94: /t/+/y/=/ʧ/, /d/+/y/=/ʤ/, surprising 'ch' and 'j' sounds.

Assimilation: two adjacent sounds can cause changes to pronunciation.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 94th episode.

In English, sometimes two adjacent sounds affect one another so much they join, and basically become a different sound. This is an example of something called assimilation. Assimilation happens naturally, and like many aspects of spoken language, individual native speakers are not often aware of doing this.

Today I'm going to talk about the d sound becoming a j sound and the t sound becoming a ch sound. This occurs when those sounds are followed by a y sound. It can occur both within words, and across word boundaries. When it occurs within high frequency words, it can become so common that the assimilated sound becomes the norm, and dictionaries will show this newer pronunciation. Examples are the words picture and procedure. Can you hear the ch sound (ch sound) in the word picture and the j sound (j sound) in the word procedure?

Once upon a time, the word picture was pronounced with a t sound followed by a long u sound. The long u sound (long u), I hope you know begins with a y sound.

Similarly, the word procedure was properly pronounced with a d sound followed by the long u.

Now picture has become pic(ch)ure, and procedure has become proced(j)ure. Here are a few more examples:

virtue
nature
graduate
individual

What can make this difficult to grasp is that it also occurs across word boundaries. It happens commonly when the first word ends in a d sound or t sound, and the next word is either the word you or your. Here are some examples.

The phrase:

won't you

becomes

won'(ch)ou

Listen for the ch sound (ch sound):

won'(ch)ou

don't you

becomes

don'(ch)ou

The phrase:

could you

becomes

coul(j)ou

Listen for the j sound (j sound):

coul(j)ou

would you

becomes

woul(j)ou

Now let's take this one step further. The word you in conversation is often reduced to ya because it's a function word. When a native speaker of English changes the t to a ch sound and the d to a j sound, plus the word you is changed to ya, it can get difficult for non-native speakers to understand.

Listen to the following phrases:

woncha
doncha
couldja
wouldja

What we have now moved into is the area of informal contractions. I've talked about informal contractions in the past; if you aren't familiar with them yet, I'd recommend going back and listening to episode 13 to learn about these informal, yet important to understand, words.

Regular contractions are words like don't, isn't and they're (t-h-e-y-'-r-e).

An informal contraction is less formal than a regular contraction, but is still very, very common in spoken English.

The major difference between formal and informal contractions is in writing. While regular contractions are common and acceptable in less formal written communication, such as an email to a friend or even a colleague, informal contractions are regularly spoken, but seldom written. I should add, for truly formal written communication, such as a business proposal or an email to your boss, I recommend staying away from contractions completely.

As a listen and repeat exercise, I'm going to say some phrases in three different ways. First I'm going to articulate perfectly, with no assimilation. Then I'm going to say it with the assimilated ch sound and j sound. Third, I'm going to say it as an informal contraction. I'll leave time in between all three for you to repeat.

Ready?

won't you, won'(ch)ou, woncha
don't you, don(ch)ou, doncha
could you, coul(j)ou, couldja
would you, woul(j)ou, wouldja

My main purpose in teaching about this is so when you start to notice this happening around you, you understand it and can make the decision for yourself about making these assimilations across words or not. Within words, I would recommend using the assimilation, since that is what many dictionaries now show.

The lesson of the day is to learn to trust your ear. Learn to hear the sounds of English so when you hear something unexpected, you can question it and compare it to the sounds you know. Then you can make a personal decision about how you want to pronounce the words you say.

Remember, if you have questions about this or any other aspect of English pronunciation, you can post it, for free, on our forums. Go to www.pronunican.com/forums. Also, follow me on Twitter, username Pronuncian to keep up with all the Pronuncian.com updates. Finally, as always, transcripts for this episode are freely available, at www.pronuncian.com/podcast.

That's all for today everyone. Thanks for listening.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

93: Do you accidentally make your /l/ into /w/?

Don't round those lips! Especially at the end of the word, the l sound can cause some surprising problems.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 93rd episode.

Did you know that English words don't end in the w sound? This is initially hard to believe, because so many words end in the letter w, words such as the following:

cow, snow, saw, few, and chew.

Two of those words, cow and snow, do end in two-sound vowels that include a w sound in their pronunciation, so it is natural to think there is a w sound there. Technically however, it is just the full and complete pronunciation of the ow sound (ow sound) as in the word cow, and long o sound (long o) as in the word snow. The word saw ends in an aw sound; few ends in a long u sound; and chew ends in an oo sound.

You can study all of those sounds separately if you want to know more. However, the w sound is not what I actually want to talk about today. I want to talk about the l sound. Specifically, I want to talk about the l sound when it occurs at the end of a word. I want to talk about words such as the following:

bowl, still, little, circle, and couple.

A problem I often hear with words that end in an l sound is an accidental substitution with the w sound. I don't like to generalize languages too much because I think it makes people tune out when they don't hear their language mentioned as one that typically has this problem. However, I must say that more often than not, it is Asian students that have come to me and substituted a w sound for the l sound at the end of a word. Many of my students didn't know they did it. I'll call out Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mandarin as the biggest offenders of not saying the l sound the end of a word.

For everyone else, this will still be a good l sound practice show, so stay with me.

I need to take a side trip on the l sound for a bit. I try to not bring it up because I find it sometimes only adds confusion, but enough people have mentioned it on the forums that I now feel the need to address it in a podcast. Native English speakers from the United States, as well as most other English speaking countries, actually have two different ways to pronounce the l sound. It is called a velar l and a non-velar l. Velar l's are more likely in the middle and at the end of words. To produce a velar l, we don't touch the tip of our tongue to our tooth ridge while creating the sound. Remember, the tooth ridge is the area right behind our top front teeth. The average native speaker of English does not realize that this happens, and to almost all non-native speakers, the sounds are indistinguishable.

Because of this, non-native speakers don't need to try saying the l sound in any way other than touching the tip of the tongue to the tooth ridge. The velar and non-velar l sounds are very, very similar, and it's much easier to pronounce a non-velar l. I mention all of this only because Pronuncian users have brought it up a number of times.

Let's practice the non-velar l, which, on the Pronuncian website, and in pretty much all other ESL/ELL pronunciation material, is just considered an l sound. To create a nice, clear l sound, the tip of the tongue presses against the middle of the tooth ridge. This forces the sound to be created alongside the tongue. The l sound is a continuous consonant and can be held for several seconds. Listen closely:

(l sound), (l sound)

Let's get back to this problem of substituting a w sound for the l sound at the ends of words. Since no words in English end in a true w sound, I'm going to practice the l sound/w sound issue by comparing words that end in an l sound to words ending with a long o sound. Remember, the long o is a two-sound vowel that does include a very brief w sound at the end of it.

During this practice, give the most attention to your lips. The words ending in the long o will bring the lips into a tense circle; words ending in an l sound leave the lips relaxed. Watch yourself in a mirror if it helps. Don't bring your lips into a circle for the l sound.

Repeat these sets of words after me:

mow/mole
go/goal
so/soul
bow/bowl
tow/toll
row/roll

Okay, now that you know to keep your lips relaxed, let's practice just the l sound at the end of words. Repeat after me:

still
ball
sale
circle
table
trouble
initial
typical
parallel

If you want to practice more words that end in the l sound, Pronuncian.com has sound drills that are free to use as often as you want. I'll link to the l sound drills with this episode's transcripts. You can find all of our podcast transcripts at www.pronunican.com/podcast. Did you know you can buy just l sound practice MP3 files for only $2.00, or the entire set of all sounds for $20. With the MP3 files you can eaily practice your pronunciation when you are not connected to the Internet.

Don't forget, you can find out about all of our Pronuncian content updates by following us on Twitter. We are username Pronuncian, p-r-o-n-u-n-c-i-a-n, just like the website.

And finally, I want to remind you that you can post any pronunciation question to our forums! I learn a lot about the kind of content people want by forum questions. For instance, I never would have guessed that people were wondering about velar and non-velar l sounds if they hadn't asked on the forums. Plus, the forums are a free learning resource, so why not check them out?

That's all for today everyone. Thanks for listening.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

91: iPad/iPod, the world's newest /æ,ɑ/ (short a/short o) minimal pair

Even some native speakers of English are worried about the similar pronunciation of the newest Apple product. Comparing pronunciation of the iPad to the older iPod.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 91st podcast.

I've mentioned a few times that Pronuncian is now on Twitter, and many of you have become followers and now get an instant update when new content is added to the website, or a podcast is published, or a video is added to our YouTube channel.

I was hesitant to put Pronuncian on Twitter because I really didn't think another distraction would help me to create content. This week, however, I had a fun surprise discovery about a bit of popular culture I would have otherwise disregarded. I was looking through varius Twitter feeds that mention the word "pronunciation." Among them I found a large number of people commenting that in certain dialects of English, Apple's newest gadget, the iPad, sounds nearly identical to their other popular gadget, the iPod, iPad/iPod.

When I first heard of the iPad this week, I didn't immediately think, "Wow, Steve Jobs just invented a new minimal pair," but he did. Minimal pairs are two words that are identical except for one sound. The words iPad and iPod are identical except that iPad is pronounced with a short a, and iPod is pronounced with a short o.

What a perfect time, I thought, for a little short a/short o review podcast!

The short a sounds like (short a) and is the vowel sound in the word cat. It's pronounced with a slightly lowered jaw. The body of the tongue is pressed forward and the front of tongue is low and pressed lightly into the bottom front teeth. The lips are relaxed. Listen carefully:

(short a)
cat
iPad

To transition into the short o sound, the jaw opens and the body of the tongue moves back and drops low into the bottom teeth. The lips are more rounded than for the short a sound, but still relaxed. Listen carefully:

(short o)
top
iPod

Listen to both sounds side-by-side. I'll say the short a, then the short o (short a, short o) again (short a, short o)

Let's practice some short a/short o minimal pairs. I'll say the word with the short a first, then the short o. Please, repeat after me:

hat, hot
tap, top
lack, lock
battle, bottle
pack, pock
iPad, iPod

The new Pronuncian.com short a and short o lessons give you details about the pronunciation and spelling of the sounds of English, so if you want to know more about the short a and short o, that's that place to look. You can also find free minimal pair practice for the short a and short o from either page's sound drills. I'll link to the short a and long o lessons and drills from this show's transcripts. You can find those at www.pronuncian.com/podcast. Transcrips, lessons, and drills are all part of Pronuncian's free content. If you want additional videos, quizzes, and listening exercises, you'll need a Pronuncian subscription. You can sign up for your subscription at www.pronuncian.com/join.

Don't forget, if you want to be notified whenever we add another new spelling and pronunciation lesson, follow us on Twitter. We are username Pronuncian, p-r-o-n-u-n-c-i-a-n.

