall, hall, tall, stall, wall). However, it's not a BrE word. I think it's likely that people who have heard an American say the word aloud probably copy it and rhyme it with "gal/Sal/Al", and those who have never heard it said aloud assume that it follows the pattern I mentioned above and say it so it rhymes with "fall".

 

[SoothingDave]

I admit that if someone asked me about a "mall" (pronounced like "gal") I would have no idea what they wanted.

 

[5jj]

According to John Wells's Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, in the London place names, The Mall, Chiswick Mall, Pall Mall, the vowel is always /æ/ , as in 'gal'. In the shopping centre sense, 50% of people polled use /æ/ and 50% /ɔ:/, with the percentage for the latter rising to 76% among those born since 1973.

 

[emsr2d2]

Out of curiosity, do all the AmE speakers here pronounce it to rhyme with "fall"?

 

[Barb_D]

Out of curiosity, do all the AmE speakers here pronounce it to rhyme with "fall"?

Yes, depending on where you live and your vowels, it sounds like "maul." (As a New Yorker, I tend to "aw" it a bit more: I drink caw-fee, amd I go to the mawl sometimes, but other times the "aw" isn't so present. It's never "gal" or "pal" though.)

 

[SoothingDave]

Out of curiosity, do all the AmE speakers here pronounce it to rhyme with "fall"?

Yes, indeed. And I pronounce "maul" the exact same way.

There was once a football team here called the "Maulers" owned by a guy who made his fortune building shopping malls.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I have never head "mall" pronounced to rhyme with "gal" or "Sal". I only have heard it rhyme with "all", "fall", "ball", "wall", etc.