"Woman" vs. "women" pronunciation?

[Relish in Chaos]

For as long as I can remember, I've always been iffy on the pronunciation of "women" compared to "woman". I mean, I've always pronounced it pretty much the same as "woman", because whenever I tried to emphasise the "mehn" in "wo-men", it just rolls off unnaturally on my tongue.

So, what is the actual pronunciation for "women"? Is it really just the same as "woman" (i.e. "wuh-muhn"), or is it different?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Surely that would depend on whatever accent you happen to have?

 

[Stasisesque]

For as long as I can remember, I've always been iffy on the pronunciation of "women" compared to "woman". I mean, I've always pronounced it pretty much the same as "woman", because whenever I tried to emphasise the "mehn" in "wo-men", it just rolls off unnaturally on my tongue.

So, what is the actual pronunciation for "women"? Is it really just the same as "woman" (i.e. "wuh-muhn"), or is it different?

The wo- sound changes to whi, I suppose that may be where you're going wrong?

Wuh-muhn.
Whi-mehn.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Wuh-man for woman, the singular.
Wih-men for women, the plural.

Don't confuse people with tenses when talking D:

 

[Angelowl]

And this proves that English is just a mish-mash of weird dialects. There is basically no pronounciation laws in it. Tried to study it at university level and my face just went "" This could explain why english primary speakers can't pronounce ancient latin or greek properly. I still get annoyed at people who can't say Makedonia etc.

Sry if I went off topic. but yeah, when the latter vocal changes in text the former is altered in speech.

 

[tomtom94]

And this proves that English is just a mish-mash of weird dialects. There is basically no pronounciation laws in it. Tried to study it at university level and my face just went "" This could explain why english primary speakers can't pronounce ancient latin or greek properly. I still get annoyed at people who can't say Makedonia etc.

Sry if I went off topic. but yeah, when the latter vocal changes in text the former is altered in speech.

Hahaha, I know your pain - staying off topic, it doesn't help matters that even people teaching Latin and ancient Greek can't agree on how to pronounce it though does it? Even reading the Iliad and being constantly corrected by my tutor on how to pronounce the names because everyone gets used to the Latinised forms being associated with modern pronunciations... (especially Sarpedon)

On topic: Never noticed it myself. English remains a terrible primary language - very little logic in it, much of it based on words and forms picked up from other languages and mixed together.

But it is our primary language.

 

[Angie7F]

I think you should just use what people around you use.
just adjust your pronunciation to the environment.

 

[Albino Boo]

And this proves that English is just a mish-mash of weird dialects. There is basically no pronunciation laws in it. Tried to study it at university level and my face just went "" This could explain why english primary speakers can't pronounce ancient latin or greek properly. I still get annoyed at people who can't say Makedonia etc.

Sry if I went off topic. but yeah, when the latter vocal changes in text the former is altered in speech.

I entirely agree, one of the major reason why English is so difficult and has no rules is because of the fact that modern English came into being on the boundary of the anglo saxon speaking south and the old norse speaking north. The nice full infection and pronunciation of anglo saxon was bastardized by making it intelligible to the invaders from Scandinavia. Modern English would work like Dutch and German if it wasn't for you Scandinavians.

 

[Danny Ocean]

I entirely agree, one of the major reason why English is so difficult and has no rules is because of the fact that modern English came into being on the boundary of the anglo saxon speaking south and the old norse speaking north. The nice full infection and pronunciation of anglo saxon was bastardized by making it intelligible to the invaders from Scandinavia. Modern English would work like Dutch and German if it wasn't for you Scandinavians.

Not only that, but it's also one of the only languages in the world that lacks a prescriptive dictionary.

So, kinda by definition, anything goes. Although the way British people speak it is still the most correct, because it's the one being described. ;D

Here's a cool series on English linguistics. It's dead interesting.

 

[Best of the 3]

Woman (wuh-man) when talking about a woman.
Women (wih-men) when talking about 2+ women.

 

[Funyahns]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/woman?s=t

http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/IPA_pron_key.html

There is how to spell. And pronounce words of the English language.

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

when I was a kid, our english teachers would tell us that the difference is in the way you pronounce the first sillable. it would go something like "weh-men". Weirdly enough, that's not how I pronounce it. I just pute more of an emphasis on the O and pronounce the -men just like... well... 'men'.

then again, english is not my first language so I'm probably (most likely in fact) wrong.

 

[kurupt87]

Queens English, wimin. First i as in "with" and second as in "in".

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I think woman is pretty universal. Women is a word I struggled with spelling for a while because phonetically that spelling in no way makes "Wimmin" which is how I and pretty much everyone with an americanized manner of speaking generally pronounce it.

That said I'm not sure if that's how it's actually supposed to be said or if people just say it like that because it's easier. For a while I thought the Dash Hound and the Doxxen were two different breeds of dogs just because I had never seen it as text.

 

[Yuuki]

I pronounce it as below:
Woman = "wo-mun" or "wuh-mun"
Women = "wi-men" or "wih-men"

So yeah, the initial "o" sound changes even though the spelling only actually changes "a" to "e". English is funny like that.

 

[Grach]

BroTeamPill taught me the valuable lesson of simply saying "WOMS". Or alternatively "WAH-min".

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Right, OK. I think I'm going to continue pronouncing "woman" as "wuh-muhn" because it seems like the correct one, and start pronouncing "women" as "wimmin".

 

[zumbledum]

one man , many men
one wom-an , many wim-en

its just the singular/plural notice the man men change at the end of the words that will help with pronunciation.

 

[Voulan]

You know, I've just realized that I've always pronounced the two in exactly the same way. "Woh-min". Then again I'm a Kiwi, and we have no difference in the way we say "bear" and "beer" either.