That's all for today everyone. Thanks for listening.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

90: The j sound, spelled j, dge, ge, and g(i)

The 'dge' and 'j' spelling are both usually pronounced with the 'j sound.' And don't forget, a 'j sound' is simply a voiced 'ch sound'!

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 90th podcast.

Two weeks ago I talked about the ch sound (ch sound). Today I'm going to explain a related sound, the j sound (j sound) as in the words jump, strange and giant.

The ch sound and j sound are both affricates. An affricate is a type of sound created when we stop all the air from leaving the vocal tract, and then, when we release the air, we do it with friction, or a little extra sound. English has only two affricate sounds, the ch sound and j sound. The only difference between the ch sound and j sound is voicing. The ch sound is unvoiced, and the j sound is voiced.

You can feel the difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds by placing a finger or two against the front of your neck. You will feel the vibration of a voiced sound, but not the unvoiced sounds. That vibration is created by your vocal cords. Feel both of these sounds:

(ch sound, j sound, ch sound, j sound)

Be careful. If you add a vowel sound to the ch sound, and say it like cha, you will be adding a voiced sound to the ch sound, and you'll feel the vibration of that sound, which may confuse you. The ch sound is pronounced as (ch sound) and the j sound as (j sound). The sounds aren't cha and ja, but simply (ch sound) and (j sound).

I hope you remember form two weeks ago that the ch sound began with the tongue in the same position as a t sound. Since the j sound is a voiced ch sound, it should not be a surprise that the j sound begins by stopping the air with the tongue in the same position as the d sound (j sound).

With the j sound, just like with the ch sound, the stop is released with friction. That friction, if I were to hold it, would sound like (zh sound). If I combine (d sound) and (zh sound), I get (j sound), the j sound.

There is also a spelling concept that is the same between the ch sound and j sound. The ch sound can be spelled tch, as in the words watch and catch. There is no additional t sound in those words. It is only a ch sound. The j sound has a similar concept in the dge spelling, as in the words judge and bridge. Although we see the letter d there, we do not add an extra d sound to the word. The dge spelling is pronounced as just the j sound.

There is obviously no letter j in the words strange or giant, yet they are pronounced with a j sound. The letter g, when followed by the letters e or i, are generally pronounced as the j sound. So the words strange and giant are both pronounced with the j sound.

We're going to do two sets of practice today, one is just the j sound with it's various spellings, then we'll practice a few minimal sets between the j sound and ch sound.

Repeat the following words after me.

j sound spelled j:

jump
job
junior

j sound spelled dge:

bridge
edge
budget

j sound spelled ge or gi:

gentle magic charge

Here is the minimal set practice between the ch sound and j sound. I'll say the word with the ch sound first:

choke, joke
chunk, junk
rich, ridge

As a quick review, here are the key points to remember about the j sound:

• a j sound is a voiced ch sound

• there is no additional d sound when the j sound is spelled dge

• ge and gi are also common j sound spellings

That's all for today everyone. Don't forget you can find transcripts for this, and all of our shows, at www.pronunicna.com/podcast, and you can follow us on Twitter, username pronuncian, to get all the updates on new Pronuncian content as well as other interesting English bits.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

88: Why is 'tch' (as in 'watch') easier to pronounce than 'ch' (as in which)?

The 'tch' and 'ch' spelling should BOTH be pronounced as /ʧ/ (the ch sound, yet 'tch' often seems easier for non-native English speakers.

Transcript

Hi again, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy and this is our 88th episode.

Today's topic is about the tch spelling, as in the words watch, catch, and switch. All of those words are pronounced with a ch sound (ch sound), and do not also have a t sound, despite the t of the tch. The final sound of the words attach a-t-t-a-c-h, and catchc c-a-t-c-h, are exactly the same, and neither of them have a t sound.

If you've been thinking that there is a t sound in the tch spelling, don't worry, it is probably actually helping you! It is an odd fact that many of my students cannot pronounce the ch sound (ch sound) when it's spelled ch, but can pronounce it when it's spelled tch. Before I talk about how to create the sound, however, let me talk about spelling.

The tch spelling has the benefit of being consistently pronounced with the ch sound, whereas the ch spelling has three options. You may remember from episode 85, which was about the word Christmas, that the ch spelling can be pronounced as the ch sound, as in the word chip, the k sound, as in the words chaos and Christmas, and the sh sound, as in the word chef. The tch spelling however, is much easier because you can always assume it is pronounced as the ch sound.

So what exactly is the ch sound? This kind of sound is an affricate, which means that for a tiny bit, we stop all the air from leaving the vocal tract, and then, when we release the air, we do it with friction. English has only two affricate sounds, the ch sound and j sound.

Now, I already told you that there is no t sound is the tch spelling. However, the beginning of the ch sound is very similar to a t sound. Listen to both sounds, first the t sound, then the ch sound:

(t sound, ch sound)

Again:

(t sound, ch sound)

For both the t sound and the ch sound, the front of my tongue stops all the air from leaving my mouth. For both sounds, the tip of my tongue is placed against my tooth ridge, just a bit behind my top front teeth. However, I release the sounds differently. The t sound is released with a puff of air pushing the tongue further away from the tooth ridge (t sound). The ch sound is released while keeping the tip of the tongue very close to the tooth ridge and pushing the air through a small opening between the tongue and the tooth ridge (ch sound).

Listen to the t sound and ch sound again, and notice how they are the same at the beginning, and how they are different at the end.

(t sound, ch sound, t sound, ch sound)

Now you create both sounds after me, and notice how your tongue is exactly the same for the beginning of both sounds. Then feel the difference at the end of each sound.

(t sound, ch sound)

Again:

(t sound, ch sound)

Now, let me get back to the tch spelling, and tell you a trick I've found for people who struggle with the ch sound. The most common error I hear with the ch sound is not stopping the air at the beginning of the sound. Remember though, I found that people who had that problem didn't have the problem in words that were spelled tch. It seems that seeing the letter t causes non-native speakers to try adding a t sound to the word, and stopping the air for the t sound made the ch sound better.

Here is a way to test yourself. Do you say the words witch w-i-t-c-h exactly the same as you say the word which w-h-i-c-h? The words witch and which are homonyms, and should be pronounced exactly the same!

Now if I have a student who cannot say the ch sound unless it is spelled tch, I tell that person to pronounce every word that has a ch sound the same as they were pronouncing the tch spelling. This often leads to quick success. When I practice word drills in class, I have them actually write the letter t in front of all the ch sounds to help them remember to stop the air exactly like a t sound to begin the ch sound. This helps break the habit of the old pronunciation.

So, the trick today, for all of you who struggle with the ch sound (ch sound), is to see if it is easier for you when it is spelled tch, then duplicate that sound for all words that contain a ch sound.

Here are some words to help you. I will first say a word that is spelled tch, then a word that is spelled ch. Please, repeat after me. Neither of these words have a t sound. The ch sound should for both words should be identical.

witch, which
batch, attach
itch, beach
watch, touch

Now let's practice the ch sound at the beginning of the word. The tch spelling does not exist at the beginning of words in English, but you can still pretend it's there if it helps you pronounce the words correctly.

cheese
chip
chew
chain
chocolate

I hope that helps you with your pronunciation of the ch sound. Did you know you can now buy individual sound downloads for only $2.00? So, if the ch sound is difficult for you, and you want the MP3 drills for this sound in the beginning, middle, and end of the word, you can now get that from Pronuncian. Or you can by the entire set of all the sounds of English for just $20.00. Right now you can take the survey on the Pronuncian.com homepage for a $10 coupon. Then you can buy the entire set of MP3s for just $10. All of your Pronuncian.com purchases support the production of this podcast, and all the rest of the Pronuncian.com content.

Remember, if you want to be updated whenever we add new content, just follow us on Twitter. We are simply username: Pronuncian. Free transcripts for this show, with links to our free online ch sound practice can be found at www.pronuncian.com/podcast.

That's all for today, everyone. Thanks for listening.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

85: Why is the 'Ch' in 'Christmas' pronounced as /k/?

It's all Greek to me! Knowing a little bit of history behind a word can go a long way when it comes to pronouncing the 'ch' spelling.

Transcript

Hi again, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy and this is our 85th episode.

Since the holiday season is upon us, I thought I'd talk about a holiday word: Christmas. The c-h-r-i-s-t part of the word Christmas, not surprisingly, comes from the word Christ. The word Christ came from Greek, and means the anointed one. It is exactly the word Christmas's Greek-ness that causes it to be pronounced with a k sound instead of the usual ch sound of English pronunciation. It turns out this k sound pronunciation is widespread among words spelled ch that originated in Greek. Here are just some of them:

chaos
character
chrome
chorus
choreography
chronic
chronological
synchronize
charisma
charismatic
archive
archaic
archeology

The word alchemy seems to be particularly resilient to pronunciation changes whe it gets adopted by a new language. It came to us, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, from a long line of languages. We're using it in modern English directly from Middle English. Middle English got it from Old French, who borrowed it from medieval Latin, who adopted it from Arabic. Where did Arabic get it from? The Greeks! All that time it seems to have kept the k sound for its pronunciation.

The word alchemy does not have a major role in the vocabulary of many of us. However, derivations of that word include:

chemical
chemistry
chemotherapy

All of those words also kept the ch spelling and the k sound pronunciation.

The k sound, however, is not the only other ch pronunciation. Some of you may be asking, "What about the ch spelling having an sh sound pronunciation?" Etymology wins again. The words

champagne
chef
charade
chauffer

are new words (relatively speaking) borrowed from French. Their sh sound pronunciation is due to their newness. For some reason, English speakers stopped anglicizing French words around the seventeenth century. Borrowed words newer then that have much less consistent pronunciations.

I wish I could give you a nice ch spelling and pronunciation rule for a Christmas present this year, but it seems that etymology, and not modern English phonics, prevails this round. Those ch words just need to be memorized.

As a special Christmas present for Pronuncian subscribers, I created a ch spelling quiz to help you learn and remember all three ch spelling pronunciations: the ch sound, k sound, and sh sound. If you're not a Pronuncian subscriber yet, maybe that would be a very nice holiday gift to give yourself. Plus, you'd be helping us out at the same time, so it would a double gift. What could be better?

Don't forget, follow us on Twitter at Pronuncian to keep up with all the latest additions to the Pronuncian website and other fun English bits.

Also, as usual, the transcripts for this show are posted to www.pronunican.com/podcast, and links to lessons with the ch quiz can be found with this show's transcripts.

Thanks for listening everyone, and I wish you a very happy and peaceful holiday season.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

84: 'Who,' 'what,' 'when,' and 'where': How do you pronounce words that begin with wh-?

Do you pronounce /h/ in the wh- spelling? Not usually.

