Thread: Pronunciation

RU----------
Пара вопросов:
1. как читается слово address's, [эдрэсз] или [эдрэсиз]?
2. отличаются ли чем-нибудь эти слова в произношении: cheetah-cheater, reign-rain, know-no, tee-tea, lust-last?

EN----------
Couple of questions:
1. how pronounse word address's, like [addresz] or like [addresses]?
2. does this words sounds absolutely equally: cheetah-cheater, reign-rain, know-no, tee-tea, lust-last?

Originally Posted by delog

RU----------
Пара вопросов:
1. как читается слово address's, [эдрэсз] или [эдрэсиз]?
2. отличаются ли чем-нибудь эти слова в произношении: cheetah-cheater, reign-rain, know-no, tee-tea, lust-last?

EN----------
Couple of questions:
1. how pronounse word address's, like [addresz] or like [addresses]?
2. does this words sounds absolutely equally: cheetah-cheater, reign-rain, know-no, tee-tea, lust-last?

'Address's' (possessive) is pronounced the same as 'addresses' (plural).

Cheetah/ cheater depends on your accent.
There might be accents in which lust and last are homophones, but I can't think of any.
I'm pretty sure that know/ no and rain/ reign are always homophones.

Originally Posted by scotcher

Originally Posted by delog

RU----------
Пара вопросов:
1. как читается слово address's, [эдрэсз] или [эдрэсиз]?
2. отличаются ли чем-нибудь эти слова в произношении: cheetah-cheater, reign-rain, know-no, tee-tea, lust-last?

EN----------
Couple of questions:
1. how pronounse word address's, like [addresz] or like [addresses]?
2. does this words sounds absolutely equally: cheetah-cheater, reign-rain, know-no, tee-tea, lust-last?

'Address's' (possessive) is pronounced the same as 'addresses' (plural).

Cheetah/ cheater depends on your accent.
There might be accents in which lust and last are homophones, but I can't think of any.
I'm pretty sure that know/ no and rain/ reign are always homophones.

I thought the possessive "s" is omitted when the word itself ends in 's,' while the apostrophe is retained (i.e. address'). Or does that rule apply to plurals only?

Originally Posted by Yazeed

I thought the possessive "s" is omitted when the word itself ends in 's,' while the apostrophe is retained (i.e. address'). Or does that rule apply to plurals only?

Yazeed... these are American English rules and from Meredith College in North Carolina http://www.meredith.edu/grammar/plural.htm

Nouns ending in s, z, ch, sh, and x
Nouns with these letters at the end call for an "es" in the plural form. This added syllable makes pronunciation easier.

beaches
foxes
wishes

Singular possessive
The possessive form of a singular noun is an apostrophe followed by the letter "s."

Kramer's hair
Daphne's patience
the car's engine

Words ending with s, z or x generally omit the "s."
Dr. Seuss' sense of humor

Plural possessive
In order to place the apostrophe correctly in plural nouns, you must first be certain of the plural form.
For plural nouns ending in "s," add only an apostrophe:

Singers' voices
The cousins' favorite uncle

For plural nouns not ending in "s," add an apostrophe and "s."

Men's clothing
Children's books

Singular possessive
...
Words ending with s, z or x generally omit the "s."
Dr. Seuss' sense of humor

Have I right understood, singular possessive address is written address' and pronunciation will haven't changed?

Have I right written words in singular possessive?
1. fox' tail
2. jazz' style
3. James' pen

Hm, no, those rules for singular possessive are partly incorrect.

James' pen would be correct.

However, fox and jazz would just become fox's and jazz's, respectively.

But to be honest, I would never personally say "The jazz's blah blah blah" in conversation, just because the z with the possessive sound is awkward. Most people would just reword it and say something like "The style of the jazz" as opposed to "The jazz's style".


Oh, and delog, even though the plural possessive is only formed by adding an apostrophe to the singular, the word is still pronounced as "addresses", just like the plural form.

No one has actually responded to the first question, so I will. Rough pronunciation within the slash marks. Sorry that I'm too lazy to make it all IPA.

The pronunciation rule in English is as follows:
1. When a noun or verb ends in a sibilant consonant the inflection has an epenthetic vowel and comes out as an unstressed /iz/ or /ez/. examples buses /busez/, churches /churchez/, uses /usez/, Dr. Leech's /doctor leechez/

2. When a noun or verb ends in a voiced non sibilant sound (unvoiced consonants and all vowels), the inflection is becomes voiced though progressive assimilation.
examples: bags /bagz/, runs /runz/, Marvin's /marvinz/

3 When a noun or verb ends in a voiceless consonant sound the inflection is pronounced as "s". examples: boats ("boats"), lakes /laks/--note the silent e does not affect the ending sound, hits /hits/, Mike's /miks/

4 When a plural noun ends in an -s, an apostrophe is placed after the plural to indicate the possessive in writing. There is no difference in pronunciation between the singular possessive and the plural possessive. The sentence "The girls' books" sound exactly the same as "The girl's books."

5 When a plural of a noun is irregular and does not end in s, the possessive inflection rules above apply and the form is written with an apostrophe + s. ex: Children's toys /childrenz toyz/
(This material all adapted from Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin)
Soooooooo,
in your question the correct forms are:
singular address /adres/
plural addresses /adresez/
singular possessive address's /adresiz/
plural possessive addresses' /adresiz/

Thanks all!

If I right understand, all singular nouns which ending in "s", in the singular possessive case will sounds (hm... almost always) the same as singular common case, but written with an apostrophe in the end (always).

sing.common | sing. possessive
------------------------------------
access | access'
address | address'
gas | gas'
pass | pass'

Singular possessives are marked with 's. Singular possessives of of words ending in s may optionally be marked with just an apostrophe, but I'd consider this usage archaic except with classical or biblical names or in certain fossilised phrases (For goodness' sake).

If you can find a modern style guide from either side of the pond that says the possessive of address is address' then I'll eat my hat.

Either way though, it's always pronounced as addresses.

Originally Posted by scotcher

Singular possessives are marked with 's. Singular possessives of of words ending in s may optionally be marked with just an apostrophe, but I'd consider this usage archaic except with classical or biblical names or in certain fossilised phrases (For goodness' sake).

If you can find a modern style guide from either side of the pond that says the possessive of address is address' then I'll eat my hat.

Either way though, it's always pronounced as addresses.

Hmmmm. I don't think I've ever run into it in print. Seems to be an area of some controversy among grammar-punctuation folks. Looks like the majority position is to generally add apostrophe + s after singulars ending in -s, so I'll correct my post in so as not to complicate things for anyone who happens to look to it for reference. This seems to be the biggest discussion of the issue I can find: http://tinyurl.com/2rydem

Originally Posted by delog

RU----------
Пара вопросов:
1. как читается слово address's, [эдрэсз] или [эдрэсиз]?
2. отличаются ли чем-нибудь эти слова в произношении: cheetah-cheater, reign-rain, know-no, tee-tea, lust-last?

EN----------
Couple of questions:
1. how do i pronounce word address', like [addresz] or like [addresses]?
2. do these words sounds absolutely equally: cheetah-cheater, reign-rain, know-no, tee-tea, lust-last?

Whilst it might be different in other area's due to accent's. Cheetah and cheater sounds the same save the endings, cheetah is pronounced like cheet-a whilst cheater suprisingly sounds like cheat-er. Reign and rain sound the same. There is a slight difference between know and no but not many would bat an eyelid if you used either instead. Tee - tea, no difference. Lust and last there is a difference, the problem is i cant think of a substitute in russian that has the same sound as u, maybe лёст compared to last being ласт.