[HPFGU-OTChatter] Mary? Merry? Marry? (WAS: Re: Thicknesse: Question on Pronunciation

[Pam Hugonnet]

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From: HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Janette
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 9:01 PM
To: HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Thicknesse: Question on Pronunciation

 

>
> > Carol:
> > Or how about "merry," "marry," and "Mary"? All homonyms for me, though
> > I realize that Easterners, Southerners, and possibly Midwesterners may
> > distinguish among them, or at least between one or two of the three.



Where I am from (Maryland aka Mur-land), all those words would be pronounced
like "murray."   With my mother being born and raised in this area and my
father from the Midwest, there was much confusion as to the pronunciation of
many words (at least among us kids).  I guess I picked up a more Midwestern
(?) pronunciation and would clearly articulate each of those words
differently.

 

montims:
but surely... is it the r that causes this problem? Because the vowel
sounds are the same as heaven, haven't, haven. What about Harry and hairy?
Do they sound the same? Truly, they are all enunciated very differently (as
opposed to variedly...) by this Brit...

Yes, the r does have a great deal to do with it, but there are (to me at
least) differences in the vowel sounds as well with Mary and marry having a
more broad flat a sound than the soft e of merry.  The pronunciation of
Harry can vary greatly as well.  My youngest son is Harry and we frequently
hear people pronounce his name as "Hear-ry"  or with a very nasal a that
sounds very much like the word "hairy."  It makes him crazy-he frequently
corrects his friends on the pronunciation of his name.

pam



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