Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq
by tom_mellior on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @03:53AM
(#19197568)
> Yeah, none of those pronounce it with the vowel sound in English “cock”.
I was mainly talking about the vowel length. However:
> the “o” in “cock” is the one most Americans would find it most distinct from, I would think.
Really? More distinct than from the "oʊ" sound in American "coke"? (IPA from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coke)
Trying to have this discussion without IPA for multiple dialects is pretty tough with "long o" and "short o." I've only ever heard Coq pronounced like /kɑk/, but I'm from the Western US. I know Brits and Americans from the NE have the round low back vowel for /kɔk/. Coke sounds like /kouk/.
Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq
by dragonwriter on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @08:24AM
(#19198760)
I think mostly because to speakers of American English, roundedness is a very important vowel distinction, as “cock” has an unrounded vowel in American English, whereas the others are rounded, except “cuck”, which while also unrounded matches “coq” in position (open-mid vs. open, on the IPA chart)
As a French Canadian, I pronounce "coq" and "cock" the same way, while "cook" and "coke" are extremely different.
It's clearly because I don't pronounce them well, but it's certainly how I do it.
Yes, but...
> which has a short o like the English "cock"
No, it doesn't. The sound it has isn't a common English vowel sound at all; it is closer to the vowel sounds in “cuck” and “cook” than the one in “cock”, but not exactly either of those, either. In fact of the four (those two, plus coke and cock), the “o” in “cock” is the one most Americans would find it most distinct from, I would think.
> https://forvo.com/word/coq/#fr
Yeah, none of those pronounce it with the vowel sound in English “cock”.
> I know from rare comments like yours that some prudish Americans pronounce it "coke",
It's not prudish, its a common way Americans that haven't mastered French pronunciation approximate the unaccented French “o” irrespective of context.