Transcript

Hi again, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy and this is our 84th episode.

First, did you know Pronuncian is now on Twitter? Follow us at twitter.com/pronuncian and keep up with all the new content being added.

Portions of the U.S. where the wine-whine merger is not complete[1]

View Wikipedia reference page

Today's topic is the pronunciation of the wh spelling, as in the words why, what and when.

Portions of the U.S. where the wine-whine merger is not complete[1]

I've been asked a number of times if the h sound needs to be represented in the pronunciation of the wh spelling. Is the word what, w-h-a-t, pronounced as what or hwhat? The short and simple answer is to pronounce the word as what, with no h sound. However, this is not a universal American pronunciation; some dialects of American English, spoken in the southeastern part of the United States, do say hwhat, but that pronunciation is significantly less common.

There is also the little issue of when the wh spelling is pronounced as an h sound, as in the words who and whole, w-h-o-l-e.

Most of you are already aware of these words, but I wanted to mention their pronunciation just in case some of you are trying to sneak a w sound into these words. When the wh is followed by either the long o sound or the oo sound, then the word is usually pronounced with an h sound, and only an h sound. This includes the words:

who
whom
whose
whole

You should notice that the words whole, w-h-o-l-e, and hole, h-o-l-e, are pronounced exactly the same.

Most wh words (except those followed by the long o or oo sound) have lost the h portion of their pronunciation in American English. Listen to the following words:

what
when
why
which
whale
wheel
white

It didn't used to be this way. The words wine, w-i-n-e, and whine w-h-i-n-e, had different pronunciations at one time. The fact that they have become homophones has created what is known as the wine-whine merger. There are actually quite a few words that have become homophones because of this merger. Listen to the following pairs:

where, wear
which, witch
whether, weather
whale, wale

Could you think of both words? If you couldn't, they are in the transcripts. I'll also include an image from Wikipedia that shows the area in the United States that the wine-whine merger has not happened.

Oh, and if you're wondering about England or Australia, their mergers are also complete or nearly complete. So if you're in those areas, you probably will not hear many people asking "hwhere something is" or "hwhat time something begins."

It certainly isn't wrong to add the h's into the wh words, but it is definitely a less common pronunciation.

If you want to learn more about the w sound in general, the new free w sound lesson is complete, and is up on Pronuncian. I'll link to it from this show's transcripts. If you're a subscriber, you can also take the quiz to help you identify if adjacent vowel sounds within words are separated by a w sound or a y sound. The lessons give you more information about the concept of linking vowels within words and why the w sound and y sound are important.

If you aren't a subscriber yet, you should think about becoming one. It costs as little as $15 per month when you sign up for a 6-month subscription. Your subscriptions are what allow us to keep producing more great content as well as these podcasts. You could also support us by buying a book, making a donation, or even just adding a review on iTunes. We sincerely appreciate every form of support we get!

That's all for today everyone. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter!

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

[1]Author: Angr, Own work; base map is modified from Image:Map of USA with state names.svg; data from W. Labov, S. Ash & C. Boberg, The Atlas of North American English (Mouton de Gruyter, 2006), p. 50.

82: Thanksgiving holiday th sounds /ð, θ/ review

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Have fun reviewing the 'th sounds' with this extra practice podcast.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 82nd episode.

This Thursday is the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Since it is a holiday week, I'm just going to do a simpler, shorter, review show today.

In honor of Thanksgiving, we're going to review the th sounds.

Listen to the following sentence.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving.

Listen to the th sounds.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving.
This Thursday is Thanksgiving.

The th sounds are fricatives, meaning they are a smooth, continuous sound that is created when air is pushed through a small opening in the vocal tract. To create the voiced and unvoiced th sound, the tip of the tongue is placed very close to the front of the tooth ridge, and then air is pushed through the small space between the tip of the tongue and the tooth ridge. The tooth ridge is the bony area right behind the top front teeth.

The voiced and unvoiced th sounds are identical except that the voiced th uses the vocal cords, and is voiced, and the unvoiced th does not. You can go all the way back to our first podcast episode for more information about fricatives and voiced and unvoiced sounds.

Listen to just the voiced th sound:

(voiced th)

And now listen to the unvoiced th sound

(unvoiced th)

Here is a quick practice for all of you who have trouble with the th sounds. It's only two sentences, and one of them I've borrowed from previous th sound shows. I'm going to say both sentences, then I'm going to break them into pieces for you to repeat.

For now, just listen.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving. Be thankful for this thing, that thing, and those things.

Okay, now repeat it after me, with perfect, smooth, th sounds. You should also practice linking smoothly from one word into the next.

This Thursday
is Thanksgiving.
Be thankful
for this thing,
that thing,
and those things.

Let's do it in little pieces again.

This Thursday
is Thanksgiving.
Be thankful
for this thing,
that thing,
and those things.

Okay, now let's practice in bigger pieces.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving.
Be thankful for this thing,
that thing,
and those things.

Now let's do it as whole sentences.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving.
Be thankful for this thing, that thing, and those things.

You can read the transcripts for this show by visiting www.pronuncian.com/podcast. I'll included an audio of the practice sentences so you can listen and repeat again without listening to this whole show again. I'll also link to the free voiced and unvoiced th sound lesson on Pronuncian.

If you have subscribed to Pronuncian's premium content, you also have access to four more listening exercises for more th sound practice. These exercises compare the voiced and unvoiced th, compare the th sounds with other close sounds, and practice the difficult unvoiced th plus r sound combination.

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for all of you who listen to this show, and those of you who help support this show through your Pronuncian purchases and subscriptions.

That's all for today. Thank you for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

81: "About a boat," comparing /oʊ/ and /aʊ/

Compare the long o and ow--as in 'no' and 'now'.

These two-sound vowels both end in the w sound, and both can be spelled 'ow.'

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Amanda, and this is an updated release of our 81st episode.

Today we’re going to talk “about a boat.” Well, we’re not really going to talk about a boat, but we are going to talk about the stressed vowel sound in the word “about,” that’s the ow sound /aʊ/, and the vowel sound in the word “boat,” which is the long o sound /oʊ/: (/aʊ/, /oʊ/), about a boat.

(See long o  /oʊ/ spelling and pronunciation lessons and ow sound /aʊ/ spelling and pronunciation lessons)

The /aʊ/ and /oʊ/ don't get a lot of attention when it comes to English pronunciation. 

The /aʊ/ is pronounced (/aʊ/), as in the words cow and about.

The /oʊ/ is pronounced (/oʊ/), as in the words home and boat. Long vowels sound like their letter name, so, if you've been listening to these podcasts for a while, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the /oʊ/ sounds like the letter o.

(See Introduction to Long Vowels lesson.)

The /oʊ/ and /aʊ/ have two major things in common.

1. They both are two-sound vowels that end in a brief w sound (and)

2. They can both be spelled ow

Let's look first at their pronunciation. The /aʊ/ begins with the tongue very low in the mouth. The bottom teeth can be felt alongside the tongue. The *beginning* of the /aʊ/ is pretty similar to the short o sound (short o), which I talked about in episode 78. 

The second part of the /aʊ/ is the w sound. To create /w/, the back of the tongue rises so that it’s near the soft palate. Remember, the soft palate is the squishy, top area in the back of the mouth. The lips also need to close into a small circle for the w sound. So, to create the entire /aʊ/, we start with the tongue low in the mouth, then raise the back of the tongue at the same time as closing the lips into a circle.

Repeat the /aʊ/ after me: (/aʊ/, /aʊ/).

The /oʊ/ begins with the body of the tongue higher in the mouth. The beginning of the /oʊ/ sound is more similar to a short u sound (short u). From there, the tongue moves into the w sound, just like it did for the /aʊ/. The body of the tongue rises and the lips go into a small circle. 

Repeat the /oʊ/ after me: (/oʊ/, /oʊ/)

The most frequent problem I hear with the pronunciation of the /oʊ/ sound is not transitioning fully into the w sound. Think about the contractions don't and won't. Both of those contractions should be pronounced with a /oʊ/ sound: don't, won't. I often hear my students say *don't* and *won't,* using a sound closer to a short o sound. 

Cutting the vowel sound off before the /w/ part of the /oʊ/ in the word won’t makes it sound like the word want, w-a-n-t, instead. Obviously, the words won’t and want have *very* different meanings, so don’t confuse your listeners by pronouncing them too similarly.

Now let's look at the other similarity between the /oʊ/ sound and the /aʊ/: they can both be spelled with the letters o-w. The /aʊ/ is better known for this spelling, as in the words cow and now. However, I think some English language learners don't trust that they are hearing a *different* pronunciation in words like grown, g-r-o-w-n, and known, k-n-o-w-n. Both of those words are spelled ow, but pronounced with a /oʊ/ sound (/oʊ/) and not the /aʊ/ (/aʊ/)

Let’s practice. I’m going to say ten words—all of them spelled o-w. The first five words are pronounced with the /aʊ/ (/aʊ/), and the last five are pronounced with the /oʊ/ sound (/oʊ/). Listen carefully, and repeat each word after me.

ow sound practice

cow
town
down
brown
crowd

long o practice

slow
own
bowl
grown
known

Both the /oʊ/ and /aʊ/ have other spellings as well, which you can see on the free lessons on Pronuncian.com. I’ll link to the spelling and pronunciation lessons for both of these sounds from this episode's transcript page. You can find the transcript for this episode, as well as all of our podcast transcripts, by going to www.pronuncian.com/podcast. Or, you can also search for “about a boat” in the search box on Pronuncian.

If you want more sound practice, the Pronuncian.com Books and Products page has resources that you can purchase. Pronunciation Pages and the Sounds Drills have listen and repeat practice for all 43 sounds of American English. Also, your purchase helps support this podcast and Pronuncian.com’s free content, so you can feel good about that.

That's all for today.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn. You can find more information about Seattle Learning Academy and our pronunciation classes by visiting www.seattlelearning.com.

Thanks for listening. Bye-bye.

*Original boat image by By Tomasz Rojek, via Wikimedia Commons

79: Comparing /eɪ/, /i/, /ɑɪ/ (long a, long i, and long e)

Understanding how the vowel sounds in 'bake,' 'bike' and 'beak' are related to /y/.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 79th episode.

Here we go with another week of vowel comparisons. Every week when I meet with my individual students I am reminded of the power of comparing vowel sounds. Vowels are just hard. They are much more difficult to hear, and it is hard to feel exactly where your tongue is inside your mouth when it isn't actually touching anything. For instance, it is much easier to feel a t sound or even a th sound than it is to feel a vowel sound, like (short o) or (short u).

Because of these troublesome aspects of vowel sound production, we will continue to compare vowels that have similarities. Hopefully that will help you tune your vowels correctly, just as we tune musical instruments.

