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by stevekemp2 2396 days ago
Even English has words that are pronounced differently depending on context.

For example "I read to my son" could be pronounced two different ways depending on tense. "I read", vs. "I red".

There are other examples too, off the top of my head "I polish my shoes", vs. "I have a polish friend.". Or "the bow of a boat", vs. "at the end of the play the actors take a bow".
4 comments
bjoli 2396 days ago
I understand what you mean, but those are not grave or accute accent differences. In swedish T<o>mten and T<o>mt<e>n (for lack of a better way to show stress off the top of my head) the o and e both sound the same, but have intonation differences.
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henrikschroder 2395 days ago
The vowel sound is different between past tense and present tense "read", even though they're spelled the same.

But that's not what's going on in the Swedish example above. The vowels are exactly the same between "anden" (the spirit) and "anden" (the duck), but the pitch accent is different, the "song" of the words is different.

Here's a video showing the difference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXp7_Sjgm34

(And if you can't hear the difference in that video, don't worry too much, it's Swedish that's weird, not you. :) )

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goodcanadian 2395 days ago
Polish is fine, but Polish should be capitalized. ;-)

I am wondering about your accent, though, because, to me, "bow" is pronounced the same in both of those examples. Robin hood shooting an arrow from his bow, however, has a different pronunciation which is the same as the bow tied on my present.

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bjoli 2395 days ago
He/she might mean the bow of a ship? If I am not completely wrong about my English pronunciation, that is.
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goodcanadian 2395 days ago
Yes, the bow of a ship is pronounced the same as taking a bow. At least, it is in my accent.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bow agrees indicating IPA baʊ for both.

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bjoli 2395 days ago
I should read the parent comment before replying.

I just assumed they meant bow as in bow and arrow. The other example I did not know. "Read before you think before you write".

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einr 2396 days ago
It also has words that are pronounced the same despite of context, cf. Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo ;)

Ever-relevant poem: http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html

English is kind of a hot mess.

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