How do you pronounce been?

"Quote should be spelled "cwoat".


The Middle English with Modern English Pronunciation.
Queen should be spelled as "queene".
Shop as "shoppe"
light as "liht"

>> ah for au or aw. So that's why I think "should, would, and could" sound (shwaud, wwaud, cwaud) in R.P, but (shuud, wuud, cuud) in A.P.<<

Yuck! "wwaud" That's the ugliest spelling reform I've ever seen. Luckily it has no chance of ever happening :)

Thank you for saying "luckily it has no chance of ever happening". As I don't like ours, I don't like the one mine either. Anyway, English looks wrong because of weirdness.

All or most languages have irregularities.

In Spanish:

silent h,
c or z pronounced as s in Spanish America,
y or ll,
g or j before e or i,
v or b
etc...
???

"Been" and "bean" are homophones in my dialect, to make "been" sound like "bin" sounds ignorant to my ears.

>>"Been" and "bean" are homophones in my dialect, to make "been" sound like "bin" sounds ignorant to my ears.<<

What is ironic about such is that pronouncing it like "bin" is *the* most standard pronunciation of it in North American English as a whole; consequently, you are calling the vast majority of NAE dialects (which overall are spoken by a supermajority of English speakers today) "ignorant".

> What is ironic about such is that pronouncing it like "bin" is *the* most standard pronunciation of it in North American English as a whole; consequently, you are calling the vast majority of NAE dialects (which overall are spoken by a supermajority of English speakers today) "ignorant".

I meant in British English, making "been" a homophone of "bin" is characteristic of sloppy speech, or at least gives the impression (true or not) of ignorance. I wouldn't say the same thing of NAE or other foreign dialects or accents as it may be standard in them. I don't have sufficient knowledge of such dialects/accents to judge.

"Bin" for "been" can also be heard in RP. I wouldn't consider this sloppy by British standards.

The Jim above is not me. I pronounce "been" the same as "bean": /bi:n/ ... at least when I'm being careful I do.

I pronounce it bean.
I'm from Toronto, Ontario and I've moved out to Vancouver, BC.
They make fun of me out here for saying bean. I try to say bin, but find myself saying bean. I think the majority of dictionaries have it as bin.

Which way is right?

They say bowlth out here instead of both.
I know there's no L in both.

Anyway's, I'm an engineer. I'm good with numbers, not words.

<<I pronounce it bean.
I'm from Toronto, Ontario and I've moved out to Vancouver, BC.
They make fun of me out here for saying bean. I try to say bin, but find myself saying bean. I think the majority of dictionaries have it as bin.

Which way is right? >>

Either way is fine. Interesting you mention the pronunciation in BC because my cousins are from BC (tho not near Vancouver--I'm sure there are some differences between Vancouver and its environs and other areas in BC) and they usually pronounce it "bean" as well. Of course that may be due to influence of their mother, my aunt, who is originally from Toronto and says "bean" for it.

<<They say bowlth out here instead of both.
I know there's no L in both. >>

I say that too and I'm from California :) It shows up in various places in English-speaking North America.

Can I just chip in here and ask how do you pronounce ' hibiscus'?
Are there two ways of pronouncing it or just one correct pronunciation?

I live in California, and I'm not sure if I say "bin" or "ben" (as in the name Ben).