Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Comments on Vowel insertion phenomenon

Post

Vowel insertion phenomenon

+6
−0

When I, maybe Br.E speaker, pronounce adverbs ending '-bly' I find myself occasionally inserting an extra vowel.

So I say feeble-y, noble-y but I 'correctly' say 'nim-bly' and 'lim-ply' (I've placed the hyphen to approximate stress).

Various online dictionaries give the pronunciation without that extra vowel/different stress:

(I note that Merriam-Webster does provide an alternative pronunciation, but with no explanation)

What is this inclination towards vowel epenthesis called, if it even has a name? I know similar insertions with r has a name: Linking R and intrusive R, but I've not found a similar article on vowel insertion.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

2 comment threads

Non-native observations (3 comments)
Getting a recording or transcription (1 comment)
Getting a recording or transcription
Jirka Hanika‭ wrote 6 months ago · edited 6 months ago

The only British English pronunciation recording of "nobly" currently present at forvo does not seem to capture the phenomenon. Consider finding or providing an example recording online - or provide an IPA transcription within your question if that is easier for you to do.

Your question is comprehensible already as is, but less concrete than it could be.