Today’s question comes from YouTube:
“I saw your You Tube video on the pronunciation of “dog.” I completely agree with you. I have a colleague who insists that I am wrong, and claims that it is pronounced with short o. She cites teacher worksheets and websites like Enchanted Learning. Do you have a source that you use to decide on the pronunciation of your words? Thank you so much.”
I don’t have a source, I just listen.
Technically, in “reading teacher” terms, the O in DOG is short. But, in terms of pronunciation and perceived length, it is longer in length than the O in DOCK and the short UH in DUCK. The reason that the O in DOCK is shorter than the O in DOG because the K is a voiceless sound while the G is voiced. The vowel in DOG “picks up” some length from the voiced G.
My videos are about pronunciation. Many things influence this as I noted above. Below is a list, longest to shortest vowel length.
DOG has the longest “short o”
DOCK has a shorter “short o”
DUCK has the “short u”
Hope this helps!