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On Fri, 13 Jul 2018 18:26:20 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Ken Blake
writes:
On Fri, 13 Jul 2018 13:02:15 +0100, "NY" wrote:
[]
Yes, I'd pronounce "ewer" as YOU-er, whereas I'd pronounce "your", "yore"
[long ago, in former times] and "Ure" [river in north Yorkshire]
identically.


Yes, same here. Two syllables to one.




Using homonyms to define pronunciation is always a problem if people either
do or don't pronounce the sample words the same, depending on accent. My
parents have a dictionary which uses different phonetic symbols, with
examples of their use in typical words. It uses different symbols for the
(final) vowel sound in "fur", "fir" and "transfer", whereas I make no
distinction between these; evidently the writers of the dictionary do.

In England, it's roughly a north-south divide: in London, the leader of
the city is pronounced the same as a female horse,



To me, "mayor" has two syllables and "mare" has one.


and the blooming part
of a plant is pronounced the same as ground grain; in more northern
towns and cities, these words - like your ewer - have a definite two
syllables.ith a "you".)



To me, both "flower" and "flour are also pronounced the same way, and
both also have two syllables.

I remember having a conversation years ago with a woman from North
Carolina who I worked with. She kept talking about what sounded to me
like "flahs." I didn't understand her and kept asking what she meant,
and she got very insulted and thought I was making fun of her. But I
wasn't; I really didn't understand that that was the way she
pronounced "flowers." She was strongly non-rhotic and pronounced it as
one syllable.