# pronunciation: February  [Feb- roo vs Feb -yoo]



## audiolaik

Hi,

The more I learn the pronunciation of your language, dear native English speakers, the more I tend to think that even the easiest words pose a certain threat to advanced learners, including me. 
(Audio, what a flat joke!!!)

Since time immemorial, when uttering the word "February", I've always added the sound /j/ in the middle: /febjuərɪ/.

The other day, I was talking with my boss, who is a phonetician, and he warned me that the /j/ version might be stigmatised by some. So, I grabbed the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, and here's what Mr Wells, the author, says:



> The forms with /j/, although sometimes criticised, are often heard from educated speakers.


What's your opinion on that?

Thank you!

A&AJnr


----------



## Majorbloodnock

I must admit I tend to pronounce it "feb-roo-ary", but play down the non-stressed syllables.


----------



## timpeac

I would normally pronounce it /febrɪ/, and if I was being a bit more careful /febjuərɪ/. I don't think I would normally add the first r at all - in fact it's one of those words I always have to double check after having written it.


----------



## nzfauna

In casual or lazy speech, I say [FEB-YOO-REE] or [FEB-YOO-AIR-REE]. (where air rhymes with care, stair, pair)

If I'm speaking properly, I say [FEB-ROO-AIR-REE]


----------



## baldpate

I believe it may be one of those words whose pronunciation has been  influenced by its spelling, causing a drift away from traditional  pronunciations.  

Like timepeac, I don't normally pronounce the first "r",  or at least I tend to de-emphasize it like Majorbloodnock.  My wife  agreed, but also said that she would say it like nzfauna   [FEB-ROO-AIR-REE] if pronouncing for children (teaching phonics), adding  that this has influenced her everyday pronunciation. 

I have to say, I think my own pronunciation has also drifted in this direction over the years.


----------



## Libeccio

That's just one of the peculiarities of the english language diaspora. There can't be any standard when millions of people from all over the world speak a language that has been influenced by so many different elements!

I always say feb-yoo-ary


----------



## relic5.2

I'd say Feb-ree, Feb-you-ree, Feb-y'ree, Feb-roo-airy, and any mix of them.


----------



## JulianStuart

nzfauna said:


> In casual or lazy speech, I say [FEB-YOO-REE] or [FEB-YOO-AIR-REE]. (where air rhymes with care, stair, pair)
> 
> If I'm speaking properly, I say [FEB-ROO-AIR-REE]



Ditto - just to clarify that the stress is always on the FEB.  There may be a secondary on the air if I'm speaking proper-like


----------



## ewie

relic5.2 said:


> I'd say Feb-ree, Feb-you-ree, Feb-y'ree, Feb-roo-airy, and any mix of them.


Ditto, and in that order too


----------



## mplsray

I was a bit surprised to see that there's actually something new which has come up regarding the pronunciation of February.

Once upon a time, Merriam-Webster dictionaries gave the one-/r/ pronunciation after the obelus symbol, ÷. This was to indicate a pronunciation used by many educated speakers but which continued to be controversial. On this page, they claim to still do so.

In fact, however, while they still use the obelus in the case of the /'nukjələr/ pronunciation of nuclear, they no longer use it in their entry February in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. This agrees with my view on the matter, which is that the one-/r/ pronunciation is used so often by standard speakers that it makes no sense to worry about those few who might criticize it (unless they happen to be a boss or teacher that _requires_ the older pronunciation), and, in particular, it makes no sense to advise a person who has learned English as a second language to criticize him if he uses the one-/r/ pronunciation.


----------



## natkretep

I think in informal speech, my pronunciation is the one mentioned by many: /ˈfebrɪ/. But I also have /ˈfebrərɪ/, and in careful speech /ˈfebrʊərɪ/. I don't use the version with /j/, initially because I couldn't reconcile it with the spelling.


----------



## ewie

natkretep said:


> I think in informal speech, my pronunciation is the one mentioned by many: /ˈfebrɪ/. But I also have /ˈfebrərɪ/, and in careful speech /ˈfebrʊərɪ/. I don't use the version with /j/, initially because I couldn't reconcile it with the spelling.


