Kirilo81:

kefga_x:
"aw" as in "awesome" "octagon" or "octopussy" "gnaw" = ɔ ~ "a" (esperanto)

In fact, that is how 'o' should be in Esperanto ('a' is [a] in IPA), only short, while in awesome it is long.

You can hear the numbers spoken here, starting at 1:15 (I would pronounce the 'o' in ok and the 'a' in naŭ even a bit shorter than in the video).

You are right! I am a victim of the cot-caught merger and forgot to take that into account!

I'll go back and change it, as it should be ɑ, but everyone should thank kirilo81, who speaks a better English than I do!

Edit:

However it should be noted that ɔ isn't really the "most correct" pronunciation. It's close enough though, but then so is oʊ.

EldanarLambetur:The general rule is this: wherever a letter occurs in Esperanto, its pronunciation should not vary.

What deviations have you found?

No need to overanalyse Youtube videos or other speakers. Just memorise the letters and their pronunciations here on Lernu!. I did that, haven't ever uttered a word in Esperanto and still can pronounce perfectly.

Oijos:

EldanarLambetur:The general rule is this: wherever a letter occurs in Esperanto, its pronunciation should not vary.

What deviations have you found?

No need to overanalyse Youtube videos or other speakers. Just memorise the letters and their pronunciations here on Lernu!. I did that, haven't ever uttered a word in Esperanto and still can pronounce perfectly.

Under certain circumstances, most people have a natural tendency to perform certain mutations.

E.g. in "lingvo", by the rules of pronouncing each letter in the same way, you should say "lin" + "gvo", whereas a lot of people will naturally change the "n" to an IPA "ŋ" sound (like the "ng" in English "sing"). This doesn't cause ambiguity, so this is let by.

There's currently a thread on this: http://en.lernu.net/komunikado/forumo/temo.php?t=1...

And a PMEG explanation: http://bertilow.com/pmeg/skribo_elparolo/elparolo/...

espere:Like I said, southerners add stress to their vowels

I'm not sure what you mean by adding "stress" to vowels. Most people with a "southern" accent tend to make almost all vowels diphthongs (i.e. no pure vowels) and/or to move them forward/nasalize them. I'd be happy to make some recordings.

espere:I would absolutely love to meet someone from the SE who speaks Esperanto well.

I've lived in the Carolinas (North and South) almost my entire life and have been an Esperantist since the 1980s. I'm sure you're not implying that being from the Southeast would prevent someone from having a proper Esperanto accent I'd be happy to post some recordings of that too ...

Incidentally, if you ever get a chance, watch Attack of the Moon Zombies. The Esperanto sound track has one character (a shuttle pilot) who speaks Esperanto with a jarringly (southern) American accent ... I think it was supposed to make him sound ignorant and uncultured ...

Amike,

Paul

kefga_x:However it should be noted that ɔ isn't really the "most correct" pronunciation. It's close enough though, but then so is oʊ.

I do not think that oʊ is a very good pronunciation. It would leave you with a very American-sounding accent, rather than a neutral international one. I would really try hard to pronounce it as a pure vowel (like the o in hole) not like the oa in oak.

pdenisowski:

espere:Like I said, southerners add stress to their vowels

I'm not sure what you mean by adding "stress" to vowels. Most people with a "southern" accent tend to make almost all vowels diphthongs (i.e. no pure vowels) and/or to move them forward/nasalize them. I'd be happy to make some recordings.

espere:I would absolutely love to meet someone from the SE who speaks Esperanto well.

I've lived in the Carolinas (North and South) almost my entire life and have been an Esperantist since the 1980s. I'm sure you're not implying that being from the Southeast would prevent someone from having a proper Esperanto accent I'd be happy to post some recordings of that too ...

Incidentally, if you ever get a chance, watch Attack of the Moon Zombies. The Esperanto sound track has one character (a shuttle pilot) who speaks Esperanto with a jarringly (southern) American accent ... I think it was supposed to make him sound ignorant and uncultured ...

