3 ms·

That's great. What's also amusing is how you felt it necessary to provide the diacritical pronunciation guide for "Vaughan"... because I think to most native En

That's great. What's also amusing is how you felt it necessary to provide the diacritical pronunciation guide for "Vaughan"... because I think to most native English speakers we can't imagine any other pronunciation!

FpUser 7mo ago
I think native English speaker who had never heard of Vaughan (sure we can find some of those) would likely to pronounce it like "Vog-un" - /ˈvɒɡən/ or "Vog-han" - /ˈvɑːɡən/
- SoftTalker 7mo ago
  No, "gh" is usually silent in English spelling.
  - jhauris 7mo ago
    Laugh, trough, tough, rough. Maybe it should be "Vawfan"
    - oblio 7mo ago
      Ghoul.
      - card_zero 7mo ago
        Hiccough. Loughborough, which has it both ways. (Apocryphally pronounced by Australians as "Loogahbaroogah".)
  - toast0 7mo ago
    augh is not as common as ough, but either one can make any sound in the whole syllabary. How about Sequim, WA. Guess how to pronounciate that.
    - philiplu 7mo ago
      Or Puyallup, WA. Those two are definite shibboleth tests in the PNW.
      - bluepeter 7mo ago
        Pend Oreille is the eastern WA test for western WA.
        canucker2016 7mo ago
        and for our eastern neighbours: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (and Boise too) My years of french class steered me wrong there.
      - shawn_w 7mo ago
        Des Moines, WA vs Des Moines, IA.
- b40d-48b2-979e 7mo ago
  No, I don't think they would. I've never heard of Vaughan and assumed one syllable like the parent commenter.
- trollierworm 7mo ago
  This sent me down a mental rabbit hole, I think it's one of those interesting nuances that are rules that native speakers follow without being able to name it, or know it. I'm a native speaker, and also thought `vawn` was the most obvious pronounciation. I'm guessing it's because `augh` is perceived as a recognizable vowel cluster where `gh` tends to be silent (daughter, caught, naught, taught). The interesting twist for me is that `laugh` is in obvious counter example, until I realized that gh in final position (laugh, rough, enough) is almost always \f\. And further, in words like laughter, roughness, we immediately distinguish a modified root word from the lexical position. Maybe there's also an interesting thread to pull on in that the pattern may be more pronounced for names (e.g. Hughes). Just ruminating here though, I don't have a source for any of this.

FpUser 7mo ago

I think native English speaker who had never heard of Vaughan (sure we can find some of those) would likely to pronounce it like "Vog-un" - /ˈvɒɡən/ or "Vog-han" - /ˈvɑːɡən/

SoftTalker 7mo ago
No, "gh" is usually silent in English spelling.
- jhauris 7mo ago
  Laugh, trough, tough, rough. Maybe it should be "Vawfan"
  - oblio 7mo ago
    Ghoul.
    - card_zero 7mo ago
      Hiccough. Loughborough, which has it both ways. (Apocryphally pronounced by Australians as "Loogahbaroogah".)
- toast0 7mo ago
  augh is not as common as ough, but either one can make any sound in the whole syllabary. How about Sequim, WA. Guess how to pronounciate that.
  - philiplu 7mo ago
    Or Puyallup, WA. Those two are definite shibboleth tests in the PNW.
    - bluepeter 7mo ago
      Pend Oreille is the eastern WA test for western WA.
      - canucker2016 7mo ago
        and for our eastern neighbours: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (and Boise too) My years of french class steered me wrong there.
    - shawn_w 7mo ago
      Des Moines, WA vs Des Moines, IA.
b40d-48b2-979e 7mo ago
No, I don't think they would. I've never heard of Vaughan and assumed one syllable like the parent commenter.
trollierworm 7mo ago
This sent me down a mental rabbit hole, I think it's one of those interesting nuances that are rules that native speakers follow without being able to name it, or know it. I'm a native speaker, and also thought `vawn` was the most obvious pronounciation. I'm guessing it's because `augh` is perceived as a recognizable vowel cluster where `gh` tends to be silent (daughter, caught, naught, taught). The interesting twist for me is that `laugh` is in obvious counter example, until I realized that gh in final position (laugh, rough, enough) is almost always \f\. And further, in words like laughter, roughness, we immediately distinguish a modified root word from the lexical position. Maybe there's also an interesting thread to pull on in that the pattern may be more pronounced for names (e.g. Hughes). Just ruminating here though, I don't have a source for any of this.