Well, if you compute the first *letter r* as entirely surplus-to-requirements, awkward-to-get-in and therefore silent, there you have it: _Febuary _/ˈfebj(ʊ)ərɪ/ ... sort of.
I expect this is what most so many folk's brains do in informal speech.  It's only when we're talking to the bank manager, archbishop of Canterbury, God (etc.) that we feel obliged to somehow jemmy in that inconvenient first */r/ sound*


----------



## Majorbloodnock

ewie said:


> Well, if you compute the first *letter r* as entirely surplus-to-requirements, awkward-to-get-in and therefore silent, there you have it: _Febuary _/ˈfebj(ʊ)ərɪ/ ... sort of.
> I expect this is what most so many folk's brains do in informal speech. It's only when we're talking to the bank manager, archbishop of Canterbury, God (etc.) that we feel obliged to somehow jemmy in that inconvenient first */r/ sound*


That, of course, depends on whether or not one finds the first r difficult to pronounce, and I'm sure some accents will find it easier than others. For me, if you lose the leading "fe", you're left with "brewery", which I have no trouble pronouncing. However, with the "fe" in place, I'd say I have more trouble shoehorning in the second r than the first, so unless I'm careful I can find myself making a choice between dropping the "a" or the second "r" (as in "februay" or "febroory").

There's no escaping, though, the fact that this is one word that will get most people's tongues in a bit of a knot, and the only real question is how far into the word one can get before stalling. In my opinion, that is...


----------



## natkretep

I'm with the major here. It's feb+brewery. If I can't be bothered, then it's feb-ry. There is no /j/ glide in my careful version, so I don't know what it's doing there. Ewie, do you think of the /j/ as a /r/ substitute?

Same with library: li-brery, and if I can't be bothered li-bry.


----------



## ewie

I was trying to get across the idea that the 'intrusive' /j/ sound isn't really all that intrusive if you just sort of _discount_ the first letter *r* in your pre-pronunciatory computation of the word _[is it _terribly _obvious I'm making all this rubbish up?]_.  You're left (kind of) with a word like (e.g.) _statuary_.


----------



## Majorbloodnock

Actually, I agree, Ewie. My point wasn't a disagreement so much as a clarification in that I believe most people will encounter a pronunciation problem somewhere in the word and will perform linguistic acrobatics to compensate, but that the choking point and remedy vary from person to person and accent to accent. What you've described is one very common way of dealing with the word, but I was just clarifying that it's not the particular method I use, and natkrepet's reply shows I'm not alone, it seems.


----------



## ewie

(As I said in my first post in this thread, I use _all_ types of acrobatics to get over the word)


----------



## ampurdan

Not everyone adds that /j/ between /t/ and /u/ in statuary, some add a /ʃ/ (or that's what the Cambridge people say in their pronouncing dictionary, I hope I don't have to throw it away now).

I wonder if this has something to do with "new" being pronounced both /nju:/ (BrE and AE) and /nu:/ (AE).


----------



## natkretep

Well, young ewie, some of us are more agile than others! 

Yes, I see your point. On consideration, you needn't look as far as 'statuary'. A word closer at hand is 'January'. Is it not possible that feb-yooery arose also because of jan-yooery?


----------



## audiolaik

Libeccio said:


> That's just one of the peculiarities of the english language diaspora. There can't be any standard when millions of people from all over the world speak a language that has been influenced by so many different elements!



Libeccio, I'm not so much interested in West Indian English, other forms of Atlantic Ocean English or English pidgins and creoles as in the language used by educated English speakers in Great Britain. 

To relic5.2 and ewie: Do you really tend to stress the "ree" ending???



mplsray said:


> This agrees with my view on the matter, which is that the one-/r/ pronunciation is used so often by standard speakers that it makes no sense to worry about those few who might criticize it (unless they happen to be a boss or teacher that _requires_ the older pronunciation), and, in particular, it makes no sense to advise a person who has learned English as a second language to criticize him if he uses the one-/r/ pronunciation.



