Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Why English Is So Difficult

English's grammar is inherently simpler from its roots. Pidgin languages normally have a stripped down grammar - as compared to Latin, French and German. English does not have noun genders, the verb tenses are actually simplified from the get go, and then to complexify them to create the additional tenses the verbs are made into compounds (I have, I had, I did have).

I maintain, as someone who way back when, actually took Latin, German, Spanish, and a smattering of Russian, the difficulty of English is not its inherent difficuty, but its inherent flexibility. I mean, how many ways can you say 'blue' in Latin or Russian? I mean, English is like Perl - if you can't come up with at least five different ways of saying something (and all gramatically correct), you're not trying.

I agree Dandello.

"New" isn't pronounced with a Y. It's always been like "noo" for me and everyone I've ever heard say the word. "Nyew" has usually just been said when someone was emphasizing the word, I think.

I've only ever heard it pronounced 'noo' by someone from New York or Boston Everyone else I've ever met pronounces it 'nyew'. That's certainly the way I was taught to say it, and how it's pronounced in the UK and Ireland, and in the parts of Canada I've been so far.

I've just checked Merriam-Webster, which offers both pronunciations as valid.


Wendy

Sorry, I was talking about the general British pronunciation. I have been told, though, that there is a tendency among younger folcs in GB to pronounce it "noo", too.

This whole 'new' thing is confusing me. I've been saying the word over and over again and I have no idea how I'm pronoucing it.

I've never heard new pronounced nyew except for emphasis. I always pronounce it noo.

Tara

Until I read this thread I wasn't aware there was another way to pronounce new but nyew.

Learn something n(y)ew...

LabRat

reminds me of a class I had at uni last year

one of my classmates was an exchange student from Ohio (I think) and when he read a passage about "peaks and troughs" (TROUFS) in a graph... he pronounced it
"TROWEL" as in a small shovel
the whole group of 6 others (all Aussies) burst out laughing, and from then on we only said TROWEL in the group... as a joke...

now I find it difficult to say TROUGH (FF) without getting confused)

a reply to your mouse/mice post... I sent it on to a few friends and this came back...


Wilhelm Gruff

So, Tara, where are you from?

I'm in California. I've lived here all of my life.

Tara

I think they might make the n stronger but nyew sounds like something from the Spanish n with ~ on top.

well here down under....
it has always been nyew
except ofcourse to some of my baby cousins... who say noo,

just like:
nyewz vs nooze (for newspaper...)

it is the EW that makes the OO sound...
like in EWE (the female sheep...!) pronounced thr same as YOU

{I wish I had a really cute icon of a sheep to add to this post}

Which proves my phonetics and phonology teacher right again. 'Nyew' for British folks (minus the younger ones), 'noo' for American folks. Unfortunately, he never mentioned Australians.

Not where I'm from (Alabama). Ewe is pronounced like ew (as in "ew - gross"), but less drawn-out and does not sound like you. Nor does ewe or new rhyme with moo, which does sound like you.

wow...
I alwayes thought a EWE was pronounced same as YOU...


Here Downunder, where there are more sheep than people in our countries population (don't ask me how many...) we keep our animals nice and clean... no gross ones anywhere in sight...

We have a population similar to that of NY (20-21million, well 15 years ago when we were 17million it was correct??? now???)
and a land area of about twice the size of Europe...
And yet most of that is desert....

but the numbers game has nothing to do with the probability of yelling out "Hey YOU" and getting it mistaken with "Hey EWE"
lol

{STill want a nice emoticon of a sheep to put here}

If EW (Gross) doen't rhyme with MOO... what does it rhyme with?
"Oh!"?.... Ahh"?.....?????
to me Ew (Gross) sounds like OOOH!! (or something)


A friend of mine is studying a master's in education... a part of which she is studying the SPALDING method for teaching literacy.... very similar to phonics, except more structured, and not at all the whole language method (no comment on either efficacies)...
NE way the thing is based on American phonetics... except You guys have such differing pronounciations throughout your country, that I have no Idea where Dr Spalding arived at his final choice....
In the instruction manual, the teacher is told to choose out of a list of pronounciations for the vowel sounds depending on local variations... it is very confusing

Well, as a matter of fact, there is a (standard) pronunciation called 'General American' or 'GenAm'. That's what you can learn here - apart from the standard British one ('Received Pronunciation" or 'RP').

Me too, and I'm American.

I don't think it rhymes with anything, but I've always pronounced it like a less-exaggerated "ee-you."

I was born and raised in the U.S. South, and I've always said 'nyew' which rhymes with the way I would say 'ewe'. It's very true that whereever you go in the USA, you will hear varied pronunciations, and determining what is standard American is very difficult. I have lived in Tennerssee in what I called 'Nashvul' much to the amusement of my nothern friends who said 'Nash Ville.' I have lived not too far from 'Nyorlins' which many people pronounce 'Noo Orleens'. I lived near Chicago for a while where restaurants offered not 'pi cahn' but 'pee can' pie. I lived in California where most people say 'Loss Anjelus', but some say 'Loss Anjuleez' and old timers say 'Loss Angulus'. Now I live in the Northwest which is said to be the place with the closest to the Standard American accent. Maybe, but I think it's because you hear all of the above here.

Jude