Cinema or Cinemar - yes, it's a pronunciation one!

[chomalungma]

I say cinema with a hard 'a' as in c /a / t

But listening to the radio, someone pronounced it 'cinemar' as in ' ar' at the end.

So what do you say?

(I have more )

I'm northern (Northumberland) and say it cine-mah with a flat 'a' at the end.

Also call it 'the pictures'

I'm scottish and I'd say it sin-i-ma. Or sometime we call or the movies or pictures too.

The pictures.

Sin-ee-mah

Cinemar.

ICE cream or ice CREAM? I've always said ice CREAM.

@Jamhandprints

Cinemar.

ICE cream or ice CREAM? I've always said ice CREAM.

I scream

Just 'ice cream', both the same level of emphasis bit sort of runs together in my accent so sounds like one word anyway sort of like "eys-kreem"

Someone will come on talking about rhotic Rs in a minute.

conversely, saying a ‘draw’ instead of ‘drawer’ as in ‘chest of draws’
I keep seeing this on threads about pronunciation on MN and I never understand it. In my accent draw and drawer are pronounced the same, and I don't recall hearing it pronounced in a other way. I can't even think how else you would pronounce it without it sounding wrong.
Drawe‐wuh? (with drawe rhyming with awe)
Drawe‐ruh?
Drawe‐uh?

Cinemeh

I say cinemah/cinemar. I think 'cinemah' and 'cinemar' are ways of writing exactly the same pronunciation, unless you're suggesting some people put an actual 'r' sound on the end.

I keep seeing this on threads about pronunciation on MN and I never understand it.

I suspect that like many pronunciation misunderstandings on MN, this is a rhotic vs non-rhotic accent one. I think people with rhotic accents (e.g. most Scottish, Irish and American people) pronounce drawer differently from draw, but the majority (not all) of English speakers from England don't.

I think 'cinemah' and 'cinemar' are ways of writing exactly the same pronunciation, unless you're suggesting some people put an actual 'r' sound on the end.

Cine-mah, with the 'a' sound like that in pat/rat/cat.

Cine-mar, as if it rhymes with car/far/bar.

I've heard both pronunciations and they're not the same.

But 'ah' is normally a way of writing a long 'a', not a short one. When you say "Ah' in surprise or recognition, it's not like the 'a' in cat, is it?

I've never heard anyone say cinema with a short, flat 'a' as in 'cat'. I've only heard cinemah/cinemar or cinemuh.

The flicks.

I think I put a schwa at the end of cinema.

Sinny mar

Cinema with a short, flat 'a' is how its commonly pronounced where I live.

"Ah" is also pronounced quite shortly and harshly too.

"Ah" in realisation sounds like saying "caaaat" so still a flat 'a' but carried on.

@lazylinguist

I say cinemah/cinemar. I think 'cinemah' and 'cinemar' are ways of writing exactly the same pronunciation, unless you're suggesting some people put an actual 'r' sound on the end.

I keep seeing this on threads about pronunciation on MN and I never understand it.

I suspect that like many pronunciation misunderstandings on MN, this is a rhotic vs non-rhotic accent one. I think people with rhotic accents (e.g. most Scottish, Irish and American people) pronounce drawer differently from draw, but the majority (not all) of English speakers from England don't.

Thank you! Every time I see it mentioned I wonder if I have been terribly mispronouncing it all my life and nobody has ever bothered to tell me.

Oh and I am cinemuh. Or the pictures.

Thank you! Every time I see it mentioned I wonder if I have been terribly mispronouncing it all my life and nobody has ever bothered to tell me.

No worries. I tend to weigh in every time I see rhotic/non-rhotic-related stroppiness or disbelief on a thread. It can get very heated. It always baffles me that people are unaware of it. We all must hear those accents very regularly on tv, radio, films etc if not in real life, and yet so many people can't seem to imagine or reproduce in their heads the way that words sound in those other accents.

"Pictures"

But "cinemuh" otherwise

I don’t understand the rhotic non rhotic thing, all r’s sound the same to me 🙈

@lazylinguist

Thank you! Every time I see it mentioned I wonder if I have been terribly mispronouncing it all my life and nobody has ever bothered to tell me.

No worries. I tend to weigh in every time I see rhotic/non-rhotic-related stroppiness or disbelief on a thread. It can get very heated. It always baffles me that people are unaware of it. We all must hear those accents very regularly on tv, radio, films etc if not in real life, and yet so many people can't seem to imagine or reproduce in their heads the way that words sound in those other accents.

I can't reproduce the ar sound. I try every time there's one of these threads. On the recent canal/ banal thread I couldn't even hear the difference when I listened to the link somebody posted.

@raspberryk

I don’t understand the rhotic non rhotic thing, all r’s sound the same to me 🙈

All rhotic means is that you pronounce the final R in words like car and (to take an example from the thread) drawer. Non-rhotic means you don't. Some non-rhotic speakers use 'ar' to show a long a/ah sound, which irritates some rhotic speakers.

The talkies 😂