# Is there a term for the dialect or accent in English in which a typically one-syllable word becomes two syllables? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578 "2025-01-29T14:23:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/41 "2025-01-29T23:25:48Z")
> [@solost](#): > > In what accent or dialect? In my own Midwestern accent, I think ‘fuel’ comes closer to a two-syllable word for me (few-el) than duel, which I think I pronounce more simply, like ‘dool’. Sorry typo. Fuel should be fool. Fuel like duel is a two syllable word at least according to my dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/42 "2025-01-30T00:22:36Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > He pronounced “mayor” almost identically to the word “mare,” as in a female horse. So much so that it was hard, at first, to understand what he meant. > > Lee Mack is from Lancashire, and the show frequently mentions his “Northern accent.” I know that the UK has a great variety of regional dialects, but this was the first time I had ever encountered that particular pronunciation. Hmm. That’s how I say mayor as well in NYC. Mayor/mare, same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Pheoinix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@Pheoinix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pheoinix)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/43 "2025-01-30T01:00:29Z")
There’s a Northern Ireland panel show called Blame Game which the host always pronounces as 4 syllables ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/44 "2025-01-30T04:25:29Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Is this the same as the tendency, in songs, to sing “Fi-yer” and “Desi-yer”…? Hell, I say something closer to “fuh-yer” when speaking than “fire” with the regular “long I” diphthong in English. ETA: actually, [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) gives the pronunciation as two syllables, /fahyuhr/. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/45 "2025-01-30T07:04:57Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > My Geordie friends in the North-East of England pronounce ‘film’ as ‘filum’; Not unheard of in other places (remember Bishop Brennan and the “blasphemous fillum”?). Come to think of it, I noticed (also Geordie) Sarah Millican getting very nearly two syllables out of “lone” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/46 "2025-01-30T08:35:43Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > But rule and fuel are considered to be one syllable words, while duel is a two syllable word. “Duel” is a one-syllable word; “Dual” is a two-syllable word. That’s how you tell them apart. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/47 "2025-01-30T09:32:09Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > remember Bishop Brennan and the “blasphemous fillum”? ‘Down with this sort of thing!’ ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/48 "2025-01-30T09:38:49Z")
Careful now! > [@Alessan](#): > > “Duel” is a one-syllable word; “Dual” is a two-syllable word. That’s how you tell them apart. Not on this side of the Atlantic. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/49 "2025-01-30T09:54:41Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > But rule and fuel are considered to be one syllable words, while duel is a two syllable word. Not in my dialect. (Upper Midwestern) Rool, fyool, and dool ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/50 "2025-01-30T10:03:24Z")
And in mine, only rule would be one syllable. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/51 "2025-01-30T10:59:39Z")
> [@solost](#): > > So not _Northern_ Ireland, Try this: [Irish Farmers Glorious Accent Is So Strong Here are the subtitles!!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ7QB3om-QY&ab_channel=flutters) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/52 "2025-01-30T11:15:03Z")
Here’s another famous example from Strabane: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ij_5UGpjUsU/hqdefault.jpg "Strabane man") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij_5UGpjUsU) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/53 "2025-01-30T13:38:42Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > > [@solost](#): > > > > So not _Northern_ Ireland, > > Try this: > [Irish Farmers Glorious Accent Is So Strong Here are the subtitles!!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ7QB3om-QY&ab_channel=flutters) Wow, for a minute there I thought he was speaking Gaelic 🤔 I was watching the Irish TV show ‘Derry Girls’ last night- I needed something not too taxing to watch while I hit the elliptical, and it seems like I’ve watched everything else I want to see on Netflix. And yeah, it takes place in Northern Ireland so I was curious about the accent. For the most part vowel breaking can be heard when the characters talk, but is somewhat subtle. One character though, a priest, had a doozy-- he very distinctly pronounced ‘car’ as ‘kee-yer’. “Get in the kee-yer!”. