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| How do you pronounce "mitten" "kitten" and "button"? |
| mitt'n, kitt'n, butt'n |
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86% |
[ 26 ] |
| mit-ten, kit-ten, but-ton |
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10% |
[ 3 ] |
| mih-in, kih-in, buh-in |
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3% |
[ 1 ] |
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| Total Votes : 30 |
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Don G.
King's Row
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
Posts: 1071
Location: MA
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 Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:04 am Post subject: Kittens and mittens and buttons, oh my! |
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I've been kind of curious about this for some time, and I thought it worthy of an informal poll of sorts. How would you pronounce the words in the subject line? I've always used version "A", but every once in a while I'll hear the "B" version and it always catches my attention...and not in a good way. I haven't heard the "C" version since my neighbor said it that way when we were growing up, and I know that's wrong. As an aside, what do you call that sort of swallowed "t" in the "A" version?
I should qualify this by saying that I'm referring to common pronunciation in the U.S. |
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bobsouer
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Joined: 15 Jul 2006
Posts: 9883
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:17 am Post subject: |
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Don,
If it weren't limited to the US, I'd say some UK accents pronounce those words the "C" way.
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Deirdre
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Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 13023
Location: Camp Cooper
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:20 am Post subject: |
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That mi'in pronunciation is all over the US, Bob. Central Mass, for instance.
And colloquially all over. I heard it growing up in Hawaii.
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bobsouer
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Joined: 15 Jul 2006
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Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:38 am Post subject: |
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Deirdre,
I guess I need to get out more. 
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Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
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KaraEdwards
M&M
Joined: 21 Feb 2007
Posts: 2374
Location: Behind a mic or camera, USA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:38 am Post subject: |
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I say the first one naturally- but one client I record for every month insists that all letters be pronounced EXACTLY as written- so 'b' would be the way I would record it for them.
Edited to add: actually, as I'm saying them outloud- I say them the 'c' way...interesting!
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Deirdre
Czarina Emeritus
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 13023
Location: Camp Cooper
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:45 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | As an aside, what do you call that sort of swallowed "t" in the "A" version? |
You're not really swallowing the "T", you're just not adding a fully-sounded vowel in the 2nd syllable.
It's the "skipped vowel" or "elided schwa".
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Bruce
Boardmeister
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7977
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:10 pm Post subject: |
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If I'm being at all formal I'd choose B, but if I'm being colloquial I'd go with A. I can only imagine C being from a British dialect, but I don't get out much either.
B
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Lee Gordon
A Zillion
Joined: 25 Jul 2008
Posts: 6864
Location: West Hartford, CT
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:22 pm Post subject: |
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C. is how they say it in New Britain (New Brih-in), CT. (I believe that is called a "glottal stop" or a "glottal voiceless plosive.")
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Don G.
King's Row
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
Posts: 1071
Location: MA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, that's where I heard it, too. My wife is from CT (closer to MA, though) and I remember her mentioning her friends saying New Brih' in. |
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Diane Maggipinto
Spreading Snark Worldwide
Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 6679
Location: saul lay seetee youtee
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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I was thinking "who the hell drops the Ts" until I read Lee's post and remembered the heart of rock-n-roll is New Britain
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ConnieTerwilliger
Triple G
Joined: 07 Dec 2004
Posts: 3381
Location: San Diego - serving the world
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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I did a play a few years ago with a young woman from the upper midwest who swallowed the medial t's. She had the word "frightened" which came out "fry-end" and caused most of the cast to tilt their heads and say 'huh?"
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Steve Royal
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:10 am Post subject: |
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I were tort how to talk proper 'n stuff wen I wuz a kid
I don't have no trouble wiv ow to pronounciate fancy werds:
Mitten: Pronunced "Glove"
Button: "Bu''ons? It's all velcro n zips now!"
Kitten: Enounciated thus: "Fishbait"
I reaally cahn' see wo' va problem iz, f'faahx-aik!
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Bruce
Boardmeister
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7977
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 6:33 am Post subject: |
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| Steve Royal wrote: |
Kitten: Enounciated thus: "Fishbait" |
Good thing you live on a separate continent. I'll bet there are some "kitteh" lovers on the upper half of the planet who are aching to tan your hide, Clyde. 
B
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JBarrett
M&M
Joined: 19 Feb 2007
Posts: 2043
Location: Las Vegas, NV
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Deirdre wrote: | | Quote: | | As an aside, what do you call that sort of swallowed "t" in the "A" version? |
You're not really swallowing the "T", you're just not adding a fully-sounded vowel in the 2nd syllable.
It's the "skipped vowel" or "elided schwa". |
Connected with the skipped the vowel is the fact that the T goes unaspirated in the A version, and it's the aspirated T that makes the hyper-enunciated B version feel so odd. The same could be said for the second D in "didn't", which can come out "did-nt" (unaspirated), "dih-dent" (aspirated), or "dih-ent" (skipped).
What about ending "ing" with a hard G? I was listening to an audiobook sample a while ago and heard the reader pronounce "carrying it" like "carrying git". It caught me off guard, and totally sounds wrong to my ears.
While we're talking about pronunciation, our 9-year-old has this habit of throwing a long "uh" at the end of something she tries to say with great emphasis, particularly when she's whining. For example, "I know!" comes out as "I know-uh!", "I can't" becomes "I can-tuh!", and so on. The more whiny she becomes, the longer the "uh" goes. I can't wait 'til she grows out of that habit. It drives me nuts-uh!!
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Don G.
King's Row
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
Posts: 1071
Location: MA
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 2:06 pm Post subject: |
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Justin, I believe what your 9 year-old is doing is technically called the "exasperated sigh"  |
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