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Pronunciation of Age and languAge



 
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Pronunciation of Age and languAge #1 (permalink) Tue Sep 26, 2006 18:29 pm   Pronunciation of Age and languAge
 

Can anybody explain to me why the A in "age" is not pronounced like the A in "language"?
Jorge Junior
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Vowel sounds #2 (permalink) Tue Sep 26, 2006 23:08 pm   Vowel sounds
 

That's the way it is in English, Jorge! Each vowel can have different sounds. The 'a' in 'age', is pronounced [ei]; in the first syllable of 'language', it's [a]; in the second (unstressed) syllable, it's [i]. Other sounds for the 'a' are [a:], as in 'car', [9] (schwa), as in 'ago', [e], as in 'any' and [o:], as in 'also'.

Welcome and enjoy!
Conchita
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Pronunciation rules in English #3 (permalink) Wed Sep 27, 2006 0:10 am   Pronunciation rules in English
 

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Part of the reason, Jorge, is that the /ei/ in age is in a stressed syllable, while in language the vowel is unstressed.
.
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Pronunciation rules in English #4 (permalink) Wed Sep 27, 2006 4:35 am   Pronunciation rules in English
 

Mister Micawber wrote:
Part of the reason, Jorge, is that the /ei/ in age is in a stressed syllable, while in language the vowel is unstressed.

So, Mister Micawber, is this a rule? And can I say that this rule applies to "chocolate" and "classmate"?
Jorge Junior
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Pronunciation rules in English #5 (permalink) Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:34 am   Pronunciation rules in English
 

.
Pronunciation does not have 'rules' in the sense that grammar does, Jorge, but--yes, unstressed vowel sounds tend to be shortened and centralized. Your second pair of words seems to reflect this in the same way that your first pair does.

Be cautioned, however, that there are other factors also-- for instance, the words or wordparts may have very different etymologies.
.
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Pronunciation rules in English #6 (permalink) Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:47 am   Pronunciation rules in English
 

Jorge Junior wrote:
"chocolate" and "classmate"?


If I may just add a quick footnote: while the 'a' in 'chocolate' is a short unstressed sound [9], the second 'a' in 'classmate' is pronounced [ei], although it's in the unstressed syllable.
Conchita
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