Mind the phonetic blank!

minimal pair sentences with weakforms - #2

Here's a list of sentences which form minimal pairs due to the use of a word used either in its strongform or its weakform.

1.  You mean that /ðәt/ Guy is your boyfriend? - You mean that /ðæt/ guy is your boyfriend?
2.  I shall send the one with chocolate. - I shall send thee one with chocolate.
3.  After the incident, he’s taken to aspirin. - After the incident, he’s taken two aspirin.
4.  They saw that /ðət/ petrol can /kən/ explode. - They saw that /ðæt/ petrol can /kæn/ explode.
5.  They'll have /əv/ boiled eggs. - They'll have /hæv/ boiled eggs.
6.  He's eaten something he shouldn't have /əv/. - He's eaten something he shouldn't have /hæv/.
7.  There /ðə/ shouldn't be a problem. - There /ðeə/ shouldn't be a problem.
8.  Look at /əp/ Bill's address. - Look up /ʌp/ Bill's address.
9.  Did she arrive at a quarter to /tə/ two? - Did she arrive at a quarter to /tuː/ too?
10.  That's the reason I chose those for children. - That's the reason I chose those four children.
11.  The electrician left for Leeds this morning. - The electrician left four leads this morning.
12.  Father's bringing home /sʌm/ missionary for dinner. - Father's bringing home /səm, sm/ missionary for dinner.
13.  I'm giving her a picture that I shall have /hæv/ painted by Christmas. - I'm giving her a picture that I shall have /həv/ painted by Christmas.
14.  I've only known it four /fɔː/ weeks. - I've only known it for /fə/ weeks.
15.  He was going too /tuː/ fast. - He was going to /tə/ fast.
16.  A: I was 18 months before I could walk. B: I was /wəz/ two - B: I was /wɒz/, too.
17.  A: Which flight are you on? B: The 526 /faɪv tuː sɪks/. - B: The five to six /faɪv tə sɪks/.
18.  Bread and /n/ butter. - Bread and /ænd/ butter.
19.  I expect that /ðæt/ John told them. - I expect that /ðәt/ John told them.
20.  Jack was brave, but not so /səʊ/ Marmaduke. - Jack was brave, but not Sir /sə/ Marmaduke.
21.  She pinched his but /bət/ only for a second. - She pinched his butt /bʌt/ only for a second.
22.  Fish nor /nə/ flesh. - Fish gnaw /nɔː/ flesh.
23.  I won't buy an /ən/ old paper. - I won't buy Ann /æn/ old paper.

Credit must be given to these persons for creating the sentences:

• Jack Windsor Lewis
• John Maidment
• Emilio Márquez

minimal pair sentences with weakforms

I'm looking for pairs of sentences differing by a word which has both a weakform and a strongform pronunciation. Here are two examples:

1. Get the key /ɒf/, /əv/ that door. (I know it's actually not a proper minimal pair)
2. Father's bringing home /sʌm/, /səm/ missionary for dinner. (My thanks to JWL!)

Do you know of any lists, books, webpages containing such minimal pair sentences?

tight-fisted sleeping bag supplier

My daughter bought a sleeping bag recently from a British producer of equipment for climbers, expeditionists, mountaineers etc. The bag came with "a good night's sleep guarantee".
After having read the German translation I tossed and turned in my 'sleeping bag'.

This is how Google Translator would have rendered the English text into German:

Wir sind so zuversichtlich, dass diese Schlafsack hält Sie warm und komfortabel, dass sie mit unserer "Eine gute Nachtruhe" Garantie kommt.
Sollten Sie sich entscheiden, dass dieser Schlafsack nicht so warm, wie Sie es haben wir es zu einem von wärmeren Spezifikation Upgrade erwartet - gibt Ihnen Frieden des Verstandes, um darüber hinaus zu gehen.

 Dear supplier! Do you have to be so stingy? A professional translator would have cost you less than 50 quid.
Tsk, tsk, tsk!
 

sound additions

credit: LOL phonology at facebook

Adding a sound segment to a word without changing its meaning is one of the many English passtimes. English speakers add a vowel (as in /fɪləm/ for film) or 'stretch' a hamster by calling it /hæmpstə/. This insertion process is often called epenthesis. Some academics use instead the terms anaptyxis (adding a vowel, the so-called svarabhakti vowel, between consonants) and excrescence (adding a consonant between consonants). If you add a sound segment word-initially (e.g. Latin status became Spanish estado), we call this prosthesis or prothesis; glueing a sound to the end is called paragoge. Would the change from among to amongst be an example (with -st being an old genitival ending)? Can anyone out there come up with an English word exemplifying present-day pro(s)thesis?

BTW: You get the pun in the blog title, don't you?

rant alert

I'm sorry but I must get this off my chest.
I've started reading a scholarly book on the phenomenon called foreign accent. In the book's first chapter the author, a renowned professor at an American university, mentions the often repeated idea that children normally master their mother tongue, whereas if adults start learning an additional language they do not reach the same high level. To which the author adds the remark that this widely believed fact has been challenged. Included in round brackets is a reference to Spada 2011. Not knowing this source I consulted the reference section and found this:

Nina Spada
credit: University of Toronto

Spada, N. (2011). SLA research and L2 pedagogy. Misapplications and questions of relevance. Presentation to Second Language Research Forum, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.

Not very helpful - not helpful at all - and a nuisance!
Don't we write books for the academic readership? Don't we write them so that our colleagues are enabled to evaluate our statements, hypotheses, theories? Don't we all rely more or less on written sources when we give credit to what some other person thinks about the topic? Don't we all check the odd reference to an article in a journal or to a monograph? Yes, we do! How can we countercheck what Professor Nina Spada opined on that conference if we did not attend that forum or conference or whatever it was?

/smuːðd brɪtɪʃ fɑːpɑː/

Listen to this short sound clip taken from a speech by the retired Major General Patrick Cordingley, who speaks about the Iraqi war. (Sorry; I can't use proper IPA symbols in blog titles - or at least I don't know how to do this.)

a chance find

I've been skimming through Johan Storm's 1881 book Englische Philologie - Anleitung zum wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten. I. Die lebende Sprache. 1. Abteilung: Phonetik und Aussprache (Heilbronn) and found this on p. 15
:

 Ein Deutscher wurde in England gefragt, wie alt er und seine Frau wäre. Er antwortete: "I am dirty and my wife is dirty too [thirty-two]"

(A German was asked in England, how old he and his wife were. He replied: "...". Many Germans replace /θ/ and /ð/ by /s/ and /z/ respectively, but a few pronounce /d/ instead.)

vernal messenger

Is spring about to arrive?