I am an Australian who uses this variation, is there anyone else here who does the same?
Who here pronounces "our" as "are"?
I do. I didn't really notice until until you made this topic. It's very common in a standard American English accent.
I've heard that "our" and "are" are homonyms, but this always bugged me because I don't pronounce them the same way at all. As a matter of fact, I don't think many people around me do at all! I live in Southern California, by the way.
I live in Southern California and I usually pronounce both as /Ar/. I sometimes pronounce "our" like "hour", which would be /{Ur/.
So this is an informal way of talking, and usually American? Like saying saying "to" as "ta" instead of "too"?
It is a difference between unstressed and stressed pronunciation. Note that pronouncing "our" like stressed "are" is extremely common even in formal speech when not specifically stressed (even though there will be those why pronounce "are" like "hour" all the time in formal speech as well). As for pronouncing "to" as [tʰəː] rather than [tʰuː] is again a matter of stress, except that pronouncing "to" as [tʰuː] is far more common than pronouncing "our" like "hour", and in formal speech one will common hear such favored over pronouncing "to" as [tʰəː], unlike with pronouncing "our" like stressed "are".
At first, I thought I might pronounce 'our' as 'are', but then I listened to myself and I do make a very slight distinction (even in unconscious speech).
I pronounce 'our' as / O:Ur\ / or / O:_w3 / and 'are' as / A:r\ /
I do not pronounce 'our' as / aU_w3 /, which sounds like 'hour'. Were I to stress it, I would say / aUr\ / which is shorter
I pronounce 'our' as / O:Ur\ / or / O:_w3 / and 'are' as / A:r\ /
I do not pronounce 'our' as / aU_w3 /, which sounds like 'hour'. Were I to stress it, I would say / aUr\ / which is shorter
btw, I reside in the Southeastern US; however, I am not originally from the area in which I live. I have moved around extensively all my life, so I do not have any noticeable regional US accent
<<So this is an informal way of talking, and usually American? Like saying saying "to" as "ta" instead of "too"?>>
I would disagree on both counts. Even in speech at the highest level of formality, I would still pronounce "our" as [ɑɚ] and "to" as [tə]. And there's definitely nothing American about them: [ɑ:] is the predominant pronunciation of "our" in British English - the Australians have their own pronunciation, [æʊ] -, and I think every native speaker of English would pronounce "to" as [tə] in connected speech.
I would disagree on both counts. Even in speech at the highest level of formality, I would still pronounce "our" as [ɑɚ] and "to" as [tə]. And there's definitely nothing American about them: [ɑ:] is the predominant pronunciation of "our" in British English - the Australians have their own pronunciation, [æʊ] -, and I think every native speaker of English would pronounce "to" as [tə] in connected speech.
Oh, sorry, I didn't realize that you were in fact Australian. But anyway, I think [æʊ] is predominant in Australia (at least from the Australians I've heard), whereas I'm pretty sure that [ɑɚ]/[ɑ:] is predominant in North America and Britain.