Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2024 May 12

= May 12 =

Questions again
--40bus (talk) 18:20, 12 May 2024 (UTC)
 * 1) Are there any words in English where letter C is pronounced /s/ at the end of word?
 * 2) Are there any words in English where word-final $⟨ge⟩$ is pronounced /g/ at the end of word?
 * 3) Are there any words in English where word final -gue  and -que are pronounced as /gjuː/ and /kjuː/ respectively?
 * 4) Are there any words in English where letter U is pronounced as /ʊ/ in the beginning of word?
 * 5) Are there any dialects of English that pronounce letter R as an alveolar flap /ɾ/?
 * 6) Are there any dialects of English that are syllable-timed, and do not have vowel reduction?


 * 5. Scottish English. GalacticShoe (talk) 18:47, 12 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Also Hiberno-English. Must be some Celtic effect. PiusImpavidus (talk) 18:50, 12 May 2024 (UTC)
 * 3a. ague, argue, and also the name Montague. GalacticShoe (talk) 18:49, 12 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Some francophone students once reported to me, laughing, that their ESL teacher had said “Don't arg with me!” —Tamfang (talk) 19:30, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
 * 3b. It's a rare/alternative form, but que itself is a word pronounced /ˈkjuː/. Edit: I'm realizing now that I failed to notice that one of its meaning is as a clipping of barbeque, which while still an alternative form, is a more common word. GalacticShoe (talk) 18:52, 12 May 2024 (UTC)


 * As for 4, I couldn't find any when I was making File:Initial_Teaching_Alphabet_ITA_chart.svg... AnonMoos (talk) 20:12, 12 May 2024 (UTC)
 * As for 6, I believe that certain pronunciations used by some people in India approach this, but you might not want to call them "dialects", and native speakers of quasi-standard English might have difficulty understanding them... AnonMoos (talk) 20:12, 12 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Item 4 - assuming that's pronounced like the "oo" in book, cook, hook, look, nook, rook, took, etc., one thing that comes to mind is one pronunciation of "Uff da". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:45, 12 May 2024 (UTC)
 * As for question (2)
 * I don't believe there are any. Words that make and /eɪ/ is expressed in words ending with a g sound as an "AI." The closest thing I could find is "Mikage" It technically ends with a "Gey" sound but I could see some mispronunciation arising with English speakers. MallardTV (talk) 19:01, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Rather -geh, I'd say, but okay. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 19:08, 23 May 2024 (UTC)