How do you pronounce "General", 2 or 3 syllables?

[EngFan]

Hi All,

Could you tell me how do you pronounce the word "General", it has 2 syllables or 3 syllables?

EngFan

 

[Raymott]

Hi All,

Could you tell me how do you pronounce the word "General", it has 2 syllables or 3 syllables?

EngFan

gen·er·al/ˈjenərəl/

gen·er·al​

(j

n

r-

l)​

That's the general consensus.​

 

[5jj]

Both the LPD and the Cambridge EPD give a superscript schwa for the sound after /n/, as Raymott does. EPD also gives a superscript schwa for the sound after /r/; LPD gives an italicised schwa. These indicate that the sound may be pronounced or omitted. If the latter, they give their syllabic character to the following consonant.

This suggests that, for many speakers, general has more than two syllables, but fewer than three. This may sound very strange, but it is often difficult, if not impossible, to decide whether syylabic consonants in such words as general, buttoning, bottling should be described as full syllables or not.

Incidentally, the symbol normally used in phonemic/phonetic transcription for the first sound in 'general' is ʤ.

 

[tzfujimino]

Hello.:-D
According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, it is transcribed as:

BrE /ˈdʒenrəl/
NAmE /ˈdʒenrəl/

It might be irrelevant, but I can think of a word that has either three or four syllables:

stationary
BrE /ˈsteɪʃənri/
NAmE /ˈsteɪʃəneri/

 

[Raymott]

Incidentally, the symbol normally used in phonemic/phonetic transcription for the first sound in 'general' is ʤ.

Indeed it is. That was lax of me, not citing. I was merely hoping that EngFan would take the idea of consulting a few dictionaries. M-W doesn't use IPA. Here's the entry

gen·er·al/ˈjenərəl/

Adjective:	Affecting or concerning all or most people, places, or things; widespread: "books of general interest".
Noun:	A commander of an army, or an army officer of very high rank.
Synonyms:	common - universal - generic - broad - public

More info »Wikipedia - Dictionary.com - Answers.com - Merriam-Webster