[General] Fail - pronunciation

[beachboy]

Dictionaries say "fail" rhymes with "sail". But in conversations, on videos (there's a video on youtube), I hear it rhymes with "fell" Do I have bad ears? Are both pronunciations correct?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F50729a4O_s

 

[Roman55]

The vowel sound in words like fail and sail is the same as the name of the letter 'a'. In the video, she is dealing with a possible confusion between fail and file. In the word file, the vowel sound is the name of the letter 'i'.

 

[beachboy]

That person's pronunciation of 'fail' and 'file' are not exactly the same as mine - I am British - but they are clearly distinct from each other, and from that of 'fell'

Listen to how several people pronounce these words. You should be able to hear the differences:

https://forvo.com/search/fail/
https://forvo.com/search/file/
https://forvo.com/search/fell/

They're really distinct from each other. I've always pronounced it as the "ai" in sail. But doesn't Cress123's pronunciation sound like "fell"? That's what I hear.

 

[jutfrank]

The important difference between fail and fell is that fail includes a diphthong (a double vowel sound) and fell only a monophthong (a single vowel sound).

Beware that there is great variation in the ways that people around the world pronounce, so the advice above relates only to standard pronunciation. In some places in the US, people will naturally produce fell with a diphthong.

 

[GoesStation]

Beware that there is great variation in the ways that people around the world pronounce, so the advice above relates only to standard pronunciation. In some places in the US, people will naturally produce fell with a diphthong.

That's very common in the Appalachian accent many people in my area have. The vowels they use in fell and fail are distinct but they're both diphthongs. The narrator of the video pronounces and with a diphthong very similar to the one Appalachians often use in fell.

 

[beachboy]

And the same applies to "detail" and "e-mail".

 

[Tdol]

Watch her tongue when she says file- she's not particularly consistent.

 

[beachboy]

Watch her tongue when she says file- she's not particularly consistent.

My problem has got nothing to do with "file", only "fail". What I said is many people pronounce "fail" the way they pronounce "fell". Like Cress 123 at one of the links Piscean shared here. And I've noticed many people do the same when they pronounce "e-mail" and "detail". The sound is more "open".

 

[beachboy]

http://grammarglitchcentral.com/2010/06/whoops-fell-and-fail-are-not-interchangeble/

 

[GoesStation]

My problem has got nothing to do with "file", only "fail". What I said is many people pronounce "fail" the way they pronounce "fell". Like Cress 123 at one of the links Piscean shared here. And I've noticed many people do the same when they pronounce "e-mail" and "detail". The sound is more "open".

I think I hear what you mean about Cress 123's pronunciation: the first sound of the diphthong is quite similar to the vowel she might use in "fell". However, she distinctly diphthongizes "fail". Listen for a slide immediately before the /l/ sound. In most speakers' pronunciation, "fell" has a monophthong vowel, so if you don't hear a diphthong, you're probably hearing "fail".

This won't help you with a lot of American accents, though, where the vowel in "fell" is also a diphthong. The good news is that that pronunciation is mostly heard in Appalachian and Appalachian-influenced dialects whose speakers are a relatively small minority of Americans.

 

[Tdol]

http://grammarglitchcentral.com/2010/06/whoops-fell-and-fail-are-not-interchangeble/

That's not much of a source, and even there, the writer only supposes they sound the same in some accents.

 

[beachboy]

That's not much of a source, and even there, the writer only supposes they sound the same in some accents.

Yes, I understand. But my point is (assuming that the writer is a native), if he says that the two words sound alike, then my ears are not that bad.

 

[GoesStation]

Yes, I understand. But my point is (assuming that the writer is a native), if he says that the two words sound alike, then my ears are not that bad.

They can sound alike in some accents. Most Anglophones pronounce them differently.