Cava - cavver or carver?

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

Just been on the phone to my mother, who was waxing lyrical about the lovely ‘cavver’ (Cava) she’s bought to go with Christmas lunch. I’ve always pronounced it ‘carver’, with a soft A, and that’s what I hear more often than not, but she’s not alone in her pronunciation, so I have a nagging doubt I could be wrong. Can I get the views of the MN jury?

YABU = Cavver with a hard A
YANBU = Carver with a soft A

The pronunciation is here in the English dictionary (Collins) -
long A, schwa sound at end.
ˈkɑːvə

Cava/ca-vah rhymes with Lava. Definitely no r's

Reminded me to put prosecco in fridge, thanks OP.

I have to leave the thread now. i can't cope with the idiocy

As the MN favourite phrase goes, don’t let the door hit your arse [long A] on the way out.

Those people saying cava or ca-va, could you tell us whether your a's are pronounced as in apple or as in ca(r)nage or can't.

@Snowy0w1

With two short a sounds?

Yes, of course. It's not difficult for an English speaker to say Cabba.

All the endless posts with is it carvar? omg.

I have to leave the thread now. i can't cope with the idiocy.

Agreed. It's making my bloody teeth itch. Say 'cava' any way you like but don't proclaim that yours is the 'proper' way.

Like in can’t not cant.

@amicissimma

Those people saying cava or ca-va, could you tell us whether your a's are pronounced as in apple or as in ca(r)nage or can't.

All those As are the same to me. Its a short sound anyway

@NoSensei

Who knew just talking in your own accent was so offensive 😂

Or using an 'r' to try and explain how something sounds. Good grief

@amicissimma

Those people saying cava or ca-va, could you tell us whether your a's are pronounced as in apple or as in ca(r)nage or can't.

Apple

Has she been watching Motherland?

But does she emphasise the first or second syllable?

It depends how much cava I've had to drink But when sober car-va

@amicissimma

Those people saying cava or ca-va, could you tell us whether your a's are pronounced as in apple or as in ca(r)nage or can't.

Apple and can't have the same a sound to me - ah. Carnage is car-nage so ar.

For everyone saying it rhymes with lava that's how I say it but in the south east we say lar-vah so it does have an r

The Spanish pronounce v as b so really it's ka-ba.

Keep on moving, which is why lava is a good example. People with different accents pronounce lava differently, and all are equally right/wrong.

Cava is the same. It is pronounced the same as lava. The r in both is a regional variation. The r is right in your region but not in others. The r is not essential to the pronunciation.

The U.K. doesn’t use Spanish pronunciation. We say Havana with a v sound.

@BaronessBomburst
You're all wrong!
It's 'caa-bah'.
It's from Catalonia and a v is pronounced with a b sound.

To be pedantic, in certain parts of Catalonia, v and b are different. In Penedès, where cava comes from, v and b are clearly distinct in the south, but not in the north.

This audio may help people who are tired of trying to figure out what other posters mean by 'ah', 'ar', 'aa', 'a' etc.

www.guiesdepronunciacio.cat/ca/content/cava-1

www.guiesdepronunciacio.cat/ca/content/cava-1

The disingenuous battles of the rhotics and non-rhotics are so fucking tedious, and you can predict that any thread with someone asking about how an ‘a’ sound is pronounced it will descend quickly into this farce.

@Vitaminsss

Neither? It ends in A, so “ah” sound at the end. Where has the “er” come from?

You say Lava, not “laver” surely? If you do, I’m imagining a farmer accent, like the depths of the West Country

I would say lava and laver the same.

The disingenuous battles of the rhotics and non-rhotics are so fucking tedious, and you can predict that any thread with someone asking about how an ‘a’ sound is pronounced it will descend quickly into this farce

Who pished on your chirps?

Neither! Its cahvah

Half Spanish here. It is closest to ca-bah but a v sound would also be acceptable - ca-vah.

Car-vah or car-var are both technically incorrect but I wouldn't judge someone for pronouncing a Spanish word in an English way, same as my grandmother would say espaghettis instead of spaghetti.

It rhymes with however you say lava, which is different in a Scottish accent to an English one.

Wait, what!?!? How are the English pronouncing lava? With r's?

What do you lot think the game the floor is lava is about? Cause there's a world of difference between the floor is laa-vuh and the floor is lar-vuh.

In my Scottish accent I pronounce cava to rhyme with lava.
No adding extra letters.