Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2024 March 11

= March 11 =

Pronunciation questions
--40bus (talk) 17:52, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
 * 1) Are there any words in English where letter U is pronounced as /uː/ in initial position?
 * 2) Are there any words in English which have onsets /kn/, /gn/ in all dialects?
 * 3) Is there any Romance language where letter Y is always pronounced as a vowel, at least in native words?
 * 4) Why Spanish Y, as in  ya and ayer is a fricative /ʝ/ rather than approximant /j/? Is there any variety (excluding Judaeo-Spanish) where it is /j/?
 * 5) Is there any rhotic dialect in English that pronounce  vowel with a schwa followed by an alveolar trill?


 * Answer to 1 -- Only in foreign loanwords / proper names (Ubuntu, Uhura, Unamuno). Answer to 2 -- NO! AnonMoos (talk) 18:08, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Are there any words that have onsets /kn/ or /gn/ in RP or General American?

--40bus (talk) 19:56, 11 March 2024 (UTC)


 * If gnu is to be believed, apparently some English speakers in the UK pronounce it with an onset /gn/. GalacticShoe (talk) 20:35, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Ditto for gneiss, gnosis, etc., but the question was for "all dialects." {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.198.186.221 (talk) 23:14, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
 * In this case, my response was to 40bus's extra line of questioning below in response to AnonMoos (it appears their signature wasn't indented, which is why my response appears to be to their original 5 questions.) GalacticShoe (talk) 01:56, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
 * GalacticShoe -- It's allowed to do minor technical fixes on other people's comments, such as fixing inconsistent indentation levels... AnonMoos (talk) 19:43, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Is there any Romance language where letter Y is always pronounced as a vowel, at least in native words?
Venedic language says:
 * Pronunciation is exactly as in Polish.

Polish alphabet says:
 * Y 	y 	y or igrek 	/ɨ/

--Error (talk) 19:08, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

Why Spanish Y, as in ya and ayer is a fricative /ʝ/ rather than approximant /j/? Is there any variety (excluding Judaeo-Spanish) where it is /j/?
es:Yeísmo says:
 * El yeísmo, en algunos dialectos, no se aplica a los diptongos fonéticos con /i-/, tales como los que aparecen en las palabras hielo o hierba:9​
 * México 	España 	Argentina
 * hierba 	[ˈje̞ɾ.β̞ä] 	[ˈʝ̞e̞ɾ.β̞ä] 	[ˈje̞ɾ.β̞ä]
 * hielo 	[ˈje̞.lo̞] 	[ˈʝ̞e̞.lo̞] 	[ˈje̞.lo̞]

Spanish phonology says:
 * The realization of the phoneme /ʝ/ varies greatly by dialect.[8] In Castilian Spanish, its allophones in word-initial position include the palatal approximant [j], the palatal fricative [ʝ], the palatal affricate [ɟʝ] and the palatal stop [ɟ].[8]

The reference is Quasi-Phonemic Contrasts in Spanish - Speech Prosody - University It also says:
 * In Argentine Spanish, the change of /ʝ/ to a fricative realized as [ʒ ~ ʃ] has resulted in clear contrast between this consonant and the glide [j]; the latter occurs as a result of spelling pronunciation in words spelled with ⟨hi⟩, such as hierba [ˈjeɾβa] 'grass' (which thus forms a minimal pair in Argentine Spanish with the doublet yerba [ˈʒeɾβa] 'maté leaves').[63]

--Error (talk) 19:31, 11 March 2024 (UTC)