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> an European European starts with a vowel in spelling, but actually phonerically begins with a consonant, /j/, so it doesn't trigger the "an" thing. Similarl
by asveikau 11mo ago
> an European
European starts with a vowel in spelling, but actually phonerically begins with a consonant, /j/, so it doesn't trigger the "an" thing.
Similarly some spellings start with a consonant but have vowels (like acronyms, "an SSRI", the name of the letter S, "ess", begins with a vowel)
More to the point I agree with what you're saying. This seems like lazy attribution of cause that is so common in American business and politics. "Of course deregulation will boost growth!" Why? Because of religious beliefs about deregulation boosting growth.
- maleldil 11mo agoMaybe they say it as an "ew" diphthong instead? As an ESL, that makes sense to me.
- epolanski 11mo ago> European starts with a vowel in spelling, but actually phonerically begins with a consonant Ah makes sense. In my head it's never "you"ropean, but "ew" uropean as I'm not a native english speaker and phonetically it's a consonant in english only. In greek, slavic languages, german or latin-derived it's always "ew".
- xeromal 11mo agoThat's pretty cool. I'm from the Southeast US (redneck), and it sounds like "Yur-uh-pee-in"
- heavenlyhash 11mo agoReally depends on where you're from. OP already mentioned in his area it's phonetically mostly "ew". I'd say a lot of germanic areas also do something I'd describe as "oi". That'd also make one inclined to use an "an" when speaking.
- asveikau 11mo agoI speak other languages where it starts with an E sound. But I'm not aware of any native English speaking place where it doesn't have /j/ in English.