Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Pronunciation and Accents

When I moved from Virginia to Utah when I was 11, I was made fun of because of the way I said "cold." Apparently I dropped the "l" and it came out sounding more like a nasally "code."

After 12 years in Utah, I relearned how to say my l's and then I learned how to drop my t's (mou-un, anyone?). Also, are you aware that in Utah, the following two words are pronounced the same: SALE and CELL? (They're both pronounced CELL.)  Weird, no? But now that I'm back on the East Coast, I'm reminded daily of the mid-Atlantic accent. I mean, I married a Marylander! I live with his ever-so-slight-but-yes-it's-there accent.

Back to the dropped l's. Tell me whether you pronounce them in the following words:
YOLK
PSALM
STALK
QUALMS
SALVE

These words came from a recent Jeopardy category titled "Silent 'L.'"  I happen to pronounce THREE of those l's. What about you?

4 comments:

  1. i think this is what i say:
    yoke
    psaLm
    stak
    quaLms
    saLve

    so 3 for me, too! which ones do you say the L's on? i really thought i was suppose to!

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  2. No, no. You accuse us falsely! I never say sale and cell the same. I'm pretty sure my friends didn't either. Bu i_s rue hat we do drop he 't' from many words. My linguistics major roommate in college always laughed at me for picture/pitcher. And this sentence: My pecan pie is cooling off in the garage.

    As for your jeopardy question (love that show!) my l's are silent in all but: psalm and qualms... really? with the m following you keep the l silent? WHO does that?
    The sams of David? Noooooo...

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  3. P.S. This post just makes me want to watch My Fair Lady.

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  4. We just had a conversation about this at book club. How do you pronounce the word Our? Like Hour or Are???

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