Today I'm going to first compare the long a and long i, then compare those sounds to the long e sound. I also recently added a new free Pronuncian lesson comparing these three sounds on Pronuncian.com. If you learn better by reading descriptions and seeing the illustrations, check out these new lessons. Go to the Sounds page, and click "lessons." All the lessons there are free.

The long a sound and long i sound are both 2-sound vowels, also known as diphthongs. A 2-sound vowel includes a w sound or a y sound in its pronunciation. The long a sound and long i sound both end in a very slight y sound.

I hope you remember that long vowels sound like their letter name. So the long a sounds like (long a) and the long i sounds like (long i), just like the letter a and i. The long a is the vowel sound in the word cake, (k sound, long a, k sound). The long i is the vowel sound in the word bike (b sound, long i, k sound). Cake, bike.

I'm going to say those vowel sounds very slowly so you can hear the y sound at the end of them. (long a, long i) Because they are 2-sound vowels, my mouth needs to move from one position to another to say the sound completely.

Let's first explore the long a sound. For the beginning of the sound, my tongue is neutral in my mouth. I can feel my bottom teeth along the underside of my tongue. It is like my tongue is resting on my bottom teeth. My jaw is somewhat open. Then I am going to transition into a y sound. My jaw closes somewhat, and the body of my tongue moves upward until it is very close to my tooth ridge and the hard palate. The tooth ridge is that bony area behind the top front teeth, and the hard palate is the hard, bumpy area behind that. Listen to the sound again (long a, long a).

Some words that include the long a sound are (and you can feel free to repeat these words after me):

same
lake
paid
way

As I already said, the long i sound is also a two-sound vowel. Let's explore this sound. The long i begins with the tongue lower in the mouth than the long a. The long a rests on the bottom teeth, and the long i rests inside the bottom teeth. You should be able to feel the bottom teeth alongside the tongue during the beginning of this sound. Then, I make the transition into the y sound. Just like for the long a sound, my jaw closes somewhat, and the body of my tongue moves upward until it is very close to my tooth ridge and the hard palate. Listen to the sound again (long i, long i).

Some word that include the long i sound are (feel free to repeat these words after me):

bike
time
while
bright

Now let's compare these two sounds by repeating some minimal pairs. These words are identical, with the exception of the long a and long i sounds.

race, rice
rate, right
tape, type
braid, bride
space, spice

The reason I want to compare the long a and long i to the long e sound is because the long e sound is so similar to a y sound, and the y sound is the second part of the long a and long i sounds.

The long e sounds like (long e), just like we'd expect, since long vowels sound like the letter name. The long e is the most forward and highest vowel sound of English. The whole tongue moves upward, until it is near the tooth ridge and hard palate. The difference between a long e sound and a y sound is that the y sound is even closer to the top of the inside of the mouth than the long e sound. Compare the words year y-e-a-r and ear e-a-r. Year, ear. The tongue begins higher for the word year, y-e-a-r, than it does for the word ear, e-a-r. Year, ear, year, ear.

Some other words the have a long e sound include:

keep
seem
please
she
dream

Because the long e and y sound are so similar, sometimes you may hear that the long a and long i sounds end in a long e sound. I prefer to say they end in a y sound because it is a little more accurate a description. You can think about it whichever way makes it easier for you to fully produce both sounds of the long a and long i (long a, long i).

Now let's practice some minimal sets between the long a, long i, and long e sounds. I will say all three words, then leave time for you to repeat after me.

bay, bye, be
fail, file, feel
mail, mile, meal
wade, wide, weed
whale, while, wheel
bake, bike, beak
fate, fight, feet

I already mentioned the new lesson on Pronuncian that compares these three sounds. I should also mention that there is a quiz attached to that lesson. Only subscribers have access to that quiz. If you have a current subscription, I would recommend taking that quiz to help you get your ears ready to fully hear these sounds. Also, there is a new free lesson up for each of these sounds individually. All of the new individual sound lessons include the most common spellings for these sounds, and a description of how to create the sound along with an illustration. Plus the lesson includes a list of high-frequency words that are pronounced with the sound that do not follow the common spelling patterns. I'm almost finished with all the long and short vowels, so if you haven't been to Pronuncian in a while, go and check out the new free lessons. I'll link to the lessons associated with this show on the transcripts page for this episode.

If you'd like to join Pronuncian and offer us financial support as well as get yourself access to all of Pronuncian's quizzes and video lessons, just go to www.pronuncian.com/join. 6-month subscriptions cost only $15 per month. We think that's a great deal for you, and it allows us to continue to create this kind of educational content.

Also, don't forget about our forums! Forums are free for anyone to use. Go browse other people's questions, or post your own. There is getting to be a lot of interesting information on the forums. You can find them at www.pronuncian.com/forums.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

78: Comparing /æ/, /ɑ/, /ɔ/ (short a, short o, and aw)

Understanding a sequence of low vowel sounds (as in 'stack,' 'stock,' and 'stalk')

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 78th episode.

I'm staying on the topic of vowel comparison today. In the last episode we studied vowels from high to relaxed in the middle of the mouth. Those vowels were the long e, short i, short e, and short u, (long e, short i, short e, and short u). Examples of words with those four sounds are beat, bit, bet, but.

Today I'm going to give you a series of vowels that are produced with the tongue low in the mouth, the short a, short o, and aw sound, which are pronounced (short a, short o, and aw sound). Examples of words with these three sounds are cat, cot, caught.

Listen to the words again.

cat, cot, caught

The vowel sounds in those words were short a, short o, and the aw sound (short a, short o, and aw sound)

cat, cot, caught

Let's explore how these sounds are the same, and how they are different. I already said they are all produced with the tongue low in the mouth. The similarities end there however. They are different in the shape of the tongue, the amount the jaw is open or closed, and the position of the lips.

The short a sound (short a) is pronounced with a slightly lowered jaw. The body of the tongue is pressed forward and the front of tongue is low and pressed lightly into the bottom front teeth. The lips are relaxed. The sound is (short a) cat.

Repeat that sound and word after me:

short a, (short a) cat
(short a) cat

So, for the short a sound, the body of the tongue is pressed forward and the front of tongue is low.

(short a) cat

To transition into the short o sound (short o), the jaw opens and the body of the tongue moves back and drops low into the bottom teeth. The lips are more rounded than for the short a sound, but still relaxed. The sound is (short o) cot.

Repeat that sound and word after me:

short o, (short o) cot
(short o) cot

Remember, for the short o sound, the jaw opens and the body of the tongue moves back and drops low into the bottom teeth.

(short o) cot

The transition into the aw sound from the short o sound is kind of complex. The jaw closes about halfway from the short o position, and the back of the tongue rounds slightly upward. The lips are made into an oval shape, and may push outward. The sound is (aw sound) caught.

Repeat that sound and word after me:

(aw sound) caught
(aw sound) caught

To review, to create the aw sound, the back of the tongue rounds slightly upward. The lips are made into an oval shape, and may push outward.

(aw sound) caught

To compare all three sounds, the short a (short a) is the most forward, with the front of the tongue low, the short o (short o) has the jaw quite open and the tongue back and in the lowest position in the middle of the mouth. The aw sound (aw sound) requires closing the jaw again, which forces the back of the tongue upward, but only slightly. During the aw sound, the lips are made into a tense oval shape, which also alters the sound from the short o.

Let's practice some minimal sets of all three of these sounds. I'll say all three words, then leave time for you to repeat after me.

cat, cot, caught
add, odd, awed
sad, sod, sawed
stack, stock, stalk
tack, tock, talk

Don't be surprised if it takes a lot of listening practice to recognize these as separate and distinct sounds. The short a, short o, and aw sound cause a lot of trouble for many, many non-native speakers from a wide variety of language backgrounds.

There is a new free lesson up on Pronuncian that gives audio examples of these sounds as well as a written description and illustration. If you are a Pronuncian subscriber, there is also a listening quiz attached to the lesson. You can test yourself and see how well you can hear the difference between these sounds. I'll link to that lesson from this show's transcripts. You can find the transcripts for this show as well as all of our past episodes by visiting www.pronuncian.com/podcast.

If you're not a Pronuncian subscriber yet, you may want to consider subscribing. It costs as little as $15 per month if you sign up for a 6-month subscription. You get access to all the Pronuncian listening exercises, quizzes, video lessons, and the TrueVoice record and compare feature. Besides the extra content, you provide Pronuncian with the financial support that allows us to continue creating these podcasts as well as all of the Pronuncian.com content. Go to www.pronuncian.com/join to subscribe now.

To all of you who have already subscribed to Pronuncian, we thank you for your generous contributions.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

77: Comparing /i/, /ɪ/, /ɛ/, and /ʌ/ (long e, short i, short e, and short u)

Understanding a sequence of very similar sounds (as in 'bead,' 'bid,' 'bed,' and 'bud')

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 77th episode.

Today is a back-to-basics podcast exploring four vowel sounds that I have talked about in the past: long e, short i, short e, and short u. Today I'm going to talk about them as a sequence of sounds. When I say "sequence of sounds" I mean that these sounds occur in a related series of vocal tract movements. The similarities between these sounds make them extra important to explore as a series. Learning how they relate to one another can help you learn to hear them, and you must be able to hear the difference if you are going to be able to pronounce the difference.

Again, today's sounds are the long e, short i, short e, and short u, and we are going to explore them in that order. Remember, don't get confused by the names of the sounds, they don't really mean anything. I call them by their well-known American names so I know that you know which sound I am talking about. If I just said the sound, it would do no good if your ear is not trained to differentiate between similar sounds. And these sound are all very similar.

I'm going to start by giving you a minimal set that contains all four of these sounds. I'll start with the long e, then go to the short i, then the short e, then the short u.

beat, bit, bet, but

Here is it again.

beat, bit, bet, but

The vowel sounds of those words were long e, short i, short e, short u, (long e, short i, short e, short u).

Again.

(long e, short i, short e, short u)

These sounds exist as a sequence of tongue movements from very high in the body of the tongue for the long e, to a central, relaxed tongue position for the short u. The short i and short e are in between those two sounds. As I describe these sounds, you will notice that with each sound, the jaw opens slightly more, and the body of the tongue drops slightly more as well.

Let's start with the long e, the sound in beat.

To create the long e sound, the body of the tongue is high and close to the tooth ridge and hard palate. The jaw is mostly closed, allowing very a narrow stream of air to pass through the vocal tract.

(long e), beat

To create the short i sound (short i), the tongue and jaw lower slightly from the long e position.

short i, (short i), bit

Let's compare the long e and short i sounds.

