Oh, those photos are fine, listener. And I have certainly been reading about and considering the current travails of the Methodists; I feel for them. I think I know how this is going to work out in the long run; it isn't a good idea to make martyrs out of one's opponents, or to take a crabbed view of the universal. And I remind myself that only good wood splits.
Now on to a less freighted matter: undoing the Mary/marry/merry merger. After pondering the sounds for a while, and rooting around here and there in books and on the Internet, I think I am well on my way to cracking this particular nut. The "e" in "merry" is easy as pie--that's my default for all the three. Looking in the dictionary (Merriam Webster Collegiate) my folks gave me for Christmas in 1960, I find that the only pronunciation given for "marry" is with the "a" of "cat." That's also easy enough, although certainly a change for me. That leaves the problem of "Mary." The dictionary has an extensive discussion of the sound--that it was originally (and in a few places still is) a long "a" as in "Mate," but under the influence of a following "r" changed into two different sounds, both found in England and North America, both in the same places, varying by individual speaker. I wasn't at all sure either was part of my phonemic inheritance. I looked up the Merriam Webster online pronunciation guide in order to print it out, and darned if they didn't have online audio pronunciations! (I suppose only a fossil would be surprised by that...) I checked their pronunciation of "merry;" all good. I checked their pronunciation of "marry" and saw that during the past fifty-odd years they have changed the preferred pronunciation to "merry," but keep the "cat" sound as a variant pronunciation. Then on to "Mary." Sure enough, the first vowel seems not to be part of my phonemic repertoire, but I can hear it, and therefore I can learn to imitate it. I found enough examples here and there to assemble reasonably-sized word lists for practice.
Re my latest self-improvement project, un-merging Mary/marry/merry in my speech: I have figured it out about as well as I can without practice, have assembled a tripartite list of examples for drill, and sent same off to an accommodating professor of English at the University of Exeter for proof-reading. And now I am going to re-watch the first Harry Potter movie and listen carefully to people's pronunciations. (N.B.: Hagrid is said to speak with a "broad" West Country accent.)
Oh, those photos are fine, listener. And I have certainly been reading about and considering the current travails of the Methodists; I feel for them. I think I know how this is going to work out in the long run; it isn't a good idea to make martyrs out of one's opponents, or to take a crabbed view of the universal. And I remind myself that only good wood splits.
ReplyDeleteNow on to a less freighted matter: undoing the Mary/marry/merry merger. After pondering the sounds for a while, and rooting around here and there in books and on the Internet, I think I am well on my way to cracking this particular nut. The "e" in "merry" is easy as pie--that's my default for all the three. Looking in the dictionary (Merriam Webster Collegiate) my folks gave me for Christmas in 1960, I find that the only pronunciation given for "marry" is with the "a" of "cat." That's also easy enough, although certainly a change for me. That leaves the problem of "Mary." The dictionary has an extensive discussion of the sound--that it was originally (and in a few places still is) a long "a" as in "Mate," but under the influence of a following "r" changed into two different sounds, both found in England and North America, both in the same places, varying by individual speaker. I wasn't at all sure either was part of my phonemic inheritance. I looked up the Merriam Webster online pronunciation guide in order to print it out, and darned if they didn't have online audio pronunciations! (I suppose only a fossil would be surprised by that...) I checked their pronunciation of "merry;" all good. I checked their pronunciation of "marry" and saw that during the past fifty-odd years they have changed the preferred pronunciation to "merry," but keep the "cat" sound as a variant pronunciation. Then on to "Mary." Sure enough, the first vowel seems not to be part of my phonemic repertoire, but I can hear it, and therefore I can learn to imitate it. I found enough examples here and there to assemble reasonably-sized word lists for practice.
And Whoop for Howard!
--Alan
Hard to believe those sister kittehs haven't touched that creche, lol!
ReplyDeleteOh, they have. Occasionally we find that a lamb has strayed. The pieces are cat and Grand proof, though, so all is well. :-)
DeleteRe my latest self-improvement project, un-merging Mary/marry/merry in my speech: I have figured it out about as well as I can without practice, have assembled a tripartite list of examples for drill, and sent same off to an accommodating professor of English at the University of Exeter for proof-reading. And now I am going to re-watch the first Harry Potter movie and listen carefully to people's pronunciations. (N.B.: Hagrid is said to speak with a "broad" West Country accent.)
ReplyDelete--Alan
M air ee = Mary
Delete