While IKEA comes in sixth on the
list, its actual frequency of being mispronounced could be considerable.
The Swedish-based ready-to-assemble furniture brand is often thought to
be pronounced eye-kee-uh: The company recently confirmed that it’s
actually ee-keh-yah, though U.S. commercials still use the former. (IKEA says it’s “absolutely OK” to use “a local accent” when pronouncing it.)
他們網站拿掉 English module，English 版本只有 Apple/Android App 且需要付費。我直接講結論，他們錄製的這兩個音聽起來（幾乎）一樣。整個單字的念法當然有輕重音的分別。
-------------------------
https://youtu.be/RsumYs0z6RY "... both are essentially the same sound made the same way with the mouth...." " /ʌ/ ... stressed, long duration" "/ə/ ... unstressed, short duration" 兩個基本上是同樣的音/相同的發音方式(指的是嘴、口形/舌頭位置)。兩者差別只是在於輕重音/長度。
然後和文馨當代英漢辭典的音標說明互相比較一下:
最後再看KK音標的始祖書: "A PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN ENGLISH" by JOHN SAMUEL KENYON, Ph.D. and THOMAS ALBERT KNOTT, Ph.D.
相較之下，這本美國字典 The American Heritage Concise Dictionary 用的符號則是 /ŭ/(cut) 和 /ə/(about)。對於 /ə/，字典有這說明："The symbol (ə) is called a schwa. It represents a vowel that receives the weakest level of stress within a word. The schwa sound varies, sometimes according to the vowel it is representing and often according to the sounds surrounding it.
(*1) 我在回這篇時我還不知道(語言學的)這術語 unaspirated，但是我已經知道/會這種unaspirated [p t k] after /s/ (stan, span, scan) and at the ends of syllables 的念法(就是尋常的會/知道。我並沒有刻意去區分/注意/分析(/學))
(註: 這部份是我的回覆) > Let me guess. 美籍老師? > 並沒有"通常會變音"這回事。如果字典上的音標是/skip/，那麼唸出來的不會是/sgip/。 > > 美語在唸子音時一般都唸得很輕，所以對我們來說會造成聽起來有點"像"是/sgip/的錯覺，但是對他們來說，那還是/skip/ -- 他們分的出來的。 > > 如果你以為這變音成/sgip/，因為我們唸子音一般都唸得很重，等你真的/sgip/唸出去，他們會以為你在講sGip，然後會霧煞煞的問你說"What?"
(註: 這部份是一個住在台灣的美國人的回覆) Yes! Thank you! I don't know who came up with the idiocy that /s/+/k/ = /sg/. It is false. /g/ is a voiced sound; /sk/ has no voicing.
Although regional variation is very great across English dialects, some generalizations can be made about pronunciation in all (or at least the vast majority) of English accents:
* The voiceless stops /p t k/ are aspirated [pʰ tʰ kʰ] at the beginnings of words (for example tomato) and at the beginnings of word-internal stressed syllables (for example potato). They are unaspirated [p t k] after /s/ (stan, span, scan) and at the ends of syllables.
更多影音links(SK,SP,ST)
/SK/
BBC的Doctor Who影集裡頭的一小段(只有聲音)
/SK/
[0:04] I'm SCared.
BBC影集Being Human裡頭的一小段(只有聲音)
/SK/
[0:22] They tell me your blue skies ....
Daniel Powter-Bad Day (lyrics)
/SP/
KK的「始作俑者」是這本在美國發行的發音字典: A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English(*1)(這連到Amazon網站，可以點開來看。這本字典仍有在賣，英文程度夠的人可以直接讀下方A. Perry所寫的customer review。Editorial Reviews也可以讀一讀)。這本字典是在1944年發行初版。Amazon上賣的是1953年第2版，所以它所紀錄的最多也只能是1953之前的當時美國(某階層)的發音情況。
<<待續...接下來提>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English i -- happy, serious[...] (either ɪ or iː)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English#....(這部份會變，找下方字樣)
Pronounced /iː/ in dialects with the happy tensing, /ɪ/ in other dialects. British convention used to transcribe it with /ɪ/, but the OED and other influential dictionaries recently converted to /i/.
----------------------
(*1) 至於這本書在美國「過去」的使用情形，其實可以從這裡來看:
http://books.google.com/books?id=_b5ZAAAAMAAJ
找 "References to this book" 然後點選 "All Scholar search results"。有reference這本發音字典的著作並不少。
他們不需要「刻意」去學音標，因為已經會了(或是可以很輕易的自己學會如何查表/用音標對應的簡單字的發音來對照個別的音標發音)。換句話說，他們不用像我們那樣得另外刻意的去學音標，但是他們會碰到的卻不是像我們那樣只有一種音標，而是很多家不同字典出版社所用的不同的音標系統。參考: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_respelling_for_English#Traditional_respelling_systems
這個link打開後稍微往下捲可以看到一個大表格。注意這個表格最右邊每個音標對應的單字(粗體字母部份則是所對應的音)--音標系統很多很多，但是對應的都是相同的發音。KK只是其中一個音標系統。我前頭提的American Heritage也只是其中一個。表格下方有列Title abbreviations:
* IPA1(之前是標IPA) — International Phonetic Alphabet for General American.
這個不用講了
* IPA2(之前是標K&K) — A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English (1944 [1953]), John S. Kenyon, Thomas A. Knott. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster.