(long e, short i) beat, bit

To go from the short i to the short e sound, the tongue drops to the central area of the interior of the mouth. The tip and underside of the tongue may very lightly touch the bottom teeth during the short e sound.

short e, (short e), bet

Let's compare the long e, short i, and short e sounds.

(long e, short i, short e), beat, bit, bet

I'll say those again.

(long e, short i, short e), beat, bit, bet

The jaw lowers again to go from the short e position to the short u (short u). The body of the tongue will drop lightly into the bottom teeth to create the short u sound. During the short u sound the bottom your teeth can be clearly felt alongside the tongue.

short u, (short u), but

Now let's compare the long e, short i, short e, and short u sounds.

(long e, short i, short e, short u), beat, bit, bet, but

And, one more time.

(long e, short i, short e, short u), beat, bit, bet, but

Okay, now it's your turn to repeat after me. I'm going to say the entire set of four, then pause for you to repeat. I want you to notice the way your tongue gradually moves from very high in your mouth to a low/central position. Ready?

peak, pick, peck, puck
deed, did, dead, dud
cheek, chick, check, chuck
neat, knit, net, nut
teen, tin, ten, ton

I cannot express enough how important these kinds of activities are for training your ear to hear these sounds. If you want more practice, there is a brand new free lesson up on Pronuncian that highlights the comparison of these four sounds. It is easier to play with the audio there because you can practice each sound and word as many times as you want. If you are a Pronuncian subscriber, you can also test yourself on these sounds by taking the quiz at the bottom of the lesson. After taking the quiz, check out your recommendation page to see which lessons and sounds you should practice more of. The quiz checks which specific sounds you are hearing incorrectly, and so if you are only getting the long e and short i mixed up, your recommendation will reflect that.

I'll link to the free lesson that corresponds to this episode from the transcripts for this page. Just visit pronuncian.com/podcasts, and click episode 77.

Click "join now" to purchase your Pronuncian subscription and get full access to all the Pronuncian quizzes, exercises, and videos.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

75: 'can' and 'can't,' how are they different? Not how you expect!

Change in vowel sounds, sentence stress, and a glottal stop: lots of details make the pronunciation of these words different.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 75th episode.

Lately the forums have had a lot of questions that were originally about sound production of certain words, but the answers were directly related to sentence stress and specifically function words and content words. We learned that the word of can have the v sound dropped, and that the word for, spelled f-o-r, can have an altered r-controlled vowel, depending on if the word is being stressed in a sentence. People often have a greater preference to learn about sound production than sentence stress and intonation patterns. I hope these recent podcasts are helping you understand how the concepts of sound and stress are related, and how they rely on one another.

Let me warn any new listeners to the podcast that today's topic is an advanced lesson, and I would highly recommend that you listen to Episodes 73 and 74 before trying to fully comprehend this one.

Now, let's get started!

Today's episode is about the pronunciation of the words can, c-a-n, and can't, c-a-n-'-t and how to correctly hear and comprehend what a native speaker has said. I want you all to ask yourself, right now, if you use the word can't, c-a-n-'-t, or if you prefer to say cannot and not use the contraction at all. I will bet more of you use the word cannot, and avoid can't in your spoken English. And I'll bet that you do this because people kept misunderstanding you when you said the word can't. So you stopped saying it.

The reason can't is so difficult to use is not intuitive. The only difference we see in the spelling of the word is the addition of the apostrophe and t. So, it is natural to think that the only difference in pronunciation is the t sound. This is absolutely not true. In spoken English, there is a difference in sentence stress and vowel quality in sentences that use the words can or can't. To make it more difficult, the t sound of the word can't is quite difficult to hear when linked to another word.

I need to thank Simon for posting this question in the forums. Simon said he sometimes can't differentiate the sentences, I can do it from I can't do it. Simon was correct in putting the question in the linking section of the forums. He could already tell that something was going on with the t sound in the word can't.

Here are the example sentences again:

I can do it.
I can't do it.

In my original forum post answer, I misspoke a bit. For some reason, I answered that we sometimes drop the t sound of the word can't, or use a glottal stop in it's place. This isn't quite accurate, and I want to clear it up here. We don't usually drop the t sound of the word can't; instead we don't aspirate the t sound. Before I explain what I mean by not aspirating the sound, let's have a review quiz!

Today's mini-quiz will be multiple-choice:

What kind of a sound is a t sound?

1. an affricate

2. a fricative

3. a stop

4. a vowel

The answer is c, a stop. A stop means that we stop all the air from leaving our mouth, and then we release it. The release of the air is called the aspiration, and that is where most of the actual sound comes from. An unaspirated stop can be quite difficult for non-native speakers and ESL students to hear. Often, when native speakers link a stop sound to another consonant sound, the stop is not aspirated.

So, right from the beginning, we know that the t sound of the word can't is going to be very hard to hear because it isn't usually aspirated. When the t sound is released, it often merges with the sound that comes after it.

Another option that many native speakers use is the glottal stop in the place of the t sound of the word can't. A glottal stop is when the air is stopped deep in our throat, in our vocal cords. I'm not going to get into the glottal stop today. If you want to know more about it, you can listen to Episode 65. If you already understand the glottal stop, you should know it that is okay to use at the end of the word can't, no matter what sound follows it.

Enough about the t sound of the word can't and the fact that it is difficult to hear and is not fully produced. Let's talk about what actually makes the words can and can't different. Once again, we need to talk about function words and content words. Remember, function words are more grammatical in nature and do not provide the main contents of whatever we are saying. The word can is an auxiliary verb. Specifically, it is a modal auxiliary, but that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that is it an auxiliary verb, and auxiliary verbs are reduced in our sentences. Do you remember what the most common way of reducing a function word is? Often, the vowel of function words is reduced by changing it to schwa. We really can't get far in an in-depth conversation about English pronunciation without coming back to schwa, can we? Schwa has two common pronunciations, the short u (short u) and the short i (short i). The word can we will reduce by using the short i sound. Can, when it is used in the middle of a sentence, will sound like kin, k-i-n.

Listen to Simon's example:

I can do it.

Notice that the pitch word of that sentence is the word do. The word do is carrying the main stress of the entire sentence, and the word can is reduced to kin.

I can do it.

The word can't is not a function word. Because it is negative, and the negation of a sentence is a big deal and very important for correct comprehension, we do not reduce negatives or contractions with the word not.

Listen to Simon's example with the word can't.

I can't do it.

The word can't becomes the most stressed word of the sentence.

I can't do it.

Because it is stressed, it is pronounced with the pronunciation the dictionary shows. The dictionary shows it with a short a sound (short a), and that is exactly what we use.

Listen again:

I can't do it.

Notice how difficult it is to hear the t sound of the word can't. I stop the air with my tongue, as I normally would for a t sound, and I release it as the d sound of the word do.

I can't do it.

As I said before, I could also use the glottal stop for the t sound, and it would sound nearly identical to most listeners.

I can't (g.s.) do it.

Here's a bit more about sentence stress that is important to notice. Native speakers do not generally stress two syllables in a row. The sentence I can't do it only has single syllable words, so, even though I have the negative word can't, and the main verb, do, that could both be content words, I will only choose one. I will generally choose the negative. So, the word do in the sentence I can't do it is not stressed, at least not as much as the word can't. To learn more about how to choose the words to stress on a sentence, listen to episode 20, The Rhythm Rule.

I'm going to say some pairs of sentences, first using the word can, then the word can't so you can hear the difference in the vowel sound used and in the sentence stress patterns.

I'm actually going to say each pair twice, first slower, then faster.

Julie can speak French. (slow)
Julie can't speak French.

Julie can speak French. (normal)
Julie can't speak French.

Jerod can teach Physics. (slow)
Jerod can't teach Physics.

Jerod can teach Physics. (normal)
Jerod can't teach Physics.

Juan can walk the dog. (slow)
Juan can't walk the dog.

Juan can walk the dog. (normal)
Juan can't walk the dog.

Now I'd like you to repeat after me, if you can. I'm going to say each pair, then pause for you to repeat. Practice changing the vowel quality, shifting the stress, and linking the t sound into the next word. It's a lot to think about.

Julie can speak French.
Julie can't speak French.

Jerod can teach Physics.
Jerod can't teach Physics.

Juan can walk the dog.
Juan can't walk the dog.

Let's practice those one more time.

Julie can speak French.
Julie can't speak French.

Jerod can teach Physics.
Jerod can't teach Physics.

Juan can walk the dog.
Juan can't walk the dog.

Very good. This was another tough topic, with difficult concepts. Like the last few podcasts, this episode was based on a forum question. The forums on Pronuncian are for everyone, and they are free to use. You can ask any English related question you want, and I'll try to get you an answer as soon as I can. Just go to www.pronuncian.com/forums.

I want to send a great big thank you out to the people who have made purchases from Pronuncian or have subscribed to the additional Pronuncian content. We absolutely rely on you, the podcast listeners and Pronuncian user to help us keep improving Pronuncian content and functionality. So, thank you very, very much. The material included in the podcast about schwa and sentence stress and linking can also be found in the books we sell on Pronuncian. Most of this content is covered in the second book, Rhythm and Intonation of American English. You can learn more, get extra practice, and support more content creation by going to Pronuncian and downloading an ebook or buying a physical book, which we will be happy to ship to you.

Transcripts for this show and links to free online lessons can be found at www.pronuncian.com/podcast.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

74: Are 'for' and 'four' pronounced the same or differently?

for/four: When do the words for and four sound the same, and when are they different?

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 74th episode.

Last week another forum post came up that I thought would be great to demonstrate in a podcast. This question about the pronunciations of for f-o-r, and four f-o-u-r, came from ShortHair and really linked in well to last week's episode about the word of asked by Svcrow. Svcrow left me a comment about last week's show saying that is was still difficult to hear the linking of the word of, so I thought I'd repeat it again this week before getting into the new question.

Last week I said that the word of, o-f, is often said as schwa, and will sound like (schwa) when the word coming after the word of begins with a consonant sound. I also said that we tend to reduce the word of word so dramatically because it is a function word serving a more grammatical purpose than content words. Remember, content words give the main content of what we are saying.

I'm going to link the reduced form of the word of to the word questions. First I'm going to say it as of, with the v sound, then without.

The phrase is:

a couple of questions

Now, here it is with the v sound. I'm going to say it slower than you would typically hear, but I'm still going to link the words.

a couple of questions

One more time:

a couple of questions

And here it is reduced to just the (schwa), or schwa sound:

a couple of questions

One more time:

a couple of questions

I'll say them both again, faster. First I'll demonstrate with the v sound, then without.

a couple of questions
a couple of questions

And one more time:

a couple of questions
a couple of questions

You can absolutely choose which way you prefer to say it, with or without the v sound. When I'm speaking for a podcast I tend to say the entire word because I'm trying to be as articulate, and as easy to understand by my audience, as possible. Since non-native speakers expect the v sound to be a part of the word, I keep it in. In my everyday speech, I am more likely to drop the v sound of the word of, but only when it occurs before a consonant sound.