I think I should have expressed my thoughts more clearly. It wasn't my boss's intention to tell me off or something. He knows that I'm into the field of phonetics (he was my BA thesis supervisor), and he simply thought that I'd would be interested in such a piece of information.


----------



## ewie

audiolaik said:


> To relic5.2 and ewie: Do you really tend to stress the "ree" ending???


 Erm ... where have you got that idea, Laiko?


----------



## audiolaik

ewie said:


> Erm ... where have you got that idea, Laiko?




Of course, I could be misinterpreting what you two wrote below....



relic5.2 said:


> I'd say Feb-ree, Feb-you-ree, *Feb-y'ree*, Feb-roo-airy, and any mix of them.





ewie said:


> Ditto, and in that order too


----------



## ewie

Ah I _see_.  No, I think Relic was using the apostrophe to indicate a 'slur' or a schwa rather than as a stress marker


----------



## audiolaik

ewie said:


> Ah I _see_.  No, I think Relic was using the apostrophe to indicate a 'slur' or a schwa rather than as a stress marker



Strange, but if you say so....You're the expert here, not me.


----------



## relic5.2

Sorry for that, since I wasn't writing in IPA I thought I'd abandon all its standards. Ewie got it though, it's a bit of schwa/slur that I don't know how to write.


----------



## ewie

relic5.2 said:


> schwa/slur that I don't know how to write.


It's one of these /ə/, Relic.  (Basically a drunken *e*)


----------



## relic5.2

Thanks, the drunken e will be what I remember


----------



## Loob

I have only two pronunciations of _February._  The slower one is a schwa-less version of  yours, audio: *Feb*-you-ry (and no, it doesn't sound at all antiquated* to me). The faster one is the one with only two syllables: *Feb*-ree.  I only pronounce two 'r's when I'm explaining how to spell the word, and I laugh gaily as I do so....

*EDIT: Ooops, I've realised your boss said "stigmatised" not "antiquated", sorry.

Maybe he's right - I don't know how The Queen says it.  It's not stigmatised by me, obviously.


----------



## Pedro y La Torre

relic5.2 said:


> I'd say Feb-ree, Feb-you-ree, Feb-y'ree, Feb-roo-airy, and any mix of them.



Either number 1 or 2. Most of the time I'd pronounce it as the latter.


----------



## nagomi

Dictionaries may say 'fe-broo-re-ri', but I hear a range of variations: esp. fe-byoo-reri, fe-boo-reri.

what's a standard way of saying it?


----------



## Andygc

There is no standard way. The pronunciation varies between and within English-speaking countries.


----------



## entangledbank

A _standard_ way is what the dictionaries tell you, but yes, that's rather hard to say and people often simplify it a bit.


----------



## The Newt

I usually say "feb-you-ary."


----------



## CaptainZero

That reminds me of the old Don McLean song "American Pie", where he sings very distinctly "Feb-you-ary made me shiver..." I always felt like I wanted to correct him, but it's a pretty common pronunciation.

I say Feb-roo-ary, because I'm always aware of that letter r in the middle.


----------



## se16teddy

Two-syllabled “Febry” is quite common, I think. Native speakers may add a random selection from the omitted letters, depending on how much they want their speech to follow the standard spelling!


----------



## The Newt

If we think of "January" as an initial syllable "Jan-" followed by a suffixed "-uary," then we would expect the next month of "Febr-uary" to follow the same pattern — but we can't pronounce "Febr-" as one syllable, so the "r" simply gets lost.


----------



## kentix

nagomi said:


> Dictionaries may say 'fe-broo-re-ri'


They don't say that. That's too many r's.


----------



## Myridon

What's the Correct Pronunciation of February?


> In the United States, the most common pronunciation is _feb-yoo-air-ee_. Both Merriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries consider the common pronunciation correct, along with the less common, more traditional standard _feb-roo-air-ee_.


I don't know anyone who says it with the "r".


----------



## CaptainZero

Interesting. So the "yoo-ary" version is the colloquial standard in AE. I remember the "roo-ary" version being taught as correct here in Australia, from my school days long ago.

