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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
I got a kick out of today's pronunciation guide:
Boston marriage (BOS-tuhn MAR-ij, BAW-stuhn -) noun
... shoulda included (BAH-stn)
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 725
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 725 |
Please forgive my ignorance:
How is Boston pronounced any differently than BAW-stun?
I seem to recall hearing a nasal twang - (a as in cat) as in BAA-stn.
Is there some other way to pronounce Boston?
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Ooof, it's not ignorance CB. Over the years, being here at AWAD, I've learned that every[/] word is pronounced differently somewhere else in the world.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 725
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 725 |
That's fine, belMarduk.
What confuses me a little is that BOS-tuhn and BAW-stuhn sound too much alike to my ear.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Well they way I've heard them is like this
BOS-tuhn: the OS is pronounced like the A in ball.
BAW-stuhn: The AW is pronounced like the AA in BAA (like a sheep's baa-baa)
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Acshully, in BOS -tuhn, the "Bos" is pronounced exactly the same as "boss". Course, if you're a USn you'll mispronounce "boss" anyways, saying something which sounds to my antipodean ear like "baws". I've been to your Boston a coupla times, but I've been to the real Boston more often. And that's how they pronounce it. Deepest, darkest Lincolnshire!
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Well, Cap, your understanding of the "boss" pronunciation clears the rest of it *up quite nicely. 
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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Yeah, all except for this part...
...if you're a USn you'll mispronounce "boss" anyways, saying something which sounds to my antipodean ear like "baws". I've been to your Boston a coupla times, but I've been to the real Boston more often. And that's how they pronounce it. Deepest, darkest Lincolnshire!
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
This looks like a jhob for jheem and his bag of magic IPAs!
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
looks like a jhob for jheem and his bag of magic IPAs!
Thanks, AS. Here it is in SAMPA and IPA (in case the latter doesn't work for you the former should):
/'bO:st@n/ SAMPA Boston in MA
/ˈbɔstən/ IPA Boston in MA
/'bQst@n/ SAMPA how you hear some people from Boston, MA, pronounce Boston
/ˈbɑstən/ IPA for the same
The local pronuciation of the first vowel is a tad bit lower in the local than in the standard USan version. Boss I usually pronoucne /'bO:s/, but in A-H an alternate pronuciation is /'bQs/. The /O:/ is what you all have been writing as {aw}, but which is not a diphthong, it's longer and that's why it has the colon in SAMPA which is like the IPA for macron. (NB, there's no {L} in the IPA transcription because, as it is broad and there's no phonemic distinction between /ɔː/ and /ɔ/, i.e., /ɔ/ -> [ɔː]) It's sort of like the distinction in the US between caught and cot, if you make that distinction, which I do and so do the nice folks up in Boston, MA. If you can play WAV files, the A-H provides pronuciation (at least of the first and more common pronuciation).
Haven't a clue about Boston in Lincolnshire, either RP or local dialect. What's all the hubbub?
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