Okay, on to the words for, f-o-r and four, f-o-u-r. Do they sound the same, or are they different? Well, it depends. Sometimes they do sound the same, and sometimes they don't. I know, it's enough to make you crazy. Before I get into the details of these two words, I need to review a couple of topics from previous episodes. If you haven't listened to the episodes I'm referring back to, I would highly recommend that you do go back and listen to them. If you don't, much of what I'm talking about today may be lost.

Let's review two r-controlled vowel sounds and the long o sound.

I first talked about r-controlled vowels in Episode 6. The r-controlled vowels are special sounds that occur when an r sound follows a vowel sound. Here is a quick quiz:

How many r-controlled vowel sounds are there?
What are those sounds?

Ready for the answers? There are four r-controlled vowels. They are:

1. schwa + r

2. or sound

3. ar sound

4. air sound

Today I'm only going to talk about the first two r-controlled vowels that I just mentioned, the schwa+r and the or sound.

Schwa+r commonly occurs in the spellings er, ir, and ur, as in the words her, h-e-r, stir, s-t-i-r, and blur, b-l-u-r. Those words have barely any vowel sound at all. The pronunciation travels almost directly from the consonant sound to the r sound. Listen to the words again, and notice the lack of vowel sound.

her, it goes straight from the h sound to the r sound, her
stir, it is pronounced straight from the t sound to the r sound, stir
blur goes straight from the l sound to the r sound, blur

The or sound is similar to a long o sound plus an r sound. I first talked about the long o way back in Episode 8, which was about all the long vowel sounds. Video podcast 5 was about the long o sound, so you can watch or listen to that episode again for another review. In both of those episodes, I said that the long o is a two-sound vowel, and that it ends in a slight w sound. And example is the word boat, b-o-a-t. Boat. Another example is the word stone, s-t-o-n-e. Both of those words are pronounced with a long o sound. Boat, stone.

The vowel portion of the or sound begins the same as a long o sound does, but it does not go all the way to a w sound, and instead links to an r sound. An example is the word store, s-t-o-r-e. Compare the long o in the word stone to the or sound in the word store.

stone, store
stone, store

Okay. Enough review for now; let's get back to the words for and four. The word four, f-o-u-r, will always be pronounced as the f sound plus or sound, four. The words four, f-o-u-r and store will always rhyme. Four, store.

The word for, f-o-r, however, is different. If I'm saying that word alone, and not as a preposition in a sentence, it will sound identical to f-o-u-r. If I'm emphasizing the word in a sentence, it will also sound identical to f-o-u-r. If there is any reason for me to give added attention to the word, I will say for, as an f sound plus an or sound.

Most of the time, though, I'm simply using f-o-r as a preposition. Just like the word of, from last week, it is serving a more grammatical purpose, and it gets pushed into the background by reducing it. To reduce the word for, I change the nature of the vowel sound, and the r-controlled vowel changes from an or sound to schwa+r. The pronunciation of for changes to "fer". Just like all the other schwa+r words, I will go straight from the consonant sound to the r sound. The reduced pronunciation of the word for, which sounds like fer, will rhyme with her and stir and blur.

for, her, stir, blur

That reduced pronunciation (fer) is what is almost always used in a sentence. Here's an example, listen to f-o-r pronounced as fer.

I went for (fer) a walk.
I went for (fer) a walk.

Here is f-o-r and f-o-u-r in a sentence, so you can hear them as different pronunciations:

I went for (fer) four walks.

Listen again:

I went for (fer) four walks.

Repeat that after me:

I went for (fer) four walks.

Try this:

I practiced for (fer) four hours.

Now try this:

I kept four apples for (fer) myself.

Again:

I kept four apples for (fer) myself.

It would be rather uncommon to need to say f-o-r as for, but here are some examples of that, too. Repeat after me.

I voted FOR the incumbent mayor.
I'm practicing the words for and four.
She's FOR free trade, not against it.

I know the listenership of this podcast keeps growing, and so I expect some of you listening to this episode are new to the American English Pronunciation podcast. If that is you, I expect that this episode had too many new pronunciation concepts for you to have really understood some of the individual sounds I talked about. I publish the transcripts for each podcast at pronuncian.com, that p-r-o-n-u-n-c-i-a-n.com, and I link to previous episodes I mention in each show. I would strongly recommend going back and listening to the episodes that this show referred to.

I also link to the free lessons and sounds mentioned during each episode on the transcripts pages, so if there is anything more that you want to learn more about, that is a good place to start.

These podcasts, the forum answers, and the Pronuncan.com lessons are available to you only because of your financial support. If you find these podcasts valuable, please go to Pronuncian and check out our products page and make a purchase, or you can also donate through PayPal. Even the smallest donations are highly appreciated!

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

73: Reducing the word 'of' to /ə/

When the word 'of' links into a consonant, the /v/ is often dropped

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 73rd episode.

In the Pronuncian forums, Svcrow asked when the word of can be reduced to just /ə/, also known as the schwa sound. First of all, I was glad that svcrow didn't ask when of is pronounced with any kind of sound the o spelling typically uses, because it isn't any of them. It is, in fact, the schwa sound. Remember, schwa is a reduced vowel sound. It occurs on an unstressed syllable, often next to a stressed syllable in a word that has more than one syllable.

Here is pop quiz for you listeners who have been listening for a long time:

1. What two sounds do Americans use for the schwa sound?
2. Which of those sounds is more common?

Ready for the answers?

The schwa can be pronounced as either the short i or short u sound, and the short u is more common. An example of the short i being used for schwa is in the -ed endings that follow a t sound or a d sound, as in blasted and listed. Could you hear the short i sound (short i) in those -ed endings? Blasted, listed.

An example of schwa being pronounced as a short u sound is the first syllable of the word connect or the second syllable of the word vitamin? Could you hear the short u (short u), in the words connect and vitamin? Connect, vitamin. Remember, nearly any vowel spelling can be pronounced as schwa, as long as it is an unstressed syllable.

Schwa occurs in another place besides the unstressed syllable of word with more than one syllable. It can also occur in single syllable function words. Let's review function words and content words, since I haven't talked about them in quite a while.

Way back in episode 20 I told you the following:

Content words are usually nouns, verbs, adjectives, and some adverbs. Those are the words that help us form a picture in our head; they give us the contents of our story. We want our listener to be able to quickly grasp the main content of our story, so we make the content words easier to hear by bringing attention to them.

Function words are the words we use to make our sentences grammatically correct. Function words are words like pronouns, determiners, and prepositions. If our function words were missing or used incorrectly, we would be considered poor speakers of English, but our listener would probably still get the main idea of what we're saying. Since function words don't give us the main information, we don't usually want or need to do anything to give them added attention. In fact, sometimes we do things to deliberately push them into the background.

The word of is a preposition, and a function word. The vowel sound of that word is pronounced as schwa, and in this case we use the short u pronunciation, (short u), of.

Many times, however, we do more than use the weakest vowel sound in English to make the word of as small as possible. We also can take the consonant off the word. We just get rid of it; don't say it. Although of is spelled with an f, I hope you all are aware that it is pronounced with a v sound, of.

If the word that comes after the word of begins with a consonant sound, we can remove the v sound. If we do this we need to link the schwa sound into the following word, or it will sound strange.

Let's listen to some example sentences that use the word of whole, and reduce it to schwa. I am going to say the word of before the words the, my, cake, money, and Canada. All those words begin with consonants, so the word of can be reduced to just the schwa sound. Ready? Listen for the word of.

Incorrect spelling is only part of the problem.

That was: part of the problem
Repeat that after me: part of the problem

Two of my friends came along.

That was: two of my friends
Repeat that after me: two of my friends

I'd like another piece of cake.

That was: piece of cake
piece of cake

A million dollars is a lot of money.

That was: a lot of money
a lot of money

The United States is south of Canada.

That was: south of Canada
Repeat that after me: south of Canada

Now compare that to of linked to a word that begins with a vowel sound. In the following phrases, the v sound of the of should be said, and linked to the word that follows it. I'll say the word of before the words an, all, and each. Listen closely.

It only took part of an afternoon to make the cookies.

That was: part of an afternoon
Repeat that after me: part of an afternoon

She likes strawberries best of all.

That was: best of all
Repeat after me: best of all

I'll take two of each kind.

That was: two of each
Repeat that after me: two of each

Can you now hear the difference between the word being pronounced as of, and as just the schwa sound? Compare these two phrases:

part of the problem
part of an afternoon

Here those examples are again:

part of the problem
part of an afternoon

Linking the words together is what makes this work. Spoken English does not say each word separately, it transitions smoothly from one word to the next, often blending them together. It is a very important skill to have if you want to sound fluent in your own spoken English. To me, pronunciation practice really has nothing to do with accent reduction. Instead, it is about showing your listeners the level of English fluency you have by allowing your spoken word to match the fluency level of your written word. Almost all of my students come to me with far better written communication than spoken. Our goal is to make those two skills equal and allow you to communicate your ideas more clearly.

If you want to learn more about linking, there is an entire chapter devoted to different linking skills practice in my book, "Rhythm and Intonation of American English." You can buy it as a PDF download, including all the MP3 audio files, or as a physical book and CD's that we ship to you. Go to Pronuncian.com to learn more about that, and our other great pronunciation learning aids.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye

72: Using /n/ instead of /ŋ/ (the 'ng' sound) in -ing ending

-ing: substituting the n sound for the ng sound.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 72nd episode.

This is another podcast taken directly from a forum question. Neva, from China asked when an n sound can be substituted for an ng sound when linking into a vowel sound. The answer doesn't actually have all that much to do with linking. This substitution can take place no matter what sound, if any, follows it, as long as it is part of an -ing ending.

I want to talk a bit, first, about the differences and similarities between the n sound and ng sound. Both of these sounds are nasal sounds, meaning the air comes out our nose while pronouncing these sounds. It seems strange, but it is true. You cannot hold your nose shut and create a nasal sound at the same time. It just won't work.

The n sound occurs by blocking the air from leaving the mouth at the front of the mouth, using the tip of the tongue and placing it against the tooth ridge (that's the bony area right behind the upper front teeth), and blocking air from leaving along the sides with the sides of your tongue.

The ng sound is produced by blocking all the air from leaving the mouth with the back of the tongue. The back of the tongue touches the top, back of the mouth in about the same place as a g sound does, only the ng sound holds it there, forcing the air to com out our nose.

