View Message

This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

[Facts] Re: Rough pronunciation UH vs. U
Could you link some names in the BtN database that have "UH" in their pronunciation?
There may be some in the user-submitted names, or in the user-submitted pronunciations, but I can't find any in the database by searching.I think yes, you can assume it's supposed to be the same as U or /ʌ/.
Or the same as /ə/, which is usually pronounced the same as /ʌ/ in my accent.- mirfak
vote up1vote down

Replies

That’s strange, using refined search I’m not finding any either. Perhaps it was in fact just in user-contributed names, for I’ve been looking at a lot of those lately.Another oddity I can attest, however: ‘ah’ (/ɒ/–/ɑ/ in pot, con) is used on a regular basis for /a/ (which has no distinguished code in the Pronunciation Guide) or /ʌ/ (which should be U). See, for instance, the German (and related) pronunciations of Hannah, Barbara and Franziska. Maybe it’s just that the examples in the guide aren’t optimal.

This message was edited 4/6/2016, 12:23 PM

vote up1vote down
Oh, alright. Yeah, the submitted pronunciations are often not edited if there is no reference available for correct pronunciation, they're just left as they were submitted, and submitters don't always use the BtN key properly.Is Hannah in German really pronounced with an /ʌ/ at the end by German speakers, rather than sounding the same as the first a? (I thought the "ah" endings given for non-English pronunciations reflected actual pronunciations, and that was why they were "u" or schwa for English but not other languages.)
vote up1vote down
I only know Hannah pronounced with two identical "a" sounds around here in the German-speaking countries, like the two "a"s in the name Anna.
vote up1vote down
Indeed, all the ‘a’ in Hannah and Anna are basically equal (except for stress and length) and would be denoted by [a] or [ʌ] in IPA, not [ɑ] and certainly not [ɒ] which is almost [ɔ].

This message was edited 4/7/2016, 12:23 AM

vote up1vote down