A Colourful Joke

ˈwɒts ˈɒrɪnʤ | ən ˈsaʊnz laɪk ə ˈpærət ||
ə ˈkærət

Key at bottom of page.

Commentary

[Don't worry if you find this overwhelming. Don't let yourself be put off. The same phenomena will come up again and again in these transcriptions. There'll be plenty of opportunities for them to sink in over time. Slow and steady, a little each day, is the key to success.]

Explanation: The phrase sounds like a parrot would usually be interpreted to mean makes noises like a parrot, but the joke is that it could also be interpreted to mean has a similar pronunciation to the word parrot.

what’s: When unstressed, as it usually is, the word is can have three different pronunciations, depending on the final sound of the immediately preceding word:

·         When the final sound of the preceding word is /s z ʃ ʒ ʧ ʤ/, then is has the form /ɪz/, e.g. Chris is well /ˈkrɪs ɪz ˈwel/.

·         When the final sound of the preceding word is a voiceless consonants (excluding the consonants listed above), then is has the form /s/ and forms a contraction with the preceding word, e.g. Jack is well /ˈʤæks ˈwel/.

·         If the final sound of the preceding word is voiced (i.e. a vowel or a voiced consonant (excluding the consonants listed above)), then is has the form /z/ and forms a contraction with the preceding word, e.g. John is well /ˈʤɒnz ˈwel/.

This is the same pattern as with possessive s, plural s and the third person singular s.

orange: Formerly, words such as orange, strange and fringe were pronounced with final /-nʒ/ and words such as inch, French and branch with final /-nʃ/, and this is still included as a variant in some dictionaries. It is much more usual nowadays, however, to pronounce such words with /-nʤ/ and /-nʧ/. A notable exception is when orange appears in the compound orange juice, which is often pronounced /ˈɒrɪnʒ ʤuːs/.

and: When unstressed, as it usually is, and has the weak form /ən/ or /ənd/. Some books say that /ən/ is used before consonants and /ənd/ before vowels, but this is not true. While both forms can be heard before consonants and vowels, /ən/ is much more common than /ənd/. Learners can safely use only /ən/ for the weak form of and because it will never be wrong to do so.

sounds: When /d/ is at the end of a syllable (i.e. in a syllable coda) and is immediately preceded by a consonant, it is commonly elided/deleted when another consonant immediately follows (i.e. without a pause) in another word or, as in this case, in a suffix.

aː When unstressed, as it usually is, the indefinite article a has the weak form /ə/.

What’s orange and sounds like a parrot.

A carrot.