random language factoid

[deird1]

Reading kids books has made me notice something about US English that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred to me.

Namely: you guys pronounce “squirrel” and “toward” as though they have one syllable, not two.

(The rhymes in kids books have a very weird scansion if I read them in my accent.)

Comments

It's regional

[dialecticdreamer]

Also, the scansion in the majority of kids' books I tried with my kids were NOT very good. They had a LOT of 'almost works,' which really bothered the kid who had a great ear for poetry, meter, and music.

I pronounce squir-rel, two syllables, but it's spoken as quickly as 'girl,' and uses the schwa-plus-R as the dominant vowel sound. I pronounce 'toward' as though it is written tWaard, with the a of 'father.' That's ABSOLUTELY regional; I'm from North Carolina in the US, and after decades in California, THAT word hasn't changed, though I've smoothed out ninety percent of my original accent.