Talk:obese

pronunciation in General American: Muke, are you sure /oʊ/ is right, not /ou/? Starting with "Oh good" and taking out all the consonents, the sound from /o/ to /ʊ/ as a glide just doesn't mesh. It sounds to me like the first part of "Oh what..." (if you don't aspirate the w, that is).

—Długosz

I would have thought the same, but apparently linguists don't see it the same way. See this page in Wikipedia for brief discussion and an external link on the subject. Ortonmc 22:50, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I see. I do much the same with /ɔɪ/ for example. My only nit is that phonetic transcriptions should reference a key as to what the symbols mean and what the conventions are. At least a set of guide words putting the symbols into the reader's context. —Długosz

I didn't invent the transcription; I use a version of American SAMPA (and a straight IPAfication of same). /ou/ is thickly accented (perhaps Spanish?); the offglide of the vowel is normally laxer than that. For "oh good" sans consonants I'd expect /oʊʊ/, i.e. [oʊ̯ʊ], if not actually [oʊwʊ] (deliberate speech tends to avoid hiatus), which would sound like the start of "oh what" (or more accurately perhaps "oh wookie"). —Muke Tever 23:03, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Yes this is normal American IPA as well as Australian. British usually uses a different form which reflects the "RP" accent which is quite different. Actually the IPA that I know also uses a length mark on the "i" as well so it would be /oʊˈbiːs/. The "WEAE" however looks like a foreign word to me that I would spell "orbis" or "awbis"... — Hippietrail 23:50, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Maybe we should exchange some sound clips. Where do you get an "r" ("orbis") in /oˈbis/? I don't show an offglide because that will happen "naturally" for the speaker; I'm only showing /o/ as a canonocal symbol for the "oooooooh" sound. Some speakers will continue vocalizing while opening the lips; some may make the /b/ sound without opening the lips farther to start with; some may sound something (to a more or less degree) when "stopping" the /o/. The canonocal symbol avoides the dialect/accent effects and is not a narrow transcription (to use the IPA handbook terminology). —Długosz

The 'r' is from non-rhotic (in this case Australian) speech. Unlike in rhotic General American, length is phonemic in non-rhotic speech, usually (but not always) from an original lost r. Using /oː/ is narrow, though, marking a suprasegmental when it has nothing to contrast with. (p.s.: canonical.) —Muke Tever 17:12, 14 Apr 2004 (UTC)

WEAE has its own problems. As for /iː/, it's likely that the length isn't significant—personally I know my /i/ is short in words like regain, but even a word like seat doesn't sound too different from sit read as Spanish. Alternately, /i/ and /u/ may be used as there are no phonemic oppositions between /i/ and /iː/, or /u/ and /uː/. —Muke Tever 01:02, 14 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Some dictionaries go with just the sound difference /I/I/, /a/A/, /U/u/; some actually go just withe the length difference (at least i have read this in linguistics books) /i/i:/, /a/a:/, /u/u:/; but most go for both sound and length difference in English /I/i:/, /a/A:/, /U/u:/. Macquarie uses #1 but the OED uses #3 and that's my pref too. — Hippietrail 13 Apr 2004

I agree that the length isn't significant in English. I started leaving the mark out shortly after starting to transcribe a lot of IPA, because it was just clutter. In my recient transciptions here, I've used it on occasion, not consistantly. —Długosz

How Do I Pronounce "Obeses?"

It is pronounced like "oh-bee-sus" or as a homophone of "feces?" My friend uses the term and says it like "feces" - "oh-bee-sees." 4.241.6.142