For example : address. How are dd and ss pronounced? Like two consecutive d's or what?
How are double consonants pronounced in English?
For me, the dd is like a /dʒ/, like the dge in 'edge'. The ss is sibilant like the s in 'snake', not the s in 'dogs' which is more like /z/.
I can't really tell a difference between nn and n. Maybe it's like an n and another n with a very, very brief stop in between.
Double consonants in English are almost always pronounced as a single consonant. There are, of course, exceptions (unnamed is pronounced as a double un-named where unaimed is a single /n/). Also, a word that ends with one letter and the next word beginning with the same letter would be pronounced as a double consonant: one name /w@nnem/ or Tom makes /tammeks/ etc.
Annual and Tennessee both have single /n/'s.
Annual and Tennessee both have single /n/'s.
Very few people make any conscious attempt to separetely sound each double consonant, as far as I know. I certainly don't - I normally speak too rapidly for me to ntice, or anyone else for that matter. Innate, immaterial, appearance, forgotten, bubble, illiterate, batter, addition, ineffable, aggravate, bass....etc etc....all cases in point.
Of course, certain double consonants, almost always a double "c", are pronounced differently from each other due to their position in the word and when followed by the vowel "e" or an "i", as in accede, success, succinct, and so on.
One of our UK based Languages - Welsh - must have totally different rules in this respect and how the speakers of Welsh manage I'm not really sure, as many of their words seem to consist of strings of consonants all following on from each other with only the occasional vowel to break them up. Each time I have been in Wales I am quite confused by many of the placenames on the signposts.
I mean, crossing over from Shropshire, England, into Powys, Wales, one of the first places you come to in Wales - actually the national border runs right down the middle of the main street of the village - with one side in England and the other in Wales - is a place called Llanymynech. I wonder if only half the people who live there have the slightest clue on how to pronounce it's name properly!
Of course, certain double consonants, almost always a double "c", are pronounced differently from each other due to their position in the word and when followed by the vowel "e" or an "i", as in accede, success, succinct, and so on.
One of our UK based Languages - Welsh - must have totally different rules in this respect and how the speakers of Welsh manage I'm not really sure, as many of their words seem to consist of strings of consonants all following on from each other with only the occasional vowel to break them up. Each time I have been in Wales I am quite confused by many of the placenames on the signposts.
I mean, crossing over from Shropshire, England, into Powys, Wales, one of the first places you come to in Wales - actually the national border runs right down the middle of the main street of the village - with one side in England and the other in Wales - is a place called Llanymynech. I wonder if only half the people who live there have the slightest clue on how to pronounce it's name properly!
I wonder if to send a package across the street in Llanymynech you have to fill out a costums slip.
They have little wooden huts in the middle of the main street where such slips are issued and filled in and checked, passports checked, and then the people concerned deliver the items from the residents on the one side of the street direct to Mrs Smith who runs the post office on the opposite side, or old Jim McTavish who owns the fruit and veg store next door to the village community hall, or to the two elderly ladies - Rosie and Sarah - who serve morning coffees with fresh salmon and salad sandwiches and afternoon teas with cream buns and scones with whipped cream and strawberry jam.
Anything edible left over has to be declared, and more often than not confiscated, on the return trip to the other side of the street and then scoffed by the part time pensioner who usually mans the posts two or three days a week when he doesn't play golf.
Even the golf course can't make up its mind whether to be in England or in Wales - so it splits its holes between the two countries. God knows if the old pensioner I mentioned has to do a passport control stint there as well....
http://www.walesdirectory.co.uk/tourist-attractions/Golf_Courses/Wales7214.htm
They know how to live in Llanymynech.
Anything edible left over has to be declared, and more often than not confiscated, on the return trip to the other side of the street and then scoffed by the part time pensioner who usually mans the posts two or three days a week when he doesn't play golf.
Even the golf course can't make up its mind whether to be in England or in Wales - so it splits its holes between the two countries. God knows if the old pensioner I mentioned has to do a passport control stint there as well....
http://www.walesdirectory.co.uk/tourist-attractions/Golf_Courses/Wales7214.htm
They know how to live in Llanymynech.
You really can't tell which country is which just by looking can you, but the trees and bushes on the left look a wee bit Welsh to me but those on the right are definitely English I would say.
http://www.llanymynechgolfclub.co.uk/
http://www.llanymynechgolfclub.co.uk/
Often, the doubling of the consonants actually is about how the vowels are pronounced rather than the consonants. An "e" after a single consonant is usually silent, but one after a double consonant is usually not. So "manned" has an "a" that is the same as in "man", while "maned" has an "a" that is the same as in "mane".
Of course, every observation is regarding tendencies, not constant rules. So what I said, what Skippy said, etc., is true sometimes, not always.
Of course, every observation is regarding tendencies, not constant rules. So what I said, what Skippy said, etc., is true sometimes, not always.
Don't "w" & "y" usually/always represent vowels in Welsh?
You've got to draw the distinction between what is a true doubled consonant and what just looks like one i.e. a doubled consonant sound verses a double consonant letter.
The /p/ is the same in "hopping" as it is in "hoping" but compare that to "hope Paul comes". Notice that with the latter you would normally hold the /p/ for longer.
"Yes, I hope Paul Lovelock comes but if Fran knocks on my door, I'll have Vincent try get rid of her."
You've got to draw the distinction between what is a true doubled consonant and what just looks like one i.e. a doubled consonant sound verses a double consonant letter.
The /p/ is the same in "hopping" as it is in "hoping" but compare that to "hope Paul comes". Notice that with the latter you would normally hold the /p/ for longer.
"Yes, I hope Paul Lovelock comes but if Fran knocks on my door, I'll have Vincent try get rid of her."
<<Often, the doubling of the consonants actually is about how the vowels are pronounced rather than the consonants. An "e" after a single consonant is usually silent, but one after a double consonant is usually not. So "manned" has an "a" that is the same as in "man", while "maned" has an "a" that is the same as in "mane". >>
Interesting. These are the kind of pronounciation pearls I like to know . thanks a lot.
Interesting. These are the kind of pronounciation pearls I like to know . thanks a lot.
It was my understanding (by total hearsay) that Welsh writing has very good one to one correspondence to pronunciation. As an English speaker though I just look at it and have no idea where to even begin.
I would say that simply the only orthographic double consonants which are actually pronounced as geminate in any English dialects in the last few hundred years are those from two morphemes (or separate words) being joined together; aside from those, practically the only geminates in any English dialects result from assimilation within or between morphemes.