5 ms·

What is the difference between "cray-ahn" and "cray-awn"? Note that I pronounce "dawn" = "don". Also, I say crayon as "crown", which either isn't very popular

by RK 13y ago

What is the difference between "cray-ahn" and "cray-awn"? Note that I pronounce "dawn" = "don". Also, I say crayon as "crown", which either isn't very popular, or they just chose poor colors for the heatmap.

wambotron 13y ago
Dawn and don are the same for me, too. I pronounce crayon as "cray'n" -- pretty much exactly as you could pronounce "prayin'"
- johnchristopher 13y ago
  What about "down" then ? As in "Don said dawn gets him down".
  - wambotron 13y ago
    Down is different, sounds like crown/town/clown/gown for me. Don/dawn sound like the "a" in father for me. Down sounds like the "ou" in "Ouch!"
anigbrowl 13y ago
It would help if you mentioned where you're from, and where your parents are from.
lotharbot 13y ago
> "I say crayon as "crown"" From what I understand, this is common in Kansas. Are you (or at least one of your parents) from there?
- RK 13y ago
  You got me there!
pasquinelli 13y ago
i think it's that cray-ahn rhymes with ann, and cray-awn rhymes with lawn. i'm a cran guy myself.
Azulsky 13y ago
My intuition would say the former is spoken faster and the latter with more of a drawl, leading awn to sound like lawn.
RK 13y ago
Seems the answer is to learn International Phonetic Alphabet.
baddox 13y ago
"Dawn" and "don" are the same for me as well, although I have heard that some localities make a distinction between those two vowel sounds with a varying amount of "roundness" of the lips. A lot of the pronunciation examples they gave made me speculate whether everyone even pronounces those words the same. It would be easier if everyone would just memorize IPA.
russelluresti 13y ago
The difference would be that "ahn" is pronounced like you were saying "Ahhhh" and "awn" is pronounced like you were saying "awe".
- Dylan16807 13y ago
  Those are exactly the same here (ignoring that ahhhhhhhhh is longer). Edit: Looking at a couple other comments apparently some people pronounce 'ahh' with the same a as 'ann'? I certainly don't.

by RK 13y ago

wambotron 13y ago

Dawn and don are the same for me, too. I pronounce crayon as "cray'n" -- pretty much exactly as you could pronounce "prayin'"

johnchristopher 13y ago
What about "down" then ? As in "Don said dawn gets him down".
- wambotron 13y ago
  Down is different, sounds like crown/town/clown/gown for me. Don/dawn sound like the "a" in father for me. Down sounds like the "ou" in "Ouch!"

anigbrowl 13y ago

It would help if you mentioned where you're from, and where your parents are from.

lotharbot 13y ago

> "I say crayon as "crown"" From what I understand, this is common in Kansas. Are you (or at least one of your parents) from there?

RK 13y ago
You got me there!

pasquinelli 13y ago

i think it's that cray-ahn rhymes with ann, and cray-awn rhymes with lawn. i'm a cran guy myself.

Azulsky 13y ago

My intuition would say the former is spoken faster and the latter with more of a drawl, leading awn to sound like lawn.

RK 13y ago

Seems the answer is to learn International Phonetic Alphabet.

baddox 13y ago

"Dawn" and "don" are the same for me as well, although I have heard that some localities make a distinction between those two vowel sounds with a varying amount of "roundness" of the lips. A lot of the pronunciation examples they gave made me speculate whether everyone even pronounces those words the same. It would be easier if everyone would just memorize IPA.

russelluresti 13y ago

The difference would be that "ahn" is pronounced like you were saying "Ahhhh" and "awn" is pronounced like you were saying "awe".

Dylan16807 13y ago
Those are exactly the same here (ignoring that ahhhhhhhhh is longer). Edit: Looking at a couple other comments apparently some people pronounce 'ahh' with the same a as 'ann'? I certainly don't.