pronunciation advice

[EagleJCS]

Here's a map of the USA showing where caught and cot are different (red) and the same (blue), you have to go to question #28

http://spark.rstudio.com/jkatz/SurveyMaps/

Very interesting. Looking through some of the questions, it seems I follow some of the regional norms for this area, and not others. As a child, when I was learning new words I very carefully followed the dictionary (Webster's) pronunciation guide, and listened very carefully to how others pronounced them. Having been in chorus and drama club probably also affected how I pronounce some words/syllables. I was also exposed to several different accents while in school (most notably Boston, Baltimore, New York, Chicago, among others).

On topic, I have most often heard Cull-ODD-en as the pronunciation for the place in Scotland.

[MacLowlife]

Bostonians will recognize Bah Habba as the way to say Bar Harbor, while Bahhb is the way people I know say "Bob" as in "Robert is your mother's sister." And, if you remember Herschel Walker, you know what a dawg is... As in Deputy Dawg. What Stephen Graham (Tommy) and Brad Pitt called Dugs in SNATCH... or maybe they said "Degs"

There is a hilarious ( to me) series of ads for a Cable device called "The Hopper" which allow you to learn to pronounce "Khakis" ( chino trousers) and "car keys" the same way. This is how they talk in New England. http://talkboston.com/

[MacKenzie]

It's "Kin Loch," and "Loch" not "Lock." The "ch" is somewhat emphasised.

So the "ch" is pronounced like it is at the end of church?

[TheOfficialBren]

<snippet>

Here is an interesting test. I can't vouch for its accuracy, but it does help, somewhat. It placed me about 500 miles too far north,but then, I have been listening to NPR for 20 years.

http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?act...ke&obj_id=9827

I took the quiz. It says that my accent is neutral. Interesting. Dad is from The South, Mum is from the Northwest. I was raised in California, first generation Californian. Must be the private schooling as a boy. I speak quite differently than the locals in my hometown which has a thick local accent (dropped long vowels, "steal" rhymes with "still" in the local vernacular).

[S Mitchell]

I took the quiz. It says that my accent is neutral. Interesting. Dad is from The South, Mum is from the Northwest. I was raised in California, first generation Californian. Must be the private schooling as a boy. I speak quite differently than the locals in my hometown which has a thick local accent (dropped long vowels, "steal" rhymes with "still" in the local vernacular).

Yeah, I have an American neutral accent as well. My mom is from the southwest (mostly Arizona.) My dad is from Kansas. But, he was Air Force and we moved a lot when I was a child.

Arizona is mostly pretty neutral and, I don't hear it, but I get accused, even here, of having a "cowboy" accent.

I learned something new today, though. I'd have pronounced it Cull-OH-den!

[creagdhubh]

So the "ch" is pronounced like it is at the end of church?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRiWBRS3OC8

[AFS1970]

I took that quiz and it says that I am neutral, which is odd because most people I know think I have an accent. One coworker from the south says I have a "country accent" although I don't know what that is. What I found interesting is that the Neutral description on the test results says that I may be from a region on the map that I have never lived in and rarely if ever traveled to, including Ohio and Indiana. It says I might have traveled a lot as a kid, but I still live in the city I was born and raised in. My parents were both from Massachusetts and before I was born they did live in Indiana (where my brothers were born) so I suppose that I could have picked up traits from there. However as a child I was sent for speech therapy so that I would not talk like my parents. So that may be where the neutrality comes from.

Oddly enough we have a Culloden Rd in my city, that just about everybody pronounces with the o like Oh. The coworker who says I have a country accent, her family are Tolivers, although I think she spells it like I just did.

[MacKenzie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRiWBRS3OC8

Just checking. I've had folks tell me it's pronounced 'lotch'.

[creagdhubh]

Just checking. I've had folks tell me it's pronounced 'lotch'.

That would be incorrect. As far as Gàidhlig is concerned, it's actually a rather simple and straightforward pronunciation.

[OC Richard]

I struggle to differentiate between your examples 2 and 3. To me it sounds like all Americans say 'Bob' and 'dog' the same way. Any sound or video clips to illustrate for me?

Yes I struggle too, because as I mentioned the two states I've lived in don't make that distinction. I became very aware of it being around my wife's parents, one from Chicago and one from New York, both of which do make that distinction.

Here's a very nice video demonstrating the cot/caught split

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsvwYWoKCw0

and this guy's pronunciation is not as pronounced as some! With some American accents cot/top are done with a very open mouth, caught/off/ball/dog with very rounded lips, making the two extremely different.