prince's / princess (pronunciation)

English translation: YES

15:06 Feb 13, 2005

English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics / Phonetics

English term or phrase: prince's / princess (pronunciation)

Is there any difference in pronunciation?
As in "The Prince's cat seemed to dislike the Princess"

George Rabel KudoZ activity Questions: 505 (1 open) (14 closed without grading) Answers: 4403
Local time: 14:09

Selected answer:YES

Explanation:
The E in princess is longer than in prince's

I am American....

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Note added at 4 mins (2005-02-13 15:10:58 GMT)
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Also

The intonation is on the second syllable in princess and on the first in prince\'s

Hope that helps

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Note added at 12 mins (2005-02-13 15:18:31 GMT)
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BTW- if someone were to mumble, you may not hear a difference at all!!

Selected response from:

msherms
Local time: 20:09

Grading comment

Thanks to all. All answers, as well as the comments to each, have been very informative.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +5

Yes

Karin Walker (X)

3 +6

YES

msherms

5 +1

'prinsiz and 'prins€s or prin'ses

Monica Colangelo

4 +1

not for grading

Charlie Bavington

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

Yes

Explanation:
Yes, there is. As I can't use phonetic alphabet here (might not display correctly), I'll use an example: Prince's would use the same vowel as the one in 'it's' or 'in' (closer to the front of the vowel space), while Princess uses the same vowel sound as in 'embattled' or 'egg'. I use British English, so there may be some variation according to what variety people use. But there is definitely a difference.

Karin Walker (X)
Germany
Local time: 20:09
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

German
PRO pts in category: 4

2 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

YES

msherms
Local time: 20:09
Native speaker of:

English

Grading comment

Thanks to all. All answers, as well as the comments to each, have been very informative.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Melanie Nassar: and the s in prince's is pronounced z

2 mins

-> thanks - and you're right

agree

Johanne Bouthillier

3 mins

-> thanks

agree

Nesrin: According to Merriam Webster, Americans put the accent on the first syllable and the British on the second - but you say you're American, so there are obviously regional variations too.

5 mins

-> Hi Nesrin -- I am from Maryland, near Washington D.C. But, you're right.. I was just thinking about it - you hear both!

neutral

Maria Karra: I don't believe that the E in princess is longer at all. In fact it's shorter than the E in prince's. I agree that princess can be stressed on either syllable (I stress it on the first).

13 mins

-> The e does seem to be longer if you stress the second syllable

agree

NancyLynn

34 mins

-> thanks

agree

Rania KH

47 mins

-> thanks

agree

humbird: I agree with Maria -- E is not longer. However it is clearer instead.

1 hr

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

not for grading

Explanation:
As has been explained, there is a difference. Interestingly, on the radio when they announced that Prince Charles was to marry Camilla Parker Bowles, there WAS confusion between the presenters (when I was listening, anyway!) as to her new title, between whether she was going to become the Prince's Consort or the Princess Consort precisely because the pronounciation IS so close.

Charlie Bavington
Local time: 19:09
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 28

8 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

'prinsiz and 'prins€s or prin'ses

Explanation:
Actually I didn't know how to represent the "schwa" (the sound for a in "a tree" or er in "butter") so I opted for the euro. This is what I learnt in my Phonetics classes at University (we obviously studied RP English, which is said to be "the English of the Queen and of the BBC"): the word "princess" is stressed on the first syllable when the name follows and on the second when it is used alone. In phonetics, the stress mark is placed before the syllable. So you will say 'princess Anne is here... but "the prin'cess is here"

Monica Colangelo
Argentina
Local time: 15:09
Native speaker of:

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 7

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