For me, hour is [aU.@`], while 'our' and 'are' are [Ar\]. In careful or formal speech, however, I tend to pronounce 'our' the same as 'hour'. How does everyone else pronounce these?
Hour-our-are
I myself have a similar pattern, where in normal speech the following applies:
"hour" : ["a:UR=:]
"our" : ["a:R] or ["A:R]
"are" : ["a:R] or ["A:R]
while in careful speech the following applies:
"hour" : ["a:UR=:]
"our" : ["a:UR=:]
"are" : ["a:R]
"hour" : ["a:UR=:]
"our" : ["a:R] or ["A:R]
"are" : ["a:R] or ["A:R]
while in careful speech the following applies:
"hour" : ["a:UR=:]
"our" : ["a:UR=:]
"are" : ["a:R]
"hour", "our" and "are" are all different for me. "hour" has two syllables, while "our" has one and "are" has a different vowel.
I also sometimes have a monophthong for /aU/ in casual speech, so 'hour' can be [a.@`], but this is never confused with [Ar\]. RedFox, where are you from? I thought most North American accents had r-breaking, and therefore two syllables in 'our'.
Mind you that r-breaking in many dialects only occurs with the diphthongs /aI/, /aU/, and /OI/, so if RedFox has a monophthong of some sort in "our" which happens to be different from that in "are", r-breaking should not be expected to occur.
I'm a near-native speaker, and I have:
"hour" ["aU.6] or (as Josh) [a.6]
"our" [A:] or rarely ["aU.6] or [a.6]
"are" [@] if unstressed, [A:] if stressed
(as an aside, I'd initially transcribed my final schwa as ["aU.@] but I think my actual final sound is more like [6])
"hour" ["aU.6] or (as Josh) [a.6]
"our" [A:] or rarely ["aU.6] or [a.6]
"are" [@] if unstressed, [A:] if stressed
(as an aside, I'd initially transcribed my final schwa as ["aU.@] but I think my actual final sound is more like [6])
I forgot one realization of "are" that often shows up IMD, which is simply [R=:]; however, this realization can never show up by itself, but is rather clitic-like in that it must have another word before it. Note that "our" never has this realization in any position IMD, in contrast to it.
<<RedFox, where are you from? I thought most North American accents had r-breaking, and therefore two syllables in 'our'.>>
I'm an older American (64 years old) from the Southern U.S. Yes, my "our" is monosyllabic and has a monophthong. The monophthong is something like a lengthened "bat" vowel. It sounds different from my "are".
I'm an older American (64 years old) from the Southern U.S. Yes, my "our" is monosyllabic and has a monophthong. The monophthong is something like a lengthened "bat" vowel. It sounds different from my "are".
<<I forgot one realization of "are" that often shows up IMD, which is simply [R=:]; however, this realization can never show up by itself, but is rather clitic-like in that it must have another word before it. Note that "our" never has this realization in any position IMD, in contrast to it.>>
I similarly have [r\=] for "are" in many positions. That or similar equivalents to that seem pretty much universal among English dialects.
I similarly have [r\=] for "are" in many positions. That or similar equivalents to that seem pretty much universal among English dialects.
In my speech, "hour" is ["aU.@`]; and "are" is ["A@`], with the reduced form [@`].
"Our" is almost always [A@`] in my speech. (I occasionally pronounce it ["aU.@`].)
"Our" is almost always [A@`] in my speech. (I occasionally pronounce it ["aU.@`].)