To answer without reading the thread and without my IPA symbols handy… I pronounce “weakened” without a vowel between the k and n. I pronounce “weekend” with a very distinct vowel between them.
Lasciel, I’m surprised by both your and Evil Captor’s pronunciations of Weekend. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard anyone pronounce the word ‘end’ as ‘ind’. The end of the week. WeekEnd. How are you getting WeekInd?
British usage.
Precisely.
New Jersey.
I would pronounce them as follows: -
Weakened: [ˈwiːkənd]
Weekend: [wiːkhɛnd]
The way I pronounce the words, there are three differences: -
-
“Weakened” is stressed on the first syllable; “weekend” has equal stress on each syllable.
-
The second syllable of “weakened” has a neutral vowel sound; the second syllable of “weekend” has a short “e” sound.
-
The K in “weakened” is unaspirated; the K in “weekend” is aspirated.
(Standard [Received Pronounciation] British)
I agree with you entirely, and (if for some reason my location goes away), I am an Arkansan, and I’ve not even heard them pronounced differently on any American TV.
The only difference I’ve ever heard is what the neutral vowel is: it can be closer to “uh” [ʌ] or “ih” [ɪ]. I seem to more often use the latter.
Weakened is pronounced like wee-kund with a clear stress on the first syllable.
Weekend is pronounced like week-end. The first syllable is still stressed but the stress between the two syllables is more equal.
I’m a Brit.
I pronounce “weekend” like it is two separate words, “weakened” like it is one.
New Zealander living in UK.
Weekend has two equal length syllables, stress on ‘week’ but both syllables pronounced how they are spelt: week-end.
Weakened has a longer first syllable, stress on ‘wee’, pronounced wee-knd.
Grew up in Chicago, live now in the Northeastern US. Big difference in pronunciation.
I think you WOULD notice if you substituted one for the other.
“He gradually weakened as the fight went on…” If I pronounced that as “weekend” in my dialect (He gradually weekend as the fight went on) I think it would stand out as odd, in the same way as “pointed” stands out in the Monty Python “pointed stick” routine. You’d know what I was saying, but it would strike you as mispronounced in some way.
“The second day of the weekend is Sunday” – well, if that were pronounced as I pronounce “weakened,” it would strike me as how my grandmother (from Georgia, lived most of her life in the South) might say it (She said Sun-dy, not Sun-day as I say it, which is a similar combo to weakened/weekend in my dialect, I think.) So maybe not as much of a standout. --Still, if my wife or my kids said it, I think (again) I’d notice.
Hmm. Maybe some experimentation is in order.
Yes, like this.
Agent Foxtrot, what part of the northeast? It’s not a subtle difference in NH or MA.
Confirmed.
Chicago here, and it’s obvious to me.
“Weakened” is something like “WEEk(i)nd” with a definite emphasis on the first syllable and a schwa or short “i” sound in the second syllable. In scansion, it’s a trochee.
“Weekend” is something like “WEEK-END” or possibly “WEE-KEND” with nearly equal emphasis on both syllables, and a clear “eh” (non-schwa) in the second syllable. In scansion, it’s a spondee.