How do you pronounce "when"?

furrykef   Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:56 am GMT
> Why don't you American Imbecile's ever look in a Dictionary?

"Imbecile's" should not be capitalized, because it's not a proper noun, and it should not have an apostrophe, as it's not possessive. "Dictionary" shouldn't be capitalized either.

Signed,
An American imbecile.
Travis   Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:33 am GMT
>>Hmm. Why doesn't it list [wIn] also? It seems to me to be just as common as /wEn/. The only Westerners that use /wEn/ are Californians, Arizonans, New Mexicans, and people from Nevada.<<

The West of the US is not the entirety of the US, much the less entire English-speaking world, mind you...
Anon   Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:55 pm GMT
[wIn] is ridiculous, sir! When is not whin. Are you making a new pronunciation? Stop saying Americans pronounce that so wrong.
Travis   Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:04 pm GMT
>>[wIn] is ridiculous, sir! When is not whin. Are you making a new pronunciation? Stop saying Americans pronounce that so wrong.<<

Actually, this pronunciation is definitely present in many North American English dialects. However, at the same time, a dictionary need not list every single pronunciation of a given word in every extant English dialect.
furrykef   Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:33 pm GMT
[wEn] and [wIn] are allophonous for me for the word "when"; I'm not likely to notice the difference. By contrast, "win" can only be [wIn]. Seems strange that what counts as an allophone can vary from context, but so it is with me, apparently.

- Kef
English Professor   Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:25 pm GMT
First of all, yes "American Imbecile's" should be spelled capitalized, for it is a name that I have given all of you. Are you going to say "English Professor", my name, should not be capitalized? Also, all of us make mistakes, that is why I put an apostrophe where I did. The reason I spelled "Dictionary" the way I did is so that it would stand out.

P.S. I am from the Usa, I still live here, and I live in Minn. The reason the dictionary only lists [wEn] and not [wIn], is because it is pronounced [wEn]! People have made up pronunciations over the years.

P.S.S. I am gald! For the very reason that we are not all American Imbeciles!

So you "Asses"', stop making up excuses!
Guest   Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:44 pm GMT
How do people in North Dakota pronounce "when", since it's in between Montana and Minnesota?
furrykef   Mon Apr 30, 2007 11:21 pm GMT
> The reason I spelled "Dictionary" the way I did is so that it would stand out.

You still can't just capitalize the First letter of any Word that you Please just to make It stand Out. Well, you can, but you have to be prepared for the rather ironic effect that it created in your post.

> People have made up pronunciations over the years.

Allophones aren't "made up", they just happen. Nobody wakes up and decides, "Hey, I'm going to pronounce the word 'when' slightly differently today." They just do it. And if other people accept it, then it's as good a pronunciation as any.

- Kef
Jim   Tue May 01, 2007 12:52 am GMT
It's not a question of rhyming: regardless of how you pronounce the syllable onset "which" should rhyme with "witch" as it does with "bitch", "stitch", "twitch", "itch", "pitch", "hitch", "kitsch", "glitch", "Mitch", "snitch", "switch", "rich", "ditch", etc.
abdel jowad   Tue May 01, 2007 7:54 pm GMT
how to examine phoneme's way of distribution and how to explain patterns in it . Im a learner of English as 2nd language and I face difficulties in pronouncing some sounds in English .
Guest   Tue May 01, 2007 8:30 pm GMT
>> P.S. I am from the Usa, I still live here, and I live in Minn. The reason the dictionary only lists [wEn] and not [wIn], is because it is pronounced [wEn]! People have made up pronunciations over the years. <<

Drive over to Montana and listen to many people pronounce it as [wIn].
Josh Lalonde   Tue May 01, 2007 8:39 pm GMT
It's not an audio recording, but here's a description of the hypothetical common ancestor of modern American and English English.
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/18cengvs.html
Josh Lalonde   Tue May 01, 2007 8:41 pm GMT
Sorry, wrong thread.
English Professor   Tue May 01, 2007 11:00 pm GMT
>Allophones aren't "made up", they just happen. Nobody wakes up and decides, "Hey, I'm going to pronounce the word 'when' slightly differently today." They just do it. And if other people accept it, then it's as good a pronunciation as any.

You have a point. I apologize for my earlier comment. And I do expect ironic effects. So with my condolences...

Montana has their own language?!

I was born Ok, I go to Arkansas more than once a year, driving and flying, and I have been to many other states, including:
Montana!
Texas
Cal.
Arizona
North and South Dakota
Missouri
Iowa
Utah
And many others!

I have heard many Dialects! Not all of them are correct! Is "Well, pertner..." correct?

To the world who has trouble with english.

P.S. Hope the bunch of you (excluding furrykef and others) come to your senses.
furrykef   Tue May 01, 2007 11:46 pm GMT
> I have heard many Dialects! Not all of them are correct!

There's no such thing as a correct or incorrect dialect. The dialect is itself the standard by which things are judged correct or incorrect.

- Kef