How do you pronounce "idea"?

Gabriel   Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:29 am GMT
I don't think I'd ever heard [ˈðiːəɾɚ] before. Does anybody else use a voiced fricative instead of voiceless [θ]?
Josh Lalonde   Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:22 am GMT
<<Does anybody else use a voiced fricative instead of voiceless [θ]?>>

Not me. I say ["Ti4@`].
Buddhaheart   Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:50 am GMT
I pronounce "idea" with the [i:] & an end [@] w/o the length mark, with the primary stress on the second of a tri-syllabic word.
Tavorian   Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:55 pm GMT
"comfortable":

My pronounciation is very odd; ["k_h6m.'fr\=t.b5=]. Sometimes, I might also pronounce it as ["k_h6m.'fr\=.t@\.b5=]

how does everyone else pronounce it?

I tried to make this a separate thread, but wasn't able to.
Lazar   Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:37 pm GMT
<<how does everyone else pronounce it?>>

My pronunciation is different from yours, but arguably even weirder:

["k_hVmft@`b5=] or "cumfterble"
Tavorian   Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:46 pm GMT
What's with this [V] transcription I've seen most people using? It clearly is [6] or at least in between [6] and [V]. [V] sounds very distinctive to me and not like what I hear for the vowel.
Guest   Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:49 pm GMT
eye-dee-ya
Lazar   Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:03 pm GMT
<<What's with this [V] transcription I've seen most people using? It clearly is [6] or at least in between [6] and [V]. [V] sounds very distinctive to me and not like what I hear for the vowel.>>

In my speech, it is indeed in between [6] and [V] - I'd classify my realization of it as "near-back". So I have to make an arbitrary choice between [V] and [6]. I choose [V] because, as a convention, I prefer to transcribe near-back or near-front vowels using the respective back and front symbols, rather than the central symbols. For example, I transcribe my "father" vowel as [A] - in my speech, and in many people's speech, this is in fact a near-back vowel, so it could just as well be transcribed with [a].

One reason why I prefer [V] for my speech is that it allows me to use a distinct transcription for English and Australian dialects that use a truly central [6] - a sound which I *do* perceive as quite different from my own. (Remember: just as you can say "[V] sounds very distinctive to me and not like what I hear for the vowel," I can likewise say that [6] sounds very distinctive to me and not like what I hear for the vowel.) The IPA isn't perfect, and neither symbol is a perfect match for the sound I use.
Tavorian   Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:42 pm GMT
As for idea, it does sounds like two symbols to me. I'd say it rhymes with RP "ear", at least the way I pronounce it. "theater" has a similar diphthong.
Lazar   Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:49 pm GMT
Dictionary.com and m-w.com both attest the disyllabic pronunciations of "idea" and "theater" for American English.
Tavorian   Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:58 pm GMT
"symbols" was a typo for "syllables".
Travis   Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:02 pm GMT
>>What's with this [V] transcription I've seen most people using? It clearly is [6] or at least in between [6] and [V]. [V] sounds very distinctive to me and not like what I hear for the vowel.<<

I use [V] simply because it most closely approximates what is used here for such, which is generally a clear back vowel that is not all that far from [A]; I myself will use [7] or like at times in more careful speech, though, but this does not seem to be typical for everyday speech here.
Josh Lalonde   Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:56 pm GMT
<<What's with this [V] transcription I've seen most people using? It clearly is [6] or at least in between [6] and [V]. [V] sounds very distinctive to me and not like what I hear for the vowel.>>

I use [V] for the same reason as Lazar. My own pronunciation is closer to [V] than [6], and I think a little backer than is common in North America, but very different from RP or Australian English. The RP pronunciation sounds almost like [a] to me.
I say 'comfortable' like Lazar does: ["kV~ft@`bUo].