這本"發音字典"所用的音標系統就是我們在用的KK音標。如果你注意看它的符號樣式的話，它幾乎和IPA一樣(表格最左兩列)。 (Note: 這個Wiki頁面上的KK符號和我們在用的有些微差異。應該是筆誤(比如那個 /ɝ/ 打成 /ɜr/ )，因為Amazon網站可以讀到幾頁這本字典的內容，不是很清楚，但可以看出和我們用的一樣。有空我到圖書館查這字典然後訂正這個Wiki entry.)
* AHD — American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000). Boston: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. 我前頭貼出來的音標表(圖片)和這一樣，因為用的是同一家出版社的音標系統
Although the patterns are inconsistent, when English spelling rules take into account syllable structure, phonetics, and accents, there are dozens of rules that are 75% or more reliable.
後來我去別的地方上會話課。第一期因為我都要用猜的，而且我在說英文的時候也沒辦法一次講太多，所以沒什麼好說的。上第二期時情況好些，於是我套用前頭美加那位老師的「連音」法來講英文。剛開始的時候我還沾沾自喜的以為我能用連音的方式講流利的英文，但是有次我私下和會話老師討論時，老師她說她聽不清楚我的有些發音。很有趣的是她說的話和前頭的錄音檔有些像，她也是說我慢慢講的時候就清楚了（事實上連音的念法主要也是用於講話速度快的時候）。因為我講話速度放慢時自然會每個音念清楚，所以老師自然都聽得懂。接著我跟老師抱怨說我無法講得像他們一樣，她於是說: "Try to say it slowly and correctly. It will eventually come naturally."
我以我自己親身經驗來驗證，老師她講的是真的。我到美國後約...半年吧，我爸媽被裁員，在他們找到下個工作之前就是申請unemployment benefits。麻州當時是要去Social Security Office面談，我爸媽不會英文，所以我跟著去當翻譯。SSO辦事人員一開始當然要知道我是誰，在我說明我是來當我爸媽的翻譯之後她的態度由本來有些板著的臉變成不住口稱讚我說怎麼這麼難得，居然願意花時間陪我父母來，接著又稍微聊了一下，當她得知我才剛來美國不久之後她好奇的問了句 "How come you don't have any accent?"
我當時也是有些吃驚。我是有回說我來美國前有上了約一年的language school，不過我想我應該沒那麼神。這些年下來我回頭看這往事，我想她應該是指和一般「有口音」的華人/亞洲人比較起來我沒有那些人特有的口音。在那之後幾年有次我跟一位大學教授在電話上交談，當我們談到我的背景時他說如果光聽我的英文(口音）的話他會以為我是來自美東賓州(Philadelphia(費城)/Pennsylvania(賓州))(我當時也是聽得有些狐疑，一來我不知道「那」是什麼口音，二來是我一直都是用以前學的KK(台灣英漢辭典上標的音)來講英文，那麼難道是台灣的KK是賓州口音？（題外話，幾年後有次我在PBS(相當於台灣的公共電台)看到一個 Do you speak American? 節目，裏頭提到美國東北的New England（包含六個州。我住的麻州是其中一個。這和最早的移民有關）一帶英文的特色是在字的尾端的R不發音(類比於我們台灣的中文的話就相當於講國語不捲舌）......
http://www.pbs.org/speak/transcripts/1.html
[quote]
ROBERT:
LABOV BELIEVES PHILADELPHIA SHAPED AMERICAN SPEECH MORE THAN ANY OTHER CITY, BECAUSE IT WAS THE ONLY EAST COAST CITY ORIGINALLY TO PRONOUNCE ITS Rs. AND THAT R-SOUND, THAT SO TYPIFIES AMERICAN ENGLISH, MIGRATED WEST.
[end quote]
<<待續>>
剛好我在AUE上看到這串，引來給大家參考(應該還會有人回，有興趣看的可以用google找: google--> groups--> search "alt.usage.english", 然後主題找"Rules for English pronunciation")
簡單的說，即使是英語人士也會有遇到生字然後不知道怎麼唸的情況，這時候就要靠字典了。
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
"...." :
Q:
From: Chakaba
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:01:09 +0200
....
Melody
Melodic
Hear
heard
Break
Bread
What are the rules for being able to pronunce any word in English?
....
A1:
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:06:14 +0000
From: Derek Turner
...
Sorry, there are none. Try Welsh if you want consistency and rules.
A2:
From: the Omrud
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:10:50 GMT
....
I'm afraid there are no rules. There are patterns and there are conventions, but even native speakers have to guess at the pronunciation of a new word.
A3:
From: "Steve MacGregor"
Date: 10 Dec 2006 06:53:49 -0800
.....
Only one simple rule: get a good dictionary, and look up the words to see how they're pronounced.; Be careful of words pronounced differently but spelled the same.
A4:
From: Donna Richoux
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 16:50:28 +0100
....
The rule is, be born to English-speaking parents and live with them for twelve to eighteen years. We don't expect even native children to try to learn this spelling system until they have listened to spoken English for seven years on average.
We pronounce words the way we hear them pronounced, not the way we see them written on paper. No one ever pretended that English spelling was designed to allow foreigners to pronounce the language correctly.
So, if there's any hope, it is to increase the amount of English you hear, preferably spoken by native speakers: movies, TV, music, voice recordings, and real people. *After* that, work on reading and spelling.
However, there are always a few patterns that the desperate adult student can find that the native speaker learned unconsciously. There are some other combinations like "melody - melodic" such as "history - historic" but exactly how many combinations there are like this, I couldn't say.
Check out some of the sites on
http://www.alt-usage-english.org/intro_b.shtml
Intro B: Useful Web Sites for AUE Participants
- Learning English as a Foreign Language
- Audio Archives & Phonetics
