"Bury vs. Berry" The Proper Pronunciation Edition - English ...

If you live in Bury, England, you're likely to pronounce it "Burry" rather then "Berry" - I used to work there and had to get out of the habit ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore "Buryvs.Berry"TheProperPronunciationEdition AskQuestion Asked 4years,11monthsago Active 2years,11monthsago Viewed 21ktimes 1 InAmericagrowingupintheMidwest,I'vealwaysheardpeoplepronouncetheword"bury"asifitwerepronouncedsoundingthesameastheword"berry". EversinceI'venoticedthismanyyearsbackI'vealwayspronouncedtheword"bury"asit'sspelledandIthinkitshouldbepronouncedbutitseemsnooneelsepronouncesthiswordlikeIdo. Ifamanneedstoburysomeberries,it'dsoundstrangeifyoupronouncebothwordsthatsoundthesamewiththe"air"insteadof"ur"sound. Listentothis"bury"forthewayIpronounceit Question(s) Iapologizeforthecorrelatedsub-questions I'mcuriouswhatthehistoryisbehindthiswordandit'spronunciationinAmericaandwhysomanypeoplepronounceitsoundingadifferentwaythanIdobasedonitsspelling? Maybepronouncing"bury"thatsoundslikesomeoneissaying"berry"isappropriateorproperandIsayitincorrectlyassumingthat'sthecorrectwaytopronounceit? etymologyamerican-englishpronunciation Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedMar25,2017at1:32 BasicalyaForiegnArgeument askedMar24,2017at21:04 BasicalyaForiegnArgeumentBasicalyaForiegnArgeument 15022goldbadges22silverbadges1111bronzebadges 17 5 SpellingandpronunciationonlycorrelateinEnglish,andoftennotwell,eg,colonel,victuals.Whatyoucall"improper"isprobably"proper"toothers.SeealsoNorthAmericanEnglishDialects. – ArmthegoodguysinAmerica Mar24,2017at21:12 3 Growingupintheeast,"bury"and"berry"areidenticalformetoo.Ihaveneverheardanyonepronounce"bury"as"burr-ee". – Hellion Mar24,2017at21:12 3 ANorthernIrishaccentmightpronounceburyas"burry".Butthenitwouldpronounceberrythesameway.(Whatsurprisesmeaboutthisquestionis:"IdoXbutno-oneelsedoes.WhyaretheyallwrongwhenI'vedecidedI'mright?"Iwonderifthere'sabetterwaytoaskthequestion.) – AndrewLeach ♦ Mar24,2017at21:19 3 IfyouliveinBury,England,you'relikelytopronounceit"Burry"ratherthen"Berry"-Iusedtoworkthereandhadtogetoutofthehabitofsaying"Berry". – MikeC Mar24,2017at22:25 2 @MagicallyDelicous:First,burr-eeisnotthewayanybodyI'veeverheardpronouncesbury;it'sspostabeahomophoneforberryandrhymewithvery,asnoted.Second,pronunciationcomesfirst,andspelling--ifany--comeslater.Third,Englishspellingdoesn'trepresentcorrectEnglishpronunciation;it'saverygoodspellingsystemforMiddleEnglish,lastspokenaround1550.ModernEnglish,notsomuch.Soyouhavetogiveuptheideathatspellingisprimary;spellingisactuallyjustarbitrary,andapaintoremember.Sorryaboutthat. – JohnLawler Mar24,2017at23:46  |  Show12morecomments 1Answer 1 Active Oldest Score 10 Thisquestionisbasedonafewmisconceptions. "Correct"isnotaclearlydefinedconceptforpronunciation.Butsofaraswecanspeakof"correctpronunciation"ofEnglishwords,it'sdefinitelynotamatterofpronouncingthings"astheyarespelled".Peoplegenerallyconsideritappropriatetousepronunciationsthatarewidelyusedandnotassociatedwithparticularstigmatizedsocialgroups,likelower-classspeakersorspeakersofstigmatizedminoritydialects. Therearemanywordsthathaveaspellingthatdoesn'tcorrespondtoanywidelyusedpronunciation.Forexample,thewordfriendisspelledwith"ie",likethewordfiend,but/friːnd/("freend")isnotawidelyusedpronunciationinmodernEnglish(Ihavenoideaifthispronunciationmayexistinsomeobscuredialect),soitisnotconsideredcorrect.Thecorrectpronunciationoffriendisinsteadconsideredtobe/frɛnd/("frend").Sowecanseethattheideaof"correctpronunciation"cannotbebasedonspellingalone.Thereareotherfactorsinfluencingwhatisconsidered"correct". Thepronunciationthatwouldbeexpectedfor"bury"ifithadacompletelyregularspellingwouldactuallybe/bjʊəri/,becausethereisonlyoneRaftertheU(comparefury,juryandbureau). But"bury"doesn'thaveacompletelyregularspelling.Rather,thespellingisbasedonweirddetailsofitshistoricaldevelopment.SeethefollowingnotefromtheEtymonlineentryfor"bury": TheOldEnglish-y-wasashort"oo"sound,likemodernFrench-u-.UndernormalcircumstancesittransformedintoModernEnglish-i-(inbridge,kiss,listen,sister,etc.),butinburyandafewotherwords(merry,knell)itretainedaKentishchangeto"e"thattookplaceinthelateOldEnglishperiod.IntheWestMidlands,meanwhile,theOldEnglish-y-soundpersisted,slightlymodifiedovertime,givingthestandardmodernpronunciationofblush,much,church. ThepeopleinthecommentswhosaytheyhaveheardburypronouncedtorhymewithfurryinanAmericanaccentmayhaveheardsomeonewiththe"Merry–Murraymerger".Aspeakerwiththisaccentwouldalsorhymeberryandferrywithfurry. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedOct10,2018at21:22 answeredMay24,2018at23:50 herissonherisson 71.3k99goldbadges171171silverbadges318318bronzebadges 3 1 Wow....holycow....andoverayearlater,wehaveatechnicallycorrectanswer....atleastIthinkbutthatisalotofgooddetailforsure.WhileIdon'tbelieveI'mofthePhiladelphiaEnglishdialect,forsomereasonforthisparticularwordIpronounceitthatwaystillsuchas"bury"asin"hurry"andnooneseemstoevertrytocorrectmebutwhenIhearotherssayitas"berry"pronunciationitalwayssticksouttomeforsomereason.Isupposethat'sapersonalthingbutthankyouverymuchregardlessforyourawesomeanswer. – BasicalyaForiegnArgeument May25,2018at0:17 SomethingelsethatisfunnyI'venoticedwithpeoplefromGaryIndianainparticularfromthoseI'veheardtalkwithcertainwordssuchas"there"somepeoplepronounceitlike"thur"buttheonlypeopleI'veheardpersonallytalklikethathavebeenfromtheGaryIndianaarea....lol – BasicalyaForiegnArgeument May25,2018at0:20 @Facebook:Interesting.Withawordlike"there",itmightbehardtotellifthechangeinthepronunciationofthevowelisbasedonagenerallyapplicablesoundchange,orareductionthatappliesmainlytothatoneword. – herisson May25,2018at0:26 Addacomment  |  Highlyactivequestion.Earn10reputation(notcountingtheassociationbonus)inordertoanswerthisquestion.Thereputationrequirementhelpsprotectthisquestionfromspamandnon-answeractivity. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedetymologyamerican-englishpronunciationoraskyourownquestion. FeaturedonMeta UpdateontheongoingDDoSattacksandblockingTorexitnodes Whowilltakeupthemantle? Related 8 Pronunciationof"especially" 8 Pronunciationof"of" 11 Whatisthecorrectpronunciationandetymologyof"corps"? 1 Pronunciationof"thisyear" 3 Thepronunciationofending"s" 2 Pronunciationof‘few’as[ˈfjyu̯] 1 Americanpronunciationof"with" 0 DosomeAmericansintheMidwestpronounce"sorry"similarlytoCanadians? HotNetworkQuestions solvingheatequation CanaPokémonevolvewhileit'sfainted? Storywithachild-likeAIbeingusedtocontrolafusionreactorbybeingtaughtthattheplasmawasbroccoliandthatithatedit Wigglethetower Howtocenternodeintikzmatrixcell? Wheredoesablackhole'seventhorizonformandwhen? DoesthedistancetoL2vary? Averageofanoddnumberofequallyspacedpointsonacircle CantitaniumbeusedasI-beams? Whatisthiscircuitdoing? Renderingsinglelabelformultipleparts UponmyrequestpriortoafacultyapplicationinFrance,Iwasinvitedtogiveatalk.ShouldItravelattheirexpenseorbettergiveitonline? Chemistrywithoutoil WhyWouldn'tTheMilitaryIntervenewithaZombieApocalypse? Whatisthesignificance/symbolismofthe"gate"beingmadeofpearl? CanIusethree2-wireRomexrunstowire5switches? WhendidTheSimpsonsstartrepeatingCouchGags? WereUSAstatesreallythisdisconnectedin1964,andwasbigamyreallypunishedbydeath? Howtodetermineifanelementundergoeselectronorpositronemission? CustomnormalizationofHistogram Cananartificerresetaninfusion'schargesbyre-infusingit? GenerateAllPermutationsinExcelusingLAMBDA WhenwouldSpanishspeakerspronouncethe"j"liketheEnglish"j"? WhydoestheUSkeepannouncingwhattheythinkRussiaisgoingtodoinUkraine? morehotquestions Questionfeed SubscribetoRSS Questionfeed TosubscribetothisRSSfeed,copyandpastethisURLintoyourRSSreader. Yourprivacy Byclicking“Acceptallcookies”,youagreeStackExchangecanstorecookiesonyourdeviceanddiscloseinformationinaccordancewithourCookiePolicy. Acceptallcookies Customizesettings