How many syllables......

[Miss Chicken]

are there in the word ALARM?

I am listening to ‘The Seven Dials Mystery’ narrated by Emilia Fox and when she says the word she voices it as three syllables which I have never heard before. She seems to pronouncing it as a-lar-em. Is this a Received Pronunciation thing or a regional English pronunciation?

 

[Amaris]

It's probably regional, because the generally (and officially) accepted number of syllables for "alarm" is two: A*Larm.

 

[Miss Chicken]

She is pronouncing it as the man in the 6th recording down on this site does

https://www.howtopronounce.com/alarm/

 

[Amaris]

She is pronouncing it as the man in the 6th recording down on this site does

https://www.howtopronounce.com/alarm/

Then she's definitely pronouncing it incorrectly (regarding the English word), at least to the point where she's counting a third syllable where there is none. The downside to those pronunciation sites is that most of them use artificial speech synthesis, and not very good ones at that. The only other speech site I found with something similar to "a*lar*em*" was on Forvo, and from the German pronunciation of the word. Still, the word only contains two syllables.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Are you sure she isn't saying the archaic word "alarum", which means alarm? The word was also spelt and pronounced that way in Tudor times - alarums and excursions.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The book was written in 1929 so I doubt that Christie used that spelling but I don’t have the printed book to know for sure.

I don’t know if Emilia Fox has done much Shakespearean acting or not. if she has maybe she just picked up that pronunciation.

I don’t know if she ever used the word at all during her years starring in ‘Silent Witness’.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I’ve never heard that pronunciation of alarm before, but along similar lines, I do know someone IRL that pronounces the word film as “fill-im”.

 

[scotpens]

It's probably regional, because the generally (and officially) accepted number of syllables for "alarm" is two: A*Larm.

I'm guessing it's a regional pronunciation also. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it's noted that the White Rabbit's servant Pat pronounces "arm" as "arrum."

I’ve never heard that pronunciation of alarm before, but along similar lines, I do know someone IRL that pronounces the word film as “fill-im”.

Some people put extra syllables in words, like "ath-a-lete" and "cock-a-roach."

 

[Miss Chicken]

I have occasionally heard film pronounce fill-im’ but I think it is usually by Irish people.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I'm guessing it's a regional pronunciation also. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it's noted that the White Rabbit's servant Pat pronounces "arm" as "arrum."


Some people put extra syllables in words, like "ath-a-lete" and "cock-a-roach."

I pronounce arthritis as arth-a-ritis because I have trouble following the ‘th’ sound with a ‘r’. However I had a significant problem with the ‘th’ until I had some additional speech therapy as a teenager. I used to say ‘the number free’ and ‘I am firsty’ and ‘fankyou’.

 

[Kor]

I’ve never heard that pronunciation of alarm before, but along similar lines, I do know someone IRL that pronounces the word film as “fill-im”.

Interestingly, something similar occurs in languages that borrow the English word "film" but in which the "lm" morpheme combination does not naturally occur as the termination of a single syllable. A vowel has to be inserted between these two consonants.

Kor

 

[Gov Kodos]

2 and there's no r sound.

 

[Velocity]

I have seen it spelled alarum in a book, but I don't remember the context. I think it was a historical of some sort,

 

[Doom Shepherd]

I pronounce it bolth ways while eating Cool hwhip.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

The only other speech site I found with something similar to "a*lar*em*" was on Forvo, and from the German pronunciation of the word. .

Both in German and in British English it's pronounced with 2 syllables.
I have several audiobooks read by Emilia Fox and it seems that it's a personal quirk, possibly a regional accent from her childhood showing. From my pov as a foreigner and native speaker of German, she appears to even have a slight German accent, particularly where the s-sounds and f/v/w are concerned. Her reading always seems somewhat hard and staccato to me as opposed to the smooth legato and the tendency to fuse several sounds that's typical for the English language. Perhaps she just tries too hard to pronounce clearly.

 

[Australis]

Yeah, I'd go with possibly a regional pronunciation.