How do you pronounce been?

Guest   Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:29 pm GMT
How do you pronounce been? Like "bin" or "bean"?
Kimber   Wed Jun 21, 2006 6:28 pm GMT
Just like "bin"
Kirk   Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:22 pm GMT
I pronounce it like "bin" [bIn]. I'm from California.
Lazar   Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:55 pm GMT
I likewise pronounce it as "bin" [bIn]. I'm from Massachusetts.
Guest   Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:56 pm GMT
Both forms in weak form/strong form alternation.
William   Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:59 pm GMT
Probably the pronunciation of "been" comes from ('bē-ən) which became (bĭn) only. In fast, "been" should be pronounced as "bean", even if both
words rhyme.
William   Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:06 pm GMT
The same thing happens with "our, ours, ourselves" as (ar, arz, arselvz). In fact, "our, ours, ourselves" should be pronounced as "hour, hours, hour selves",even if they rhyme.
Guest   Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:27 pm GMT
<<In fact, "been" should be pronounced as "bean", even if both
words rhyme.>>

<<In fact, "our, ours, ourselves" should be pronounced as "hour, hours, hour selves",even if they rhyme.>>

Um, no. /bIn/ and /Ar/ are both extremely widely used and accepted, and I've seen both of these pronunciations listed in dictionaries (British and American).

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=56151&ph=on

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=HW*78000070&dict=CLD2

http://m-w.com/dictionary/be

http://m-w.com/dictionary/our

This speech survey ( http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_2.html ) indicates that a substantial majority of Americans use [I], with most of the remainder using [E], and only a tiny minority using [i].
Lazar   Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:30 pm GMT
Sorry, that last post was written by me.

(Also, the second URL didn't complete become a hyperlink, apparently because of the asterisk.)
Kirk   Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:32 pm GMT
<<Probably the pronunciation of "been" comes from ('bē-ən) which became (bĭn) only. In fast, "been" should be pronounced as "bean", even if both
words rhyme.>>

<<The same thing happens with "our, ours, ourselves" as (ar, arz, arselvz). In fact, "our, ours, ourselves" should be pronounced as "hour, hours, hour selves",even if they rhyme.>>

Huh? "Should" be pronounced? Those forms have been around for centuries, as Lazar pointed out, and are common around the English-speaking world. There's no problem with them.
William   Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:57 pm GMT
Even experts wish a better simplified spelling which in your
request "should, would, and could" become (shwaud, wwaud, cwaud in RP), but (shuud, wuud, cuud in A.P.).
Johnathan Mark   Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:10 pm GMT
I pronounce it bEn. Minnesota.
Travis   Thu Jun 22, 2006 1:46 am GMT
It is usually [bI~:n] here in the Milwaukee, WI area, but one will hear [bE~:n] here as well time to time.
William   Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:50 am GMT
Irregularities abound in spelling and pronunciation.

"Pretty" should be written pritty but this is one of our language irregularity. Mainly the English is made of phonetical changes accepted by
the original speakers of it.
William   Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:25 am GMT
My option to write "could" as cwaud but "queen" still queen, is for not deleting the q in a simplified spelling.

In American English words as auto, law and caught seem spelled as otto, la, and cot. In most case British say au or aw almost as in French, no existing ah for au or aw. So that's why I think "should, would, and could" sound (shwaud, wwaud, cwaud) in R.P, but (shuud, wuud, cuud) in A.P.

I'm not the Christ to change the English orthography. If Christ went to change it he'd get crazy probably. It's a sense joke!