Amike,

Paul

I'm watching a movie right now filmed in Atlanta; for example, the character says he wasn't too "fond" of something. It sounds like "fund" as in "mutual fund" and not "fond" which rhymes with "pond". There's plenty more examples like "tawk", "tahk", and "talk", "Georgia" and "Joe-juh", "thank" for "think", "upon" (uh-PUN) for "upon" (up-ON), PO-lees for puh-LEES (police) and so on. Every region in the US has an accent, but I'm focusing on the one closest to me.

erinja:

kefga_x:However it should be noted that ɔ isn't really the "most correct" pronunciation. It's close enough though, but then so is oʊ.

I do not think that oʊ is a very good pronunciation. It would leave you with a very American-sounding accent, rather than a neutral international one. I would really try hard to pronounce it as a pure vowel (like the o in hole) not like the oa in oak.

From dictionary.com:
hole /hoʊl/
oak /oʊk/

I took linguistics; I detest IPA. But our little friend upside-down guy shows up in both. Hole and oak have long o's when I say them, as does my first and last name, Oprah, Oakland, mole, guacamole, throat, soak, hope, Holyoak etc. I'm not quite sure what a neutral international accent is, how it sounds, or why anyone would even aim to have one. Accents make a language interesting; I had a boss from Bahstin who loved his kah and friends from Kuhlyfornya who loved their karrrs.

erinja:

kefga_x:However it should be noted that ɔ isn't really the "most correct" pronunciation. It's close enough though, but then so is oʊ.

I do not think that oʊ is a very good pronunciation. It would leave you with a very American-sounding accent, rather than a neutral international one. I would really try hard to pronounce it as a pure vowel (like the o in hole) not like the oa in oak.

/o/ doesn't normally exist in American English*. As the footnote there says:

* For most speakers, what are often transcribed as /e o/ are realized as [eɪ oʊ], especially in open syllables.

*I was actually even surprised to see it in this chart. In most any vowel chart for American English I've not seen it, but I guess it works because it is realized as oʊ.

If an American realized the o in hole as /o/, it would sound very strange to me. An American English speaker who hasn't otherwised been trained will realize an /o/ as /oʊ/. This, along with the retroflexed r, will sound very anglo, but whether that's good or not is another (very interesting!) subject.

An American who's trying to have a "neutral" accent would probably realize the word "esperanto" as:

/ɛspɛɹɑntoʊ/

as opposed to the way my Mom says it: /ɛspɚæntoʊ/
or as I imagine someone from the South might say it: /eɪspɚæntoʊ/

In theory, Esperanto has pure vowels and a rolled/tapped r and "should" be realized as: /esperanto/ or /espeɾanto/, but a lot of those sounds don't exist in most people's English, or not exactly in the same way, to be more precise.

Our friend here doesn't much like IPA, so I'm sorry for throwing it around so much, I hope you don't mind! The issue of what is an "international" or "neutral" accent (and whether or not it should be strived for) is an interesting subject that I may start a new thread for in the Esperanto section, but for here I'm going under the assumption of someone who doesn't want to go about learning how to make "new" sounds.

Whilst it seems to be generally acknowledged that some Esperanto accents are more attractive than others, I am not aware of any organized sounding of public opinion on this.

In the forthcoming British Esperanto Congress in Ramsgate one of the items in the programme will be a 'Beauty' competition for accents.

Since the number of different mother tongues among the congress enrollees is likely to be high - Ramsgate is close to the Continent and many alilandanoj living in Britain will participate - the results should be interesting, and not reflect an anglosaxon bias.

Kongresanoj will be invited to record their voices in a studio set up in the kongresejo and then these recordings will be played later (anonymously) over the theatre's sound system to be voted on by all the congress attendees.

Gosh, I'm trying to remember how Sud-usonanoj say things. WWMMD? What would Matthew McConaughey Do? If you imagine S-ro McConaughey in Richard III saying, "Naŭ is the winter of our discontent," that's probably about right. I can't help you with ok, though. A canuck saying 'oak', maybe?

Do you know the tsi-tsi fly? Take one of those, stick it onto the end of s sound as in Miss Moneypenny, and add an 'ee', as in 'egad!' s-tsi-ee.

I not fond of that word. Sciencisto is a one-word tongue-twister for me!