How do you pronounce "generally"?

Nancy   Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:47 am GMT
A male RP speaker on an ESL cassette I mentioned in a previous message pronounces the word "generally" as a 4-syllable word with the stress falling on the SECOND syllable. However, the female speaker on this same ESL cassette replies to his question using a different pronunciation (4 syllables but accent falls on FIRST syllable). Now, I always thought that "generally" in RP was supposed to be pronounced as a THREE syllable word with the stress on the FIRST syllable. Why are the two speakers on the same ESL audiotape each using a different pronunciation of the same word (and in the same conversation to boot) and where did I get the idea that "generally" is a 3-syllable word? Can someone out there PLEASE clear this up? Thank you.
Travis   Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:19 am GMT
I myself usually pronounce "generally" as either a three syllable word /"dZEnr@li/ -> ["dZE~:n.r\@.5i] or a three syllable word /"dZEn@`li/ -> ["dZE~:.n@`.5i], both of which have stress on the first syllable. When speaking rather formally, I might use a four syllable version /"dZEn@`l=i/ -> ["dZE~:.n@`.5=.i] instead of the above, though.
Brennus   Sun Oct 23, 2005 6:36 am GMT
English: Generally (DZHEN-er-uh-lee) stress is on first syllable (It's a Germanic language). French Generalment (zhen-ER-ahl-mang) stress is on second syllable (It is a Romance language).
Lazar   Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:31 am GMT
I always pronounce "general" as a three-syllable word ["dZEnr\@li], with the stress on the first syllable. (Even in formal speech, I would still just pronounce it with three syllables.)
Lazar   Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:33 am GMT
Sorry, typo. It should read:

I always pronounce "generally" as a three-syllable word ["dZEnr\@li], with the stress on the first syllable. (Even in formal speech, I would still just pronounce it with three syllables.)
Mxsmanic   Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:51 am GMT
Both four- and three-syllable pronunciations are correct. Unstressed syllables tend to become inaudible in English in certain positions, so the (apparent) reduction to three syllables is neither very exceptional nor substandard. In this particular word, the second syllable receives so little stress that it tends to evaporate completely. Many other examples could be cited: vegetable, interesting, etc.
Guy   Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:41 am GMT
How do you pronounce the word "to interest", "intersted" and "interesting"?

Here's a transcription of my pronunciation(I'm from arizona)
to interest /tu IntrIst/
interested /IntrIst@d/
interesting /IntrIstIN/

I hear some people pronounce it like /I4~@`stIN/ too...
Travis   Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:54 am GMT
I pronounce those as:

"to interest" : /"tu In"trEst/ -> ["t_hu I~n."tSr\Est]
"interested" : /In"trEstId/ -> [I~n."tSr\E.stId]
'interesting" : /In"trEstIN/ -> [I~n."tSr\E.stIN]

Note that the /E/ in those may be replaced by /I/, but I tend to actually lean towards favoring /E/, unlike many other North American English-speakers.
Lazar   Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:31 am GMT
I pronounce them as:

"to interest" - [tu"IntrIst]
"interested" - ["Intr\IstId]
"interesting" - ["Intr\IstIN]
Rick Johnson   Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:46 am GMT
Often peoples' speech patterns change depending on to whom they are speaking. If I were to enunciate properly I would sound "generally" as a 4 syllable word with the stress falling on the first. If I speak casually, I probably tend to pronounce it as 3 syllables with the stress on the second syllable.

It's not often people start to think about changes in their speech, but everyone does this to some extent.
Damian   Sun Oct 23, 2005 12:26 pm GMT
If I were to be a newsreader on the BBC (!) I suppose I would make an effort to say ['DZ-en-e:(r)-e:l-i:] and ['DZ-en-e:(r)-e:l]

Talking casually a sloppy ['DZ-en-r-e:l-i:] and [DZ-en-r-e:l]

and "suppose" would be "s'pose)....Just like William
Uriel   Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:58 pm GMT
It gets all four syllables when it comes out of me!
Kirk   Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:57 pm GMT
these are my pronunciations of those words:

generally ["dZE.n@`.5=.i] (4 syllables)
to interest [t_hM "IntS.r\Ist] (2 syllables for "interest")
interested ["IntS.r\I.stId] (3 syllables)
interesting ["IntS.r\I.stiN] (3 syllables)
Nancy   Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:46 pm GMT
Actually, I know that the word "generally" CAN be pronounced several different ways but what I'm really curious to know is how it is SUPPOSED to be correctly pronounced in Received Standard English. That doesn't mean that there aren't other reputable pronunciations of that word out there but I'd still like to know what the RP pronunciation is for educational purposes. Thank you.
Travis   Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:25 pm GMT
>>Actually, I know that the word "generally" CAN be pronounced several different ways but what I'm really curious to know is how it is SUPPOSED to be correctly pronounced in Received Standard English. That doesn't mean that there aren't other reputable pronunciations of that word out there but I'd still like to know what the RP pronunciation is for educational purposes. Thank you.<<

The thing is for that, I'd say just look at something like the Oxford English Dictionary or like. I myself cannot say, considering that I don't speak RP, and I couldn't attempt to approximate such even if I tried hard (considering that I have very little actual exposure to such outside of things like the BBC World News and like). At the same time, I don't really think it is that important what the exact "correct" conservative RP pronunciation really is, as that in itself is not necessarily going to be the most "average" form used by the general population in everyday speech in the UK today.