Can you do this very short test? This is only ONE question. Easy! See if you can answer the question in English text, to be found in the very beginning of the video above. When you have read this question, please feel free to answer it in the comments section below. Once you have selected your answer, please justify your answer. Then, tell me whether this question was easy or difficult and explain why.
Thank you for participating. There will be a follow up post on this test. In the meantime, enjoy this test!
CORRECTION OF ERROR: It’s been brought to my attention that I had underlined both AS in the word castle when it should have been A only. So, it’s actually castle. My sincere apologies for the confusion. I owe my thanks to some eagle-eyed commenters!
quart, manner, palm…
To me, the “a” in castle sounds most like the “a” in manner.
The “a” sound in manner is longer/more emphasized than the “a’s” in quart or palm.
This was somewhat an inbetween question to answer. Seemed easy enough to answer it, but I missed the three words at first! Didn’t read them fast enough, and then I didn’t catch the spelling when watching the vlog… that made it a little tricky, hehe.
Thanks, Nicole. You could pause the video so that you can re-read the question.
Sorry for the speed. I’ll need to adjust the time, obviously. I’ll make sure to do so for next time.
I think it’s manner because it can break down into two syllables similar to castle. The palm and quart have only one syllable. That’s my guess!
I KNOW it is not “Quart”, because that has a very different ‘a’ sound. I have a hard time deciding between “Manner” and “Palm”, because they have similar ‘a’ sounds. I THINK the answer is “manner”, but I am not entirely sure of that.
I grew up oral, and I can pronounce the words correctly, but I still don’t “hear” the difference between the two. So for me, this is a moderately difficult question.
castle = quart because of hand shape! thank you! I knew I will get graded F in the “sound same” because I do not even care about “hear hear hear SOUNDS”.. Thanks for your understanding!
Manner because it sounds the same as castle because ‘a’ sound in mid, not short nor long. Palm is in ‘a’ short as well as quart because both sound the same.
*shrug*
when reading, I picked palm – seemed right. But when you signed it out.. and your mouth movement.. Manner seem to have the same a as castle.
lol
Shel, you’re *inviting* hearing people to take this test? Wouldn’t they ace your test?!
Anyway…to answer your question, it was hard for me. I never did very well in speech classes. My instinct was to say “none of the above”, because the choices don’t seem anything like the “as” sound. But if that’s the wrong answer and I’m supposed to choose from your choices, I’d go with “manner.”
Again, I suck at speech because obviously I never gave a shit about producing sounds. I hated my speech classes while I was growing up, and MSSD was the first deaf school to tell me that speech class was OPTIONAL.
I was *thrilled* when they told me that. Needless to say, I did not take speech class at all while I was at MSSD.
Shelley. this was hard. My guess would be B. But this is only a guess. In my opinion A and C are out. But B isn’t quite a good fit either.
Jenny, you’re relying on my mouthing skills to help you select your answer? That’s very dicey! I’m not well known for my speech skills LOL
Michele, one would assume that Hearing people would ace the test. But, would that be the case? I don’t know. I’m hoping more Hearing people (both American and Canadian) will take this test.
You’re definitely supposed to choose from the list of choices. As for whether your answer is correct or not, we shall find out in the next post.
Believe me. I do understand, anonymous (at 1:44 a.m.).
i cry false advertising smile
this was not fun – smile. i thinks its B whoopeee!
What matters deafness of the ears when the mind hears? ~ victor hugo
; )
peace
p
GASP! Patti! False advertising? You wound me.
Why did you pick B? How did you arrive at this conclusion?
A – quart —-> if you say both pronunciation sounds like “cas” “qua” are sounds similar with click sounds with voice box.
B – manner —-> “ma” “ca” “qua”, they are pronunciation sounds long sound “aahhh”. “rhyme”
C – palm —–> similar to B.
Overall, they are the same sounds of ca, ma, pa, qua. Hence the rhyme sound is ca-, pa-, ma-… (two letters)
Hi Daniel, which word is your choice? Quart, manner or palm?
Damn, I’m hearing and I am not sure of the right answer!!! If one of the answers is in the list you gave us, then I choose ‘manner’, but my instinct is to say none of the above.
Interesting, Angela. You’re the second Hearing person to say that. Hmmm. Your response just added credibility to my brewing theory. I’ll explain in the next post. I’m waiting for some more answers before I go ahead.
Hearing person here. My answer is manner. It has the shortest vowel sound when I exaggerate the sounds in my head. But palm is a close contender. Truthfully they all seem like different a sounds.
Pulling back all my speech lessons from dusty past and vaguely remembering the phonology lectures and discussions in English, I would pick manner. No confidence tho. But manner M and C seem more alike in tempo and then the letters after N and S the same. More than the other 2 words. Wild guess. Is this am item from an IQ test or college evaluation test? I would bet.
Hi Ella, the answer to your question will come in my next post.
Hi Shel,
That’s a hard question! To me, the answer is ‘none of the above’. Maybe the answer depends on having a different accent – American or British or something? I’m looking forward to your next post!
You got me real good ! problem was lot of deafies don’t use sounds in those words or names. I might be failed this test for sure. No question about it ! LOL
Theo
This was a hard test because each “a” sound was different. I kept on repeating the words over and over in my head, and each time I’d settle on a different answer. I’d think, “palm,” then “manner,” then back to “palm.”
C-ah sel
M -aah nner
Qw-ah-rt
P-aw lm
Honestly, doesn’t matter that I’m hearing. “A” can sound like anything when squished between other letters like this. The other letters change the “a” sound very subtly.
So, it was hard!
I chose Manner as the answer. Why?
Well, first let me explain that I am a hard of hearing person who can hear some sounds but mostly I lipread and I am a good lipreader.
