Subj : Pronunciation To : Ardith Hinton From : Alexander Koryagin Date : Fri Sep 14 2018 10:41:52 Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Dallas Hinton: AH> Apart from /w/, your example "wandered" brings up two issues: AH> 1) how to pronounce "r" as a medial or final consonant, AH> and AH> 2) how to pronounce "- ed" as a suffix. AH> I'd say #1 is highly subject to regional variation. As a Canadian I AH> enunciate an "r" wherever I see one in print, but to my ears at AH> least the sound is middle-of-the-road and the same applies WRT the AH> northwestern US. I once had a neighbour who (although he was quite AH> convinced he'd lost his Scottish accent) pronounced my name as if I AH> spelled it "Air-r-rdith". OTOH folks from Someplace Else may often AH> appear to minimize an "r" or ignore it completely. What's who I was taught in school. "Car" - sounds like [ka:] In the USSR we were taught British English. AH> What puzzles me AH> is how some ex-Brits I know... especially Londoners... add /r/ to AH> the end of words where I don't see one, For example? AH> in much the same way USAians say "a couple people" as if they're AH> saving the "of" to use in expressions like "a myriad of" and "off AH> of". There are native speakers of English wherever the British AH> Empire extended at one time, and folks from Hither & Yon have AH> preferences of their own.... :-) AH> While #2 is less subject to regional variation it appears to me AH> that there are variations based on which consonant sounds native AH> speakers can handle without inserting a vowel when these sounds are AH> lumped together at the end of a word. Most people simply add a AH> final /d/ in words like the following: AH> cleaned, combed, fixed, forked, guessed, longed, managed, AH> muttered, pitied, played, wandered, wondered, yearned. Ah, I see my word. :) AH> All of the examples I've been able to come up with so far in which AH> we routinely treat "- ed" as an added syllable involve words ending AH> in "t" or "d": AH> counted, courted, painted, mended, sounded, wounded. I vaguely recollect that I was taught such a thing in school, but I forgot it. AH> * blessed, leaned, learned, spelled AH> When these words are used as past participles, you may occasionally AH> see or hear "t" (esp. UK?) in place of the "- ed". Either way is AH> correct in Canada.... :-) I have never heard that "to bless" is a irregular verb: http://tinyurl.com/ybf7axt3 or https://www.learning-english-online.net/grammar/tenses-and-verb-forms/irregular-verbs/list-of-all-irregular-verbs/ Bye, Ardith! Alexander Koryagin english_tutor 2018 --- * Origin: - nntp://news.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland - (2:221/6) .