Listen to both sounds. I'll say an n sound, then an ng sound, (n sound, ng sound, n sound, ng sound). Could you hear the difference? (n sound, ng sound)

Now let's get back to Neva's question about when an n sound can be used in place of an ng sound. I also need to mention that this in an informal way of pronouncing these sounds, although in some dialects of English, it is more common than not.

Neva used the following examples in her forum question:

sing a song
nothing impossible
wrong idea
thinking of
missing actor

She really did provide the perfect examples for allowing me to explain the answer to her question. If you want the most accurate answers from the forums, providing good examples is the best way to get them.

I could easily divide her examples into the phrases that couldn't substitute an n sound for the ng sound, and those that could.

The two examples that must remain an ng ending, even in informal speech were, sing a song and wrong idea. I can't change the ends of those words to an n sound.

The other three examples, which were, nothing impossible, thinking of, and missing actor, could be spoken more informally by changing the ng sound to an n sound. They would then be pronounced as, nothin' impossible, thinkin' of, and missin' actor.

The difference between the examples that could substitute the sound and those that couldn't was the -ing ending. It doesn't matter if the -ing, often used as the present participle form of the word, is being used as a verb or an adjective, or sometimes if it just happens to end in -ing, like the word nothing does. It can also have the substitution.

If you are reading a novel, and you see that the author has written a word that should end in -ing as in' as in "What're you thinkin' about," t-h-i-n-k-i-n-', the author is showing how that person is speaking, and it means that the speaker is using informal speech, or is using a certain dialect.

Like I said before, this can occur anywhere in a sentence, no matter which sound follows the -ing, or even if it is the final word of the sentence.

Let's practice.

I'll say Neva's three examples that can have the substitution, first the more formal way, then the more informal way. I'll leave time for you to repeat both after me.

nothing impossible, nothin' impossible
thinking of, thinkin' of
missing actor, missin' actor

And that's all there is to it! If you decide to add this to your own speech, please don't overuse it. More importantly, I would suggest not using it in emails to people you don't know personally. I get a lot of emails from people who use very informal speech in its written format. I don't know you, and you don't know me, so keep it formal until we do know each other and have at least shared a few correspondences. Informal online discussions can go either way. Some are very informal, some aren't. For me, it's a level of professionalism.

If you have a question you'd like an answer to, you can also go to the forums at www.pronuncian.com/forums and post it there. I'll get to it just as soon as I have a chance!

If you find these podcasts helpful, why not help support us. You can help us out in a number of ways. You can go to iTunes or whatever other program you use to get the podcasts, and leave a review for us. Don't be shy about grammar or misspellings, nobody cares if it isn't perfect!

You can also go to www.pronuncian.com and subscribe to our service, which allows you full access to Pronuncian listening activities and quizzes, or purchase on of my books as either a downloadable PDF file, or as a physical book that we will ship to you.

We truly appreciate any kind of support you can give us.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

71: When and why do some words (like 'interesting') lose a syllable?

Linguistic concepts of 'syncope' and 'compression' make big words into smaller words. Luckily, there is a pattern.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 71st episode.

Way back in mid-June, a question was asked on the forums about the number of syllables in the word interesting. Dictionaries show it both as a three and four syllables, as in in-tres-ting and in-ter-es-ting. The discussion about that word led to things other than the number of syllables in the word, but it is only the optional number of syllables in the word interesting, as well as other common words, that I'm going to talk about today.

The linguistic term for the loss of a syllable in spoken word is syncope, but I simply refer to it as dropped syllables.

Other examples of dropped syllables are the words every, favorite, and different.

That was:

ev-er-y versus ev-ry
or
fav-o-rite versus fav-rite
or
dif-fer-ent versus diff-rent

Dropping syllables occurs mostly on high-frequency words, and dictionaries are pretty good about showing both options when two choices of pronunciation are available.

The syllable that can be dropped, not surprisingly, follows a pattern. The syllables before or after a stressed syllable in a word are often unstressed. (This is opposed to a secondary stress that can occur two syllables apart from a stressed syllable.) Only the vowel sounds of unstressed syllables can get dropped, and usually the original word needed to have at least three syllables to begin with. I mentioned four words above, which I'll repeat now.

interesting
every
favorite
different

Here are some more examples. (I'm only going to pronounce these the less formal way, with the dropped syllable):

laboratory
family
vegetable
camera
mystery
beverage
restaurant

I also want to tell you the most common 2-syllable word can be reduced to a single syllable: s'pose (for suppose), as in "I s'pose I can help you tomorrow."

Also, like most informal options of pronouncing English, they may go away is the word is emphasized in a sentence. For instance, the word every. In normal speech, it drops to 2 syllables, every. However, if I were emphasizing that word, it may go back to the more proper 3 syllables, every. For example, in the sentence:

You don't need to practice every day, but you should try to most days.

I stressed the word every, and it was said with three syllables, as ev-e-ry.

Now, I do need to say, North Americans and British do this differently. So if you are more exposed to British English, you will not notice this to the same extent.

One last thing I found interesting when double checking facts for this episode, when I went to Merriam Webster Online to listen to their audio, they almost always pronounce the word with the less formal pronunciation. However, they sometimes show the syllabic breakdown with the extra syllable, and the phonetic transcription with the dropped syllable. It's an interesting discrepancy.

Well, that's enough information for one day.

As always, you can read the transcripts for this podcast for free at www.pronuncian.com. That is also the place you can buy either of my books, "Pronunciation Pages, Sounds of American English," or "Rhythm and Intonation of American English" as either a physical book, or a downloadable PDF book. You purchases directly support creation of these podcasts and Pronuncian content.

You can also support this show by leaving a review wherever you go to download these shows, whether it is from iTunes, Zune, Podcast.com, or anywhere else. Those reviews really help other people find this show, and we appreciate the reviews more than you can imagine. Plus it is free to do, so why not help spread the word!

Don't forget, you can also visit the forums from Pronuncan.com and post questions and comments there for free as well.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

69: Numbers: Teens versus Tens (as in 19 vs. 90)

Syllable stress and alternative 't sounds' are used to differentiate these sounds more than the /n/ at the end of teens!

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 69th episode.

Today I'm going to go into a topic I've never talked about on these podcasts before: numbers. Specifically I'm going to talk about the most misinterpreted numbers in English. These are not just the most misinterpreted by non-native speakers and ESL students, but by native speakers as well. It seems to me to just be a poor design in English!

I'm talking about teens and tens, as in 13 and 30, 14 and 40, 15 and 50, 16 and 60, 17 and 70, 18 and 80 and 19 and 90.

The most obvious difference between these numbers is that the teens end in an n sound and the tens do not. However, that n sound does not seem to be adequate in always distinguishing the numbers in actual speech.

The dictionaries all seem to agree that the tens and teens are stressed on the first syllable, though they generally also show that the teens can be stressed on the second syllable as well.

So, we can sometimes use syllable stress to tell the difference, but not always, because which syllable of the teens is stressed can shift! Context actually plays into the syllable stress of the teens. If the teen is used before a noun, it is more likely to be stressed on the first syllable.

For example:

There were thirteen candles on the cake.

In that sentence, the first syllable of thirteen was stressed. I'll say the sentence again.

There were thirteen candles on the cake.

If the teen is the final word of a phrase or sentence, it is more likely to be stressed on the second syllable. For example:

The twins just turned thirteen.

The second syllable of thirteen was stressed. I'll say the sentence again.

The twins just turned thirteen.

If the twins just turned thirty, 3-0, it would be the first syllable of the number getting stressed.

The twins just turned thirty.

I'll compare 13 and 30 at the end of the sentence again so you can notice the difference. I'll say the sentence with thirteen (1-3) first.

The twins just turned thirteen.
The twins just turned thirty.

Knowing the syllable stress rules may help you understand which number was said some of the time, like when the number is the last word of a sentence, but there is actually a bigger clue, and it has to do with that darn t sound again. I'm not trying to have so many podcasts that go back to t sound alternatives, but now that I've done all the t sound alternatives, I've found all these other topics that were dependant on some t sound background information. So I hope you're not tired of thinking about the t sound yet!

Let me begin by saying this, all of the teens keep their t sound. It does not change for any of them, no matter what the sounds around the t sound are. I'm going to say all the teens, and I want you to hear the t sound in all of them.

thirteen
fourteen
fifteen
sixteen
seventeen
eighteen
nineteen

The tens, however, tend to change their t sound to a d sound. I'm going to say all the tens between 30 and 90, and I want you to hear the substituted d sound.

thirty
forty
fifty
sixty
seventy
eighty
ninety

I need to mention that not everyone makes this substitution, and the number fifty is probably more likely to keep the t sound because it follows an f sound. The f sound does not usually cause a t sound to alter. The number ninety may also have the t sound omitted completely because it follows an n sound. It would then sound like "niney".

I didn't compare the number twenty because it does not have a similar-sounding teen. I do still want to talk just a bit about the number twenty. The number twenty will not change the t to a d, but it may omit the t sound. Are you confused yet? I hope not. If so, going to pronuncian and reading the transcripts will help you understand it.

Here are the two general rules that will hopefully help you better understand and be better understood:

1. If it is stressed on the second syllable, it is probably a teen.

2. The numbers 30-90 often substitute a d sound for the t sound.

Are you ready to repeat after me? I'm going to do this two ways. First, I'm just going to read the numbers in order, then I'm going to compare the teens to the tens.

Here they are in order. Please, repeat after me, unless you're in a public space and people will think you're crazy. I'm going to stress the teens with their more common first syllable stress pattern.

thirteen
fourteen
fifteen
sixteen
seventeen
eighteen
nineteen

And here are the tens with their more common and less formal pronunciation. I'll throw 20 in just for good measure.

twenty
thirty
forty
fifty
sixty
seventy
eighty
ninety

Now I'm going to compare them like minimal pairs.

thirteen, thirty
fourteen, forty
fifteen, fifty
sixteen, sixty
seventeen, seventy
eighteen, eighty
nineteen, ninety

There you go! Hopefully that is one more mystery of English pronunciation solved! As I said in the beginning, don't take it personally if people ask you to repeat numbers for clarity; it happens even among native speakers all the time. You can always feel free to spell the number when comprehension is especially important.

Here's an example, say it's 1:30 in the afternoon and you're running to the bus stop. You get there and ask someone what time the number 70 goes by. The person asks, "70, 7-0?" to confirm that you weren't asking about the number 17 bus. The kind person you asked says the number 70 stops every hour at 1:40. You can confirm by saying, "1:40, 4-0?" Now you know you haven't missed the bus or misheard 1:14 as the time the bus would pass by. You will only have to wait 10 minutes for the bus instead of around 45 minutes.

As always, you can read the transcripts for this podcast for free at www.pronuncian.com. That is also the place you can buy either of my books, "Pronunciation Pages, Sounds of American English," or "Rhythm and Intonation of American English." Both are available as either a physical book, or a downloadable PDF book. You purchases directly support creation of these podcasts and Pronuncian.com content.

