Pronunciation of Laura

Lazar   Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:23 am GMT
Laura and Nora don't rhyme for me.

Laura - ["lQ.r\@]
Nora - ["nO@`.@]

Similarly, for me:

drawer - ["dr\Q.r\@`] "one who draws"
snorer - ["snO@`.@`] "one who snores"

And then:

drawer - ["dr\Q] "thing you put stuff in"
ButterBean   Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:12 am GMT
I've always pronounced it "Lahw-rah" or "Lahr-ah" and really hate "Lorah." It is a pet peeve of mine. I'm not sure what that pronounciation says about where I'm from, but I think the Lorah is a Northern accent--at least Upper US Midland. What parts of the country say it "Lahr-ah" or "Lahw-rah?"
Lazar   Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:28 am GMT
<<What parts of the country say it "Lahr-ah" or "Lahw-rah?">>

Here in the Northeast, it's more common to say "Lahr-a" or "Law-ra". I'm from Massachusetts and I pronounce it "Law-ra".
Laura Braun   Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:43 pm GMT
http://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?Word=Laura&typeofrhyme=perfect&org1=syl&org2=l

Words and phrases that rhyme with Laura: (85 results)

2 syllables:
aura, bora, borah, cora, dora, durrah, flora, fora, for a, gora, hora, kora, loera, lora, lorah, maura, mora, morra, nora, norah, ora, skora, stora, thora, torah, vora, zora, zorah

3 syllables:
adora, aldora, andorra, angora, anora, arora, aurora, cahora, camorra, carfora, delaura, delora, dilaura, eldora, elnora, eudora, fedora, fidora, fundora, gomorrah, gongora, honora, lamora, madora, medora, menorah, napora, ozora, pandora, panora, pastora, pechora, pecora, plethora, samora, santora, senora, sikora, sonora, sykora, tortora, zadora, zamora, zippora

4 syllables:
contadora, eleanora, feodora, gusciora, leonora, musidora, spadafora, spatafora, theodora, waligora

5 syllables:
controladora, genus sonora

6 syllables:
symbion pandora
Tough   Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:46 pm GMT
I think Lahra is Southern
(they pronounce lawyer as lahyer there [liar])
User   Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:41 pm GMT
>> I've always pronounced it "Lahw-rah" or "Lahr-ah" and really hate "Lorah." It is a pet peeve of mine. I'm not sure what that pronounciation says about where I'm from, but I think the Lorah is a Northern accent--at least Upper US Midland. What parts of the country say it "Lahr-ah" or "Lahw-rah?" <<

Well, I say Lora. I have a Western accent. I would imagine that Lorah would also be used in a Northern accent.

>> I'm not sure what that pronounciation says about where I'm from <<

Well the fact that you perceive "Lahwrah" and "Lahrah" as two separate and distinct sounds means you're probably not cot-caught merged--so you're definitely not from the West or Canada, or other c-c merged areas

>> but I think the Lorah is a Northern accent <<
So then you're probably not from the North either. So that leaves the Midland, the South, and the Northeast.
Lazar   Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:15 am GMT
Outside of the Northeast, I think that most regions of the US (Midlands, South, Inland North, West), as well as Canada, would tend to pronounce it "Lorah".

Of those rhymes given by Rhymezone.com, none of them (except "aura" and "Maura") work in my dialect, but they would work for most North American English speakers.
Jim   Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:17 am GMT
That's interesting, Lazar. Looks like a rhotic-nonrhotic thing with "drawer" vs. "snorer". For me "draw" and "snore" rhyme and one just adds "~er". The "~er" is pronounced /@/ but you get a linking /r/. Whereas if your accent is rhotic, "draw" and "snore" don't rhyme so why should "drawer" and "snorer"? I see, Lazar, that you've got the linking /r/ in "drawer". In a rhotic accent there's no need for any linking /r/ in "snorer". What puzzles me, though, is what it is about "Laura" verses "Nora" that cues the different syllable breakfor you, Lazar.
Travis   Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:50 am GMT
About "Lorah", that would somewhat describe what I have, except that the "oh" there in such is not really [o] but rather a high [O] - nothing that my usual "oh" is really a low [o] except in some informal speech, where it can be something like cardinal [o], [7], or [8}] at times. However, my "aw" is not really [O] but rather is probably a somewhat high [Q] in reality. For others, though, "aw" can be anything from a high [O:] or [OU] to [A] depending on the dialect in question. This goes to show that it often is hard to speak in terms of "oh" and "aw", as often those mean different things in different dialects.
Lazar   Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:17 pm GMT
<<Looks like a rhotic-nonrhotic thing with "drawer" vs. "snorer".>>

Well just to clarify, my accent is completely rhotic. Even in rapid speech, I always pronounce the rhotic sounds [A@`], [E@`], [I@`], [O@`], [U@`], [3`], [@`]. However, my accent is of the Eastern New England variety, and in a lot of ways it behaves more like a non-rhotic accent would. In other words, my accent is basically the result of rhoticism being imposed on an otherwise traditional Massachusetts accent.

The thing with "drawer" is that here in the Northeast, it's quite often pronounced (phonemically) as if it were "draw", regardless of whether the speaker is rhotic or not. I pronounce the rhotic sound in "core" ["k_hO@`], "bore" [bO@`], "dinosaur" ["daIn@%sO@`], "snore" ["snO@`], and so forth, but "drawer" is a phonemic anomaly which I pronounce as if it were "draw".

As for my intrusive [r\]s, need is irrelevant. ;-) The intrusive [r\] is a very pervasive feature here in Massachusetts, and even rhotic speakers often have them. So I'm an example of a fully rhotic person who uses intrusive [r\] pretty consistently.

Just bear in mind that my "aw" phoneme is much laxer than the one found in British or Australian English, so even though "drawer" (one who draws) gets the intrusive [r\], it still doesn't rhyme with "snorer" for me.

["drQ.r\@`]
["snO@`.@`]

<<What puzzles me, though, is what it is about "Laura" verses "Nora" that cues the different syllable breakfor you, Lazar.>>

Here's the thing: in British or Australian English, the sounds "aw" and "or" sound identical, so a sequence of "aw-ra" would sound the same as a sequence of "or-a".

However, in my American dialect, my "aw" phoneme is a much laxer [Q], which sounds very very different from my "or" phoneme, [O@`]. Therefore, I interpret "Laura" as "law-ra" ["lQ.r\@], whereas I interpret "Nora" as "nor-a" ["nO@`.@].

Got all that?
Lazar   Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:26 pm GMT
Just for Travis' interest, my /o/ phoneme is generally [7U], with a back but definitely unrounded onset. The only exception is when it's influenced by /l/, in which case it becomes a fully rounded [oU]. Eg,

"soap" ["s7Up]
"sole" ["soU5]

My "aw" is [Q], which is fully open.
Travis   Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:39 pm GMT
>>The only exception is when it's influenced by /l/, in which case it becomes a fully rounded [oU]<<

Heh - the only place where I at all consistently have [oU] in medial positions is where I have canonical /ol/ medially.
Laura Braun   Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:54 am GMT
So what I suggest is to see the movies 'Sleep with enemy' or 'The hours' and then we can discuss with performance is better. For example I do like Julia Roberts, but Julian Moore is a goof performer too . So they both are playing like Laura.
Kelly   Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:23 am GMT
it's Laura [lora] but Paula [pAla] for me
Jim   Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:19 am GMT
Lazar, yeah, that makes sense. That's sort of that I thought was going on.