<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:14pt"><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="">Of course, one has to be aware of regional, social and cultural differences in pronunciation. I recall being perplexed in childhood by the then non-obvious (to me) humour in the following children’s chant:<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style="background-color: transparent;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class=""
style=""> </span>I scream,<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class="" style=""> </span>You scream,<o:p class=""
style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class="" style=""> </span>We all scream<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class=""
style=""> </span>For ice cream.<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div class="" style="background-color: transparent;"><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="">To my young Canadian ears it was an unsuccessful attempt at a pun, ineffective with regard to both vowel length and syllable stress.<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""> </span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="">As for
syllable stress in particular, many folks in the UK and North America differ with regard to the syllables they stress in the following nouns (single quotation marks precede stressed vowels):<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class="" style=""> </span>c’ontroversy / contr’oversy<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class=""
style=""> </span>t’elevision / telev’ision<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class="" style=""> </span>adv’ertisement /
advert’isement<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class="" style=""> </span>g’arage / gar’age<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class=""
style=""> </span>r’esearch / res’earch<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class="" style=""> </span>s’ubsidence<span
class="" style=""> </span>/ subs’idence<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class="" style=""> </span>s’ubmarine / submar’ine<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="">and adjectives:<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class=""
style=""> </span>cl’andestine /cland’estine<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><span class="" style=""> </span>c’ommunal /
comm’unal<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="">Cf. the British Library’s pronunciation project:<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""><a href="http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/activities/phonological-variation/" class="" style="">http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/activities/phonological-variation/</a><o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""> </span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="">Whereas 'Yellow Submarine' and 'I'm a Little Dutch Girl' (a.k.a. 'Girl Guide, Girl Guide') are the only lyrics I know that include one of the above words, a worthwhile exercise for Justin’s students might be for them to notate, perform and record a version of George and Ira Gershwin’s ‘Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off’ with both
members of the above pairs in stress contrast.<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""> </span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style="">Jay Rahn, York University (Toronto)<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></span></div><div class="" style=""><span class="" style=""></span></div><div class="" style=""><span lang="EN-US" class="" style=""> </span></div></div></body></html>