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Purpose of gender and conjugations | ||
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| Lapsus Newbie Finland Joined 6634 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: Finnish* | Message 17 of 24 13 October 2006 at 9:26am | IP Logged | |||||
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I, too, hear difference between to and two.
'To' sounds hard, short, and abrupt; and 'two' soft, longer, and lingering. It is indeed curious that natives can't tell the difference, or so it would seem. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 18 of 24 13 October 2006 at 9:57am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think two will be pronounced longer when it's stressed, but vowel length isn't phonemic in English, hasn't been for centuries.
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| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6665 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 19 of 24 13 October 2006 at 11:27am | IP Logged | |||||
Like in "sheep" and "ship"? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7104 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 20 of 24 13 October 2006 at 2:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
They would be 100 per cent identical for me. However, just saying "to houses" if a sentence were "if you want to go 'to houses'", then the vowel in "to" would be just schwa anyway. I think I've pretty much lost what this discussion is about! :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| hagen Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6960 days ago 171 posts - 179 votes 6 sounds Speaks: German*, English, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 21 of 24 13 October 2006 at 5:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
These are different vowels, not only different quantities. For a minimal pairs of quantities check German "a". (Bahn/Bann, Stahl/Stall, ...) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 22 of 24 14 October 2006 at 4:06am | IP Logged | |||||
Those are different vowels, pronounced in different parts of the mouth. What's more, they have the same vowel duration (at least in my Canadian English). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6702 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese | Message 23 of 24 14 October 2006 at 4:55am | IP Logged | |||||
Funny thing I noticed when teaching English is that I (and I think most English speakers) actually use vowel length to differentiate between voiced and non-voiced syllable final consonants. What I mean is that there is a difference between the vowel lengths of "cap" and "cab". "Cap" is much faster, while "cab" is more drawn out. If you stretch the vowel out, and use the unvoiced consonant, I think most English speakers would hear the voiced final. Try it yourself, see what you think. Edited by Raincrowlee on 14 October 2006 at 4:55am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6659 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 24 of 24 14 October 2006 at 10:10am | IP Logged | |||||
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I suspect that many native speakers of American English practically swallow the word "to," particularly when it's part of an infinitive.
I checked my Webster's Collegiate Dictionary this morning, and it gives the same pronunciation for "too" and "two." It's /tu/ with an umlaut over the "u," the same vowel sound in "loot." That same pronunciation is one of the three given for "to" as well. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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