Since when did "frost" and "across" have "aw" sounds. They are short "o" sounds. "Because" also has a short "o" sound although it breaks all the spelling rules. Why just "cos" it does.
Do you think this reflects the US region that the teacher comes from, or is this a general list from a US textbook or similar?
Because it is likely that in different parts of America they say these words quite differently - there are probably also regional differences in how we say "because" in Australia (though I would think that "frost" would be the same for all parts of Australia).
Helen, their pronunciation isn't totally American, but it is shifting. J's piano teacher says he's heard it change in the 15 months he's been teaching him. I think it is a bit fluid, actually. I suspect they have a stronger American accent at school than they have at home, but maybe my ear is just adjusting too!
Caroline, the teacher has mostly grown up outside of the US, she is a graduate of the school! I think it is probably a textbook list. And you are right, as soon as I say "American accent" I'm generalising!
Well, it might be generalising to refer to "an American accent", but I suspect that a list of words like that could only come from somewhere in America - unless there's somewhere in Britain where they use the same vowel sound for all those words.
I guess it just seemed to me odd to group the words like this, when Americans that we know would be more likely to say frost and across with more of an "ah" sound than as "aw".
But as someone who's grown up in Sydney but has spent the last 20 years in Melbourne, I've become aware of regional variations here (mainly in the short a/e sound followed by an L).
The issue is not that the average American pronounces "frost" as "frawst" but rather that "aw" is pronounced more like a short "o". So when a typical Nth American pronounces the word "dawn", a non-North American English speaking person hears it as "Don". (Says he who has an American wife!)
Funny WesF that you bring up that example. I brought that up on Facebook and it was denied by a mid-Western American. What accent does your wife have? One of my colleague has a west coast accent and I cannot tell the difference between Don and Dawn.
I found this interesting. Here in the Northern Territory there is a big emphasis on learning 'standard Australian English' with rigorous phonics programs teaching the 'correct' sounds for letters and letter combinations. Last term I had a year 7 student who had moved here from the Philippines and who used American spelling in his assignments and I thought about how this is an extra challenge for Australians who live overseas and are taught to say and spell things differently from the way they would be taught in Australia.
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Because of "because"? I don't say it with an "aw" sound, either, but rather more of a "short u" (bekuz). ???
Oh dear. How do the boys pronounce it?
Since when did "frost" and "across" have "aw" sounds. They are short "o" sounds. "Because" also has a short "o" sound although it breaks all the spelling rules. Why just "cos" it does.
Do you think this reflects the US region that the teacher comes from, or is this a general list from a US textbook or similar?
Because it is likely that in different parts of America they say these words quite differently - there are probably also regional differences in how we say "because" in Australia (though I would think that "frost" would be the same for all parts of Australia).
Oh I can just picture it now, your son with an American accent - "frawst" and "acrawss" indeed! Ba ha ha ha ...
Helen, their pronunciation isn't totally American, but it is shifting. J's piano teacher says he's heard it change in the 15 months he's been teaching him. I think it is a bit fluid, actually. I suspect they have a stronger American accent at school than they have at home, but maybe my ear is just adjusting too!
Caroline, the teacher has mostly grown up outside of the US, she is a graduate of the school! I think it is probably a textbook list. And you are right, as soon as I say "American accent" I'm generalising!
Well, it might be generalising to refer to "an American accent", but I suspect that a list of words like that could only come from somewhere in America - unless there's somewhere in Britain where they use the same vowel sound for all those words.
I guess it just seemed to me odd to group the words like this, when Americans that we know would be more likely to say frost and across with more of an "ah" sound than as "aw".
But as someone who's grown up in Sydney but has spent the last 20 years in Melbourne, I've become aware of regional variations here (mainly in the short a/e sound followed by an L).
The issue is not that the average American pronounces "frost" as "frawst" but rather that "aw" is pronounced more like a short "o". So when a typical Nth American pronounces the word "dawn", a non-North American English speaking person hears it as "Don". (Says he who has an American wife!)
Funny WesF that you bring up that example. I brought that up on Facebook and it was denied by a mid-Western American. What accent does your wife have? One of my colleague has a west coast accent and I cannot tell the difference between Don and Dawn.
I found this interesting. Here in the Northern Territory there is a big emphasis on learning 'standard Australian English' with rigorous phonics programs teaching the 'correct' sounds for letters and letter combinations. Last term I had a year 7 student who had moved here from the Philippines and who used American spelling in his assignments and I thought about how this is an extra challenge for Australians who live overseas and are taught to say and spell things differently from the way they would be taught in Australia.
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