*My husband's name has been changed because he thinks this is
all “bunkum”.
My husband, Jerry*, and I have been arguing for some days now about the appropriate pronunciation of the word lure, as in fishing lures and lure the bunny with carrots. He maintains that “lurr” [lɜː(r)] is the correct form, and I am sure that there is a dipthong in there, making it sound like “looer” [l(j)ʊə(r)]. The vowel sounds in each are what makes the difference.
My husband, Jerry*, and I have been arguing for some days now about the appropriate pronunciation of the word lure, as in fishing lures and lure the bunny with carrots. He maintains that “lurr” [lɜː(r)] is the correct form, and I am sure that there is a dipthong in there, making it sound like “looer” [l(j)ʊə(r)]. The vowel sounds in each are what makes the difference.
In order to
prove my point, I first went to the Source of All Knowledge – the Oxford English
Dictionary. OED agrees with me, and supplies the IPA
reading you see above. To further prove my point, I consulted the Macmillan
dictionary online, Wiktionary, and even the lowly Merriam-Webster. Furthermore,
I played audio files from at least three English pronunciation websites to cement
my win. (I might be considered a poor winner by these standards; I might be
considered a poor winner by any standards.)
Despite the
abundance of evidence for my case, Jerry refused to give in. I put the vote to
our Facebook friends. Six voted for my pronunciation; none for his. Jerry
remained stubborn; he claims he “doesn’t believe in surveys”, especially when
they don’t go his way.
One of these
Facebook friends even looked it up in her own dictionary and said that lure is pronounced like cure, with the “oo-er” sound in both. That’s
when we hit our breakthrough. Jerry considered this the proving point in his
argument! He went on to say, over and over, “cure [kjʊə(r)], lure [lɜː(r)], cure
[kjʊə(r)], lure [lɜː(r)], cure [kjʊə(r)], lure [lɜː(r)].”
That was when
I realized that our argument was invalid. It wasn’t a pronunciation
argument; it was a phonological argument. Jerry actually believed that
the sounds were identical. So it’s not a problem of speaking, but of listening.
Phonology is the study of how
the phonetics of a
language are systematized. Along with vocabulary and syntax, every language
(even sign language) has a pattern of phonology that dictates where and when
certain sounds occur.
To give an
example in English, the written words are as follows:
Cat
|
Cats
|
Dog
|
Dogs
|
The native
speaker knows that by adding the –s to
the end of the word indicates pluralization, changing the meaning of the root
word. The native speaker also knows how to pronounce the words, [kæts] and [dɒgz].
But look closely at the phonetics of the words. Whereas “cats” ends with an
unvoiced alveolar fricative [s], “dogs” ends with a voiced alveolar fricative
[z].
Why do we
voice the fricative on one word and not the other? The answer is: phonology. By
using phonological problem-solving techniques, we can come to the conclusion
that English speakers voice the plural –s
when it follows a voiced sound, and it is unvoiced after following an unvoiced
sound. (In dogs and cats, the g and the t are voiced
and unvoiced, respectively.) The native speaker knows this intuitively and
actually makes no distinction between the two sounds, having been influenced by
the spelling that they are the same. Nothing could be further from the truth in
a phonetic sense. The sounds are distinct, though they make no difference to
the meaning of the words.
Have a look
at the following word list and try to identify the occurrence of the voiced
pairs of sounds and the unvoiced pairs of sounds.
Pails
|
Rights
|
Holidays
|
DVDs
|
Stinks
|
Books
|
Another
example of a phonological system is in the following related words:
Breaths
[brɛθs]
|
Breathes
[briːðz]
|
Once again we
have the –s in the writing of the
word, but there is a [s]/[z]
discrepancy in the pronunciation. Why, when the words both end in –th? Because there are two ways of
pronouncing th. One is unvoiced, the
[θ] at the beginning of thanks and throw; and the other is voiced, the [ð]
in there and then. Try saying thanks
with the voiced sound. It’s odd, and different, even if it still conveys the
same meaning. (I have a friend who purposely uses this pronunciation to
surprise people.) Well, the phonology of English tells us that whether we use
the voiced or unvoiced sound, the meaning of the word remains the same. Not so
in all languages, because one may exhibit two words which have differing
meanings based on which of these sounds are uttered.
But back to
Jerry, and his assertion that “cure” and “lure” sound the same, even though he
uses different vowel sounds in each. The
orthography of English and his native upbringing have conspired to convince him
that his mouth is making the same movements for both. He could not be more
wrong. What he doesn’t know about his own mouth movements is what makes
phonology fascinating for the linguist. The native speakers have no clue that
they are making different sounds, because the brain filters them according to
meaning and not by the sound. It brings up a question of the nature of reality:
can we trust that our brains are processing the raw sensations correctly?
Jerry does, though, distinguish between rule and lure. "Rule has an oo-sound," he says, instantaneously confounding my argument in its entirety.
Jerry does, though, distinguish between rule and lure. "Rule has an oo-sound," he says, instantaneously confounding my argument in its entirety.
However, in a
sense, Jerry’s original argument is correct. Objectively, he and I are making different
sounds with our mouths, but to any listener, we would both be repeating the
same word. There is no alternate meaning for “l—r” based on our distinct pronunciations,
so we will both still be able to be understood in communication.
In
conclusion: tomayto, tomahto. However it's pronounced, it's the same word. He won’t stop saying lurr and
I won’t stop hating it. He is also now calling me “Inspector Clouseau”,
because he thinks I "sound like a dog with peanut butter on the roof of its mouth".