A Not So Trivial /ʌ/

He has been the host of a popular television game show since 1984 and is said to be contemplating retirement in the next two years.

Who is Alex Trebek?

Or should I say...Who is Alex Trebek-Ah?

I have been noticing more and more recently that when it comes to trivia games there seems to be a dialectical affectation exhibited by emcees.

I have been a Jeopardy viewer for as long as I can remember and it is only lately that I noticed Alex Trebek adding what I would call an "ah-suffix" to consonant final words when he is giving a question that was missed by the contestants. And it is not just Alex Trebek that does this (which might explain why I have noticed it more). My husband and I often play trivia at some local restaurants and have experienced several emcees that have the same affectation (e.g., "The correct answer is...game shows-Ah."). I have no idea if they are emulating Trebek or if it is part of their trivia training. Either way, it must be that the phenomenon is-Ah trending-Ah in the trivia world or I just wasn't as attentive prior to the last few months-Ah.

Phonetically, the sound could be transcribed as either /ʌ/ or /ɒ/ depending on the speaker's dialect. 

Image credits.

Alex Trebek Phonetically Verbs a Noun

Is it just me or did Alex Trebek verb a noun on Tuesday evening?

When the contestants were unable to provide the question for the clue, Alex gave the response, "What is incline?"

I can't remember the exact wording of the clue, but it went something like this: "Another name for a slope leading onto or off of an expressway."

The context of the clue made it clear that "incline" was a noun ("a" is a determiner, so "slope" must be a noun; thus, incline is a noun); however, Alex gave primary stress to the second syllable of the word.
noun /ˈinˌklīn/
verb /inˈklīn/

In the above phonetic transcriptions, a raised vertical line indicates primary stress and a lowered vertical line indicates secondary stress. These phonetic markers are called suprasegmentals.

English has many noun-verb homographs. The nouns in these pairs are almost always articulated with primary stress on the first syllable, just as their verbal counterparts are articulated with primary stress on the second syllable.

Here are some additional examples of noun-verb homographs with the noun followed by the verbs.

conflict /ˈkɑn ˌflɪkt/ --- /kən ˈflɪkt/
rebel /ˈrɛ bəl/ --- /rə ˈbɛl/
permit /ˈpɚ ˌmɪt/ --- /pɚ ˈmɪt/
record /ˈrɛ kɚd/ --- /rə ˈkɔrd/

*On the other hand, maybe it is just Alex Trebek's dialect. He was born in Canada and spent much of his early life there.