I think I'd have to conduct a poll amongst friends and associates here to determine the prevalence of either version, as I can't be sure. I wonder if "roo-ary" is commonly used in BE.


----------



## Uncle Jack

nagomi said:


> Dictionaries may say 'fe-broo-re-ri'





kentix said:


> They don't say that. That's too many r's.


It sounds a common enough pronunciation to me, but the "oo" is an unstressed schwa, more like the "oo" in foot than the "oo" in zoo.


se16teddy said:


> Two-syllabled “Febry” is quite common, I think.


----------



## kentix

You're saying you hear _three_ r's in February?

UK:*/ˈfɛb*r*ʊə*r*i/, /ˈfɛbjʊə*r*i/
Collins /ˈfɛb*r*ʊə*r*ɪ/


----------



## natkretep

I don't think you get three /r/s in BrE. The careful pronunciation has two /r/s: ˈfebrʊəri

The less careful one has one /r/: ˈfebri (we do a similar thing with _library_).


----------



## Uncle Jack

kentix said:


> You're saying you hear _three_ r's in February?
> 
> UK:*/ˈfɛb*r*ʊə*r*i/, /ˈfɛbjʊə*r*i/
> Collins /ˈfɛb*r*ʊə*r*ɪ/


Sometimes. It is easily the hardest month to pronounce, and some people make a right hash of it.


----------



## Andygc

Jolly interesting stuff, chaps, but


nagomi said:


> what's a standard way of saying it?


There still isn't one, as this thread has shown.


----------



## Rover_KE

People keep stopping me in the street to ask me how to pronounce _February_. I tell them they can please themselves—nobody's going to care either way.

Fortunately it's the shortest month so we don't have to say it as often as the others.


----------



## Andygc




----------



## DonnyB

In Neil Sedaka's 1961 hit "Calendar Girl" it  sounds to me like he pronounces it 'Feb-ru-ary', but the 'ru' is defintely close to 'yoo' to my ear:


----------



## Wordy McWordface

I don't know anyone who pronounces the middle 'r' in February, either.  Or the 'd' in Wednesday, for that matter.

I say Feb-you-erry.


----------



## Andygc

Wordy McWordface said:


> I don't know anyone who pronounces the middle 'r' in February, either.  Or the 'd' in Wednesday, for that matter.


I do. Me.


----------



## Loob

For me, it has three syllables (_Feb-you-ry_) if I'm speaking slowly, and teddy's two syllables (_Feb-ry_) in fast connected speech.


----------



## Roxxxannne

Andygc said:


> I do. Me.


I do too, but the /r/ is barely there.  I definitely don't say Feb-you-ary.
Now that I've said it a million times to myself here, I think I also say Fe-buh-reh-ry when I'm speaking quickly.


----------



## kentix

I haven't heard any AE speakers use two syllables.


----------



## elroy

I only ever pronounce it one way:

feb-you-airy (4 syllables)

I *never* pronounce the first “r.”

My pronunciation is also the only one I hear in American English. 



se16teddy said:


> Two-syllabled “Febry” is quite common, I think.


Nonexistent in American English.


----------



## natkretep

This is what Merriam-Webster's has to say about the (American) pronunciations of _February_:


> Dissimilation may occur when a word contains two identical or closely related sounds, resulting in the change or loss of one of them. This happens regularly in _February_, which is more often pronounced \ˈfe-b(y)ə-ˌwer-ē\ than \ˈfe-brə-ˌwer-ē\, though all of these variants are in frequent use and widely accepted. The \y\ heard from many speakers is not an intrusion but rather a common pronunciation of the vowel _u_ after a consonant, as in _January_ and _annual._


Definition of FEBRUARY

I find the intrusive /w/ interesting, because for me the -_ary_ is /əri/ rather than /ɛːri/ and therefore there's no need for a /w/.


----------



## elroy

natkretep said:


> I find the intrusive /w/ interesting


 I didn't even consciously notice it!  For me it's an automatic byproduct of the transition from "you" to "airy."


----------