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/54 "2025-01-30T14:45:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > “Duel” is a one-syllable word; “Dual” is a two-syllable word. That’s how you tell them apart. In my dialect, they way you tell them apart is write them. > [@solost](#): > > Basically by the time you reach a certain age, it becomes very difficult to impossible for your brain to register subtle variations in a foreign language because the language center of our brain automatically maps the closest match of the vocal sounds in our language to the other language. Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. When our brains are forming, the language center is very fluid. It’s how we learn to hear how people talk so we can emulate them. But as we get older, the language center becomes less flexible. The patterns of noise have been categorized and sorted, so that we can understand, for example, the kind of pronunciation differences we’ve been discussing. But the trade off is that the brain is trying to sort foreign language to fit the patterns of our own native one. That’s why children learning multiple languages can be fluent in all of them, but adults tend to struggle with learning a new language. If I had time, I would enjoy looking into the way our mouth shape affects the sounds we make, and how that varies in different languages. That, more than anything, had helped me with getting names right. > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I think that tends to be done to maintain the proper number of beats per line. True, but that only can happen because a common way to say those words is to split the vowels. Fire = Fi-er. Desire = De-zi-er. If you don’t say those words that way, that’s when it sounds weird. > [@OldGuy](#): > > . I’d expect many if not most English speakers pronounce rule, fool, and duel to rhyme. Not necessarily. Some people pronounce certain words, say one’s with u instead of oo, as “yoo” vs “oo”. So that could be “dyu-el” vs “doo-el” vs “dool”. L and r are curious consonants in that they are voiced, so they have some aspect of an inherent vowel. For me it’s almost impossible to say those sounds without the schwa. A pirate says “Ah-er”. Light a “fie-er” or even “fie-yer”, depending on the vocal glide between vowels. Some people hear the y more than others. > [@eburacum45](#): > > My Geordie friends in the North-East of England pronounce ‘film’ as ‘filum’; That’s another curious case, the double consonant. In order to pronounce the different sounds, you reshape your mouth. Since m is a voiced consonant, it has a similar effect of an inherent vowel. That transition from l to m is less voiced for some dialects. Others, it is more pronounced. Basically, vowel transitions and voiced consonants contribute to these variations developing in different dialects. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/55 "2025-01-30T15:20:36Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > > [@Alessan](#): > > > > “Duel” is a one-syllable word; “Dual” is a two-syllable word. That’s how you tell them apart. > > Not on this side of the Atlantic. Yeah, not to get in a duel with Alessan, but in my Midwestern accent they don’t have dual pronunciations or syllable counts; they both sound like ‘dool’ when I say them. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/56 "2025-01-30T15:24:46Z")
Dictionary. com gives only two-syllable pronunciations for both. Merriam-Webster gives only two syllables for “duel,” but one- and two-syllable for “dual.” These are US or based on US dictionaries. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/57 "2025-01-30T15:28:55Z")
It might be fairer to say RP British English gives “duel/dual” and “fuel” one and a half syllables. Except when singing Good King Wenceslas, when it’s definitely “fyu-oo-el”. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/58 "2025-01-30T15:31:26Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Except when singing Good King Wenceslas, when it’s definitely “fyu-oo-el”. Ha, I almost jokingly mentioned GKW when the word ‘fuel’ was first brought up in this thread. Great minds, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/59 "2025-01-30T15:49:17Z")
Well, then to be fair, the way I say both words (and they are homophones for me), might also better be described as a syllable and a half. It’s not super distinct. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578/60 "2025-01-30T16:12:36Z")
I think the ‘L’ sound is s similar case to an ‘R’, as Irishman pointed out upthread: > [@Irishman](#): > > “R” is a funny letter. The mouth shape to produce it is similar to the shape for the schwa vowel sound. When other vowels are used with an “r”, the r forces the vowel to shift. > > Fi er (fire) > Fla ir (flair) > Fa er (fare) > Faw er (far) ‘L’ is kind of pronounced as ‘el’, so in words like ‘dual / duel’ the mouth shape has to change, so it’s a bit like ‘doo-el’. Not _quite_ 2 syllables, so yeah, maybe a syllable and a half. If I was singing a song with either of those words, and they needed to be one syllable to fit the meter, I could easily do so. “Fuel” on the other hand, is a better candidate for being a 2-syllable word. Unlike dual / duel, which at least in my accent both sound like ‘dool’, ‘fuel’ is not a homophone for ‘fool’. It’s more 'few-el". [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-the-dialect-or-accent-in-english-in-which-a-typically-one-syllable-word-becomes-two-syllables/1013578.md?page=4)