So I base my explanation on the way the mouth moves when I lipread each word.
In Castle the jaw drops slightly and the tongue is depressed and lips drawn back. This same mouth shape is made when I lipread the a in Manner.
Quart has the “r” in the way when I lipread this word. I do not see an “a” when lipreading this word. However, the a in quart is more like an AH sound with an open throat and wider open mouth to lipread.
Palm also is an “Ah” sound and when I lipread it the mouth moves very differently than in Castle. The mouth opens wider and the back of the throat is more open. More like opening your mouth for the Doctor to see down your throat.
I found this easy because mouth and lipreading different sounds is not very hard for me.
Beth
Hi,
I looked at the video again. I then noticed that you actually underlined 2 letters, not one. My eyes are old and I did not notice that the first time. Also the text goes by fast and could not see it. I thought you meant only the “A” sound. Now I see you are including the “S” sound.
You realise these are two separate sounds. The “A” in Castle is the same as the “A” in Manner. However, none of the other words have an “S” in them. Therefore the letter “S” does not apply in the list of choices.
Please clarify if you meant both A and S or just one sound – A? or the sound S? A and S together is not ONE sound, it’s two.
Beth
I chose manner, because of the flow from a to the next letter. AN would be closer to AS than AR or A(w)L. Did I think this was hard? Not really, I went by feel and by lipreading.
You probably had a devious purpose in asking this–it probably reveals who depended on hearing, oral training or lipreading more than on other sources. (Did anyone cheat by looking them up?)
well ms. shel
i asked a hearing person and he chose B
i asked why
he said he sounded it out in his mind and B sounds right
i asked what about castle sounds the same as manner and he said the first 2 letters
do i get a gold star?
peace
patti
now he says go on i want to finish the test
i said that is it
he said BORING
and make it longer
it should be longer
go figure – odd kid
smile
peace
p
Hi Shel,
The same “a” sound as CASTLE is in MANNER. But you underlined “as” and none of the words have an “as” so… if I am to pick the same vowel sound, I will pick MANNER. If you want me to pick the same “AS” sound…I say you are a trickster! Still like ya cuz you give Don a good ribbing often.
You asked for a Hearing American to respond. You got me.
QUART has more of an “or” sound. PALM has more of an “aw” sound. CASTLE and MANNER both have the short “a” sound (going back to what I remember of phonics since I don’t use it in my teaching).
I would say all above for castle.
quart= tube castlely
manner= for fancy
palm= in a very big land.
I’m out of order for speech class already becuz I got graded F.
Patti, was your friend American?
We will see in the next post whether you get a gold star or not.
Thanks, Theresa, for your response and explanation. (Don needs a good ribbing every so often.)
Hi,
Shel – Your questions about whether people answering the question is American or not makes me think.
I realize you are in Canada where there are French Canadians and those who are British and speak with a British accent amongst other ethic groups. Yes I have been to Canada and have seen this accent.
Having been to England and asking the directions to the Castle I know how it is pronounced both there and in Canada. People who speak with a British accent say the A sound with an open throated “AH” sound. So a person who speaks this way will choose all three of the words as being correct.
An American will say Manner.
Now if you ask an Australian what the answer is you might get something totally different. They pronounce their A’s like an I. The word Able is pronounced Ible. Labor is Libor. Sprite is Sproyte. And so on.
I will ask my Aussie friend what answer he would choose and let you know.
You may also get a different answer from areas of the US where accents are different from the maintstream such as the Deep South.
One little note – Shel – I noticed that in the video you pronounce all four words in the American way so I assumed this was the pronounciation you intended us to use.
Beth
I like the way you think, Beth. I look forward to the answer from your Aussie friend.
I doublechecked and triplechecked the question I had received for this post… you’re right, Beth. It’s just one sound – A. Thanks for the correction. I’ll clarify in the post itself. My apologies for the confusion.
I’m a hearing American. I say (b) manner , they both have the small a as in apple sound in them. The other two (a and c) sound more like an o sound. Palm has the ah sound, and quart has the oh sound.
HI Shelly…its B, both quart and palm have “o” sounding “a’s” rather than the short a like manner.
BTW I’m somewhere inbetween HOH and hearing…wear hearing aids which helps alot but I still have alot of trouble in groups, rhyming words and I definetly can’t whisper or eavesdrop! (guess if you can’t hear 100% you’re HOH??)
Hello Shelly … That is a good question. Perhaps I’m too dense and read too much between the lines. Being hard of hearing becoming more Deaf as the days go by …. I’m going to have to say “neither A. , B. or C.” Even in lip reading mode. I see differences. True, you were speaking English. But I detect an “accent.” So through “accents”, pronunciations of vowels are slightly off. I find Canadian accents more closer to Americans in the mid range instead of extreme. The more I reviewed your video, the more I see it. Of the romance languages, I find the most difficult to understand is French. ( I worked with a few engineers at General Electric Co. who were from Montreal. I drove them crazy when I politely asked them to repeat themselves. LOL!) To me the vowels are so mixed that I find articulations difficult. One time I visited Canada, Toronto area, I was asking directions to a particular highway. This pedestrian had a heavy Montreal accent. I got by mainly by focusing more on lip reading. His voice was more French in pronouncing vowels. But lip reading I understood clearly to what he was saying.
Places here in the States I see big differences would be in the NYC metro area , Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Yonkers and Long Island. Brooklyn and the Bronx are more noticably dominant. Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, the South and deep South are the other most noticable areas.
Until I mentioned to Fabrienne, she did not know where I was from because my voice was a mix of western New York, western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. I’m from Erie, PA. So we do have some French influences.
Sorry for delayed answer to your question, Shelley….
I choose B – Manner
Thanks