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Original poster

If your accent is RP English, how do you pronounce “Glasgow”?

388 replies

Wigeon · 31/07/2022 20:19

Settle an argument between DH and me:

YANBU: Glasgow in an RP English accent is pronounced “Glarsgow” with a long “arr” or “arh” in the middle. Like the “a” in “car” (in an RP accent).

YABU: Glasgow in an RP English accent is pronounced “Gl-ah-sgow”, with a short “ah”, like the “a” in “cat” (in an RP accent).

OP posts:
TheOriginalEmu · 03/08/2022 03:38

FilePhoto · 02/08/2022 23:53

According to who? Do you pronounce Paris like a French Person?
What about Warsaw? What about Welsh places?
Or are you pronouncing them wrong?

My friend is from Newcastle. If I say it with my Southern English accent it has a long A sound Newcahstle/Newcarstle. If I say it with his accent (aka a short A) he tells me not to take the piss. Same with my friend from Liverpool.

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Welsh places, probably yes. It’s one thing having an accent that differs in your native tongue, it’s another altogether mispronouncing letters in another language. Anyone who is saying ‘betoos ee co-ed’ for Betws-y-Coed, or ‘Lanelly’ for Llanelli is very much saying it wrong.

TheOriginalEmu · 03/08/2022 03:35

There is no ‘standard’ accent. RP is one accent the same as any number of others. It’s also variable with some pronouncing it with a short a and some with a long one. It’s literally a pointless argument as it’s like asking how does a geordie pronounce butter…it varies.
I’m a SALT and linguistics is my field just for some idea that I’m not making this up.

TheOriginalEmu · 03/08/2022 03:31

Thedogscollar · 02/08/2022 23:00

I'm Scottish it's pronounced Glazgo. There is no room for an R in Glasgow.

It’s not an R in a non-rhotic accent. When people write it as ‘glars’ what they are trying to convey is a long ahh sound as in bar or argue, as opposed to a short ah as in cash or bash. The r is misleading and confusing and as is always the case with these threads shows that we REALLY need to teach people the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which has symbols for every sound we can make to prevent this confusion. 😂

Fefifobum · 03/08/2022 01:46

Mother Glasgow is Glesga to the people, the rest of you can call it what you want.

maddy68 · 03/08/2022 00:15

It's the second

Bubbleguppette · 02/08/2022 23:54

EmmaGrundyForPM · 02/08/2022 23:23

But the question wasn't "how do Scottish people pronounce Glasgow", it was"how do people with a RP English accent pronounce Glasgow?". And we pronounce it as though it's got an R or "ah" in it.

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Or not.
Or you mix it up a bit 😉

Thanks for the link @DuesToTheDirt.

FilePhoto · 02/08/2022 23:53

Thedogscollar · 02/08/2022 23:39

Well the conclusion is you all pronounce it incorrectly then.

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According to who? Do you pronounce Paris like a French Person?
What about Warsaw? What about Welsh places?
Or are you pronouncing them wrong?

My friend is from Newcastle. If I say it with my Southern English accent it has a long A sound Newcahstle/Newcarstle. If I say it with his accent (aka a short A) he tells me not to take the piss. Same with my friend from Liverpool.

Thedogscollar · 02/08/2022 23:39

EmmaGrundyForPM · 02/08/2022 23:23

But the question wasn't "how do Scottish people pronounce Glasgow", it was"how do people with a RP English accent pronounce Glasgow?". And we pronounce it as though it's got an R or "ah" in it.

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Well the conclusion is you all pronounce it incorrectly then.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 02/08/2022 23:23

Thedogscollar · 02/08/2022 23:00

I'm Scottish it's pronounced Glazgo. There is no room for an R in Glasgow.

But the question wasn't "how do Scottish people pronounce Glasgow", it was"how do people with a RP English accent pronounce Glasgow?". And we pronounce it as though it's got an R or "ah" in it.

Thedogscollar · 02/08/2022 23:00

I'm Scottish it's pronounced Glazgo. There is no room for an R in Glasgow.

derxa · 02/08/2022 22:34

sjxoxo · 02/08/2022 22:19

Definitely the first one … glars-go! X

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

sjxoxo · 02/08/2022 22:19

Definitely the first one … glars-go! X

queenmeadhbh · 02/08/2022 22:18

DuesToTheDirt · 02/08/2022 20:55

People might like to read this about the trap-bath split.

Excellent!

derxa · 02/08/2022 21:48

DuesToTheDirt · 02/08/2022 20:55

People might like to read this about the trap-bath split.

Thanks for that

DuesToTheDirt · 02/08/2022 20:55

People might like to read this about the trap-bath split.

Carrieonmywaywardsun · 02/08/2022 20:52

Glarz-go.

oviraptor21 · 02/08/2022 20:48

Very very slight difference in the shortness of the a with cat being the slightly shorter of the two.

oviraptor21 · 02/08/2022 20:47

derxa · 02/08/2022 20:43

Or Cath?

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Like cat

oviraptor21 · 02/08/2022 20:47

derxa · 02/08/2022 20:38

How do people pronounce 'plaza'?

Plah-za

LakieLady · 02/08/2022 20:46

RP accent, always lived in SE England, and I say Glahhsgow.

My Croydon ILs say "Glarrsgow".

derxa · 02/08/2022 20:43

derxa · 02/08/2022 20:38

How do people pronounce 'plaza'?

Or Cath?

derxa · 02/08/2022 20:38

How do people pronounce 'plaza'?

Ciela · 02/08/2022 20:17

Glaz-GO but despite an RP accent my DF grew up in Ayrshire which is around 30 miles from Glasgow and it was his pronunciation that I learned.

Original poster
Wigeon · 02/08/2022 20:15

derxa · 02/08/2022 19:46

I could weep. Your 'ar' is a vowel sound and the /r/ at the beginning of rabbit is a consonant sound.

Glasgow is not spelt Glarsgow therefore it is pronounced with a short /a/ sound not a long one
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Ok, so I think what I mean is the letter “R”, when I recite the alphabet, sounds the same as ah and ar (in my accent). The sound R at the start of rabbit is more like rrrr like a dog growl.

However, it’s patently not the case that because Glasgow doesn’t have an R in it, it must be pronounced with a short A sound. Otherwise all of us southerners would pronounce castle, path and bath with short As, but of course it’s a completely usual English accent to pronounce them with long As (or an R in the middle, as us ignoramus non-rhotic speakers would claim! 😉).

OP posts:
DappledThings · 02/08/2022 20:05

queenmeadhbh · 02/08/2022 19:57

it’s not that we don’t believe it, it’s that it’s not true! You do not pronounce an R when you say Glasgow, grass, or the name of the letter R.
what you do do, is pronounce a long A vowel sound that we could maybe write as “ahh” or “aww”. So when you insert an incorrect R into how you think you should transcribe the way you pronounce Glasgow, what you really mean is “I pronounce a vowel sound that is modified in the same way that it is when it is followed by an R”.

we understand that the reason is that it sounds the same to you. But claiming that you are “pronouncing an R” is the exact opposite of true because in your accent you never pronounce the letter R when it is after a vowel (unless it is followed by another vowel i.e cart you do not pronounce the R, career you do). It’s irrelevant as far as R Is concerned that you pronounce grass or path or Glasgow with a long vowel just because you also pronounce a vowel followed by R with a long vowel!!

sorry - this just always pushes my buttons because any thread about pronunciation are always full of the non-rhotic banging on about pronouncing Rs when the key feature of their accent is that they do NOT pronounce Rs!! Grin

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All of this!