You can also support this show by leaving a review wherever you go to download these shows, whether it is from iTunes, Zune, Podcast.com, or anywhere else. Those reviews really help other people find this show, and we appreciate the reviews more than you can imagine. Plus it's free to do, so why not help spread the word!

Don't forget, you can also visit the forums from Pronuncan.com and post questions and comments there for free as well.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

68: Voiced and Unvoiced 'th' /ð,θ/ review

Yes, dear listeners, keep your tongue in your mouth! Don't put it between your teeth.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 68th episode.

Today I'm going to return to a topic I haven't talked about in quite a long time, the th sounds. Everyone could use more practice with these sounds, it seems. Way back in episode 1, I gave you the practice sentence "Think about this thing, that thing, and those things," so you can practice alternating between the voiced and unvoiced th sounds.

If you're new to this podcast, let me review voiced and unvoiced sounds. Voicing happens way down in our throats when our vocal folds vibrate. You can feel this if you put your fingers on the front of your throat and alternate between saying a d sound, which is voiced, and a t sound, which is unvoiced (d sound, t sound, d sound, t sound). You can also hear the difference better if you put your fingers in your ears while saying those sounds. If you're not on a bus or train or other public space, try it. Put you fingers in your ears, and say the d sound and t sound (d sound, t sound, d sound, t sound). I teach the difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds using d and t as examples because most languages use those sounds at least a little bit.

You can practice hearing the difference between an unvoiced and voiced th sound the same way. I'll say both sounds: unvoiced th sound, then voiced th sound (unvoiced th, voiced th, unvoiced th, voiced th).

Some forum posts have had comments that it can be really difficult to transition from a th sound to another sound. Most people that can create a th sound by itself, but not near other sounds, are simply putting too much effort into creating the sound by moving the tongue too far forward.

Let me explain. I really see a lot of teaching material and YouTube-type videos that show creating these sounds with your tongue between your teeth. You will create a beautiful and perfect th sound with your tongue between your teeth, for certain. And teachers love it because we can see you create the sound. However, it can be next to impossible for some people to move from creating the sound that way into the next sound. It is too far for the tongue to travel.

I find that English learners have a much easier time transitioning from the th sounds when you create those sounds by placing your tongue behind your front teeth, very lightly touching the front teeth. Often if the tongue is higher, and only touching the top teeth, it is the easies to transition to and from. It should sound exactly the same whether the tongue is between the teeth, or behind them.

Try it both ways; first create the sound with your tongue between your teeth, then behind.

(unvoiced th, voiced th, unvoiced th, voiced th)

Now let's practice the word third so you can get from the unvoiced th to a schwa+r,

third, third

And now let's practice the word these so you can practice transitioning from the voiced th to a long e, then z sound.

these, these

How did that go?

Remember, the th sounds are fricatives, they are smooth sounds that should not completely stop the air, like a d sound or t sound would. The biggest problem I hear is that non-native speakers stop the air at the beginning of the sound, then release it as a fricative.

Here is a 2-question pop quiz for you. Are you ready?

1. What kinds of sounds begin by stopping the air, and are then released as fricatives?

2. How many of those sounds do we have in English?

(tick-tock)

The answers:

1. Affricates begin by stopping the air and end with a fricative sound.

2. We have 2 affricates in English, the ch sound and j sound.

That was kind of fun. Maybe I'll start having more pop quizzes.

Just to add to the fun, create a ch sound and j sound (ch sound, j sound) and notice how the air stops, then lets go with some extra noise (ch sound, j sound). You do not want a similar type sound for the th sounds. It will sound like this if you do that (t-th, d-th) instead of like this (unvoiced th, voiced th).

Let me compare them as an affricate then fricative again, first unvoiced, then voiced.

t-th, unvoiced th
d-th, voiced th

Now you try saying the th sounds again and see if you might be creating a little stop at the beginning or not.

unvoiced th, voiced th

So, those are the three major things to remember about the th sounds:

1. There is a voiced and an unvoiced th sound

2. The sound is often easier to transition to and from if it is being created behind the front teeth instead of between them

3. Be careful of accidentally creating an affricate-type th sound instead of a fricative th

Let's practice the th sound practice sentence a few times. I'll leave time for you to repeat after me.

Think about this thing, that thing, and those things.
Think about this thing, that thing, and those things.

If you learned to create the th sound between your teeth, and that is how you do it, and you can do it correctly, by all means, continue to do it that way. There is nothing wrong with it! However, if you are still having trouble with the th sounds, try this other way and see if it is easier for you.

This information is available in my first book, "Pronunciation Pages, Sounds of American English," and online Pronuncian subscribers have additional listening practice to check that you are hearing either the unvoiced th or the voiced th sound when appropriate. You can subscribe or buy the book online at www.pronuncian.com. Your purchases and subscriptions are what have kept this podcast coming to you every week.

I'll link to the free online lessons and previous forum posts regarding these sounds along with the transcripts to this show on Pronuncian.com.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

66: Syllabic n's and nasal plosions (as in the words 'sudden' and 'couldn't')

No vowels allowed! Join /d/ and /n/ to sound more fluent.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 66th episode.

After last week's glottal stop episode, I wanted to continue to talk about the glottal stop a little bit more, especially since it leads right into two other pronunciation issues that are interesting and helpful to learn about: syllabic n's and "nasal plosions." I know, that is two new vocabulary words at once, but I'll explain both of them. I really wouldn't have thought about doing this if a Forum user named Peggy hadn't asked a question she titled "T-Vowel-Consonant Sound." She asked an impressive advanced learner question.

Here is what Peggy said:

"I am aware that the word button is pronounce "buttn". So, when we have a vowel between t and another consonant , this vowel is eliminated.

Does the same rule apply to irregular verbs like?:
hidden
bitten
gotten
given
driven

I think that given and driven are pronounced drivEn and givEn accordingly, right?"

Peggy was on to something important right there. She noticed that there is no vowel sound between the t sound and the n sound in the words:

button
hidden
bitten
gotten

However, there is a vowel sound in the words

given
driven

What Peggy was hearing in the first set of words was a syllabic n. It's called a syllabic n because there is no vowel sound in that short, unstressed syllable, just an n sound. I've said before that every syllable needs a vowel sound. Well, there are three consonants that cause exceptions: the n sound, l sound, and m sound. Actually, the linguists don't agree about the m sound. Today I'm only going to talk about the n sound as a syllabic consonant.

Listen to the set of words again

button
hidden
bitten
gotten

The rule is that when a vowel + n sound occurs on an unstressed syllable, and after a t or a d, the vowel is dropped and the n is used for the entire syllable.

That's why Peggy's examples of driven and given do have a vowel sound before the n sound. The vowel in those words is following a v sound , not a t sound or d sound.

Compare button, hidden, and driven. Can you hear that very slight difference in the final syllable of all three of those words? Listen again: button, hidden, driven.

That's all you really need to know for the syllabic n. However, I now need to tell you about what is happening to the t or d before the syllabic n.

I'll talk about the t first, because that relates to last week's episode about the glottal stop. Remember, the glottal stop is the sound in the middle of the word uh-oh, and happens when the t comes after a vowel or r sound, and before an n sound or an m sound. It is also important to remember that the glottal stop cannot happen if the t is the first sound of a stressed syllable. Three of the four words above fit that description, and the t is replaced with a glottal stop. Those words are:

button
bitten
gotten

Those three words are actually pronounced quite differently from the way they're spelled. The t turned into a glottal stop, and the n is a syllabic n so there was no vowel sound in the second syllable.

Now I want to talk about the word hidden h-i-d-d-e-n. The n is still going to be a syllabic n because it comes after a d sound, but something special, called a nasal plosion, happens to the d sound. The d sound is a stop, meaning that we stop all the air from leaving the vocal tract for a very short amount of time, then release it. When an n sound follows a d sound, the d sound isn't released as normal. The tongue stays in exactly the same position for the n sound. How does that happen? The velum, the soft muscle at the very back of our mouth, is closed for the d sound. That forces the air out our mouth. That muscle is open to our nasal cavity for the n sound. To say it simply, the d sound is released out our nose instead of our mouth. That is called a nasal plosion.

Listen to the word hidden, hidden.

I stop the air as normal for the d sound, but I don't release it normally. Instead, I move immediately into the n sound.

I'm going to say the word hidden without the nasal plosion, then with it.

hiDDen
hidden

If I release the d sound as normal, I will have a hard time eliminating the vowel before the n sound.

Try saying it both ways.

hiDDen
hidden

The word hidden is not a very high frequency word. We simply don't need to say that word very often. However, there are a group of very important words that we do say and do include a nasal plosion: contractions!

Just when you thought maybe this wasn't a very important skill, here I am, saying we do it all the time in the words:

didn't
hadn't
couldn't
shouldn't
wouldn't

Yep, those words go straight from a d sound to an n sound, and we say all of them with a nasal plosion. The d is not released as normal, it is released as the n sound.

Here they are again

didn't
hadn't
couldn't
shouldn't
wouldn't

Are you ready to practice with me? I'm going to say three sets of words. This first set has a glottal stop followed by a syllabic n. Please repeat after me.

written
brighten
eaten
cotton
rotten

The next set has a nasal plosion d sound/syllabic n.

hidden
garden
sudden
burden
forbidden

And the following contractions have a nasal plosion d sound/n sound.

didn't
hadn't
couldn't
shouldn't
wouldn't

Wow, that was a lot of information for one episode! If you are a new listener to the show, you may want to go back and listen to earlier shows to gain a better understanding of the vocabulary used here today. I have been building up to these advanced level concepts, and they really are advanced. If this is really tough for you, don't give up, it's tough for everyone at the beginning. If you can listen to and understand this lesson in English, you are already a highly capable English speaker.

I'll link to the forum post that helped me realize that my listeners are ready for information like this, and you can continue the discussion from where it left off. This is important stuff, but I hope you trust me when I tell you that native speakers will understand you even if you don't learn these skills perfectly. However, the more interaction you have with native speakers, the more they will appreciate your clear pronunciation.

As always, you can support this show by subscribing to Pronuncian or purchasing one of my books from Pronuncian.com. Oh, and I have been asked a couple of time what the difference is between subscribing to Pronuncian and becoming a member. Membership is a one-time fee. You choose the number of months you want, and at the end of that time your account expires. Subscribers get a lower price, and the account automatically renews until you go in and cancel your account. Subscribers also never have a price increase. You always renew at the price we had set at the time you began your account.

You can always participate in the forums for free and let us know if you like this kind of content or not. I produce these podcasts for you, so you might as well tell me what you want to learn about.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.