#1: The English th sounds

Transcript
Welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation
podcast. Not all Americans speak alike, but I'll help you get closer to how the
majority of us do. By the way, my name is Mandy.
You can find transcripts of this podcast and lots of practice activities at
www.pronuncian.com. You will also find our practice sentences there, like
today's practice sentence, "Think about this thing, that thing, and those
things."
I'm going to begin today with two sounds that cause trouble for nearly every
non-native English speaker, no matter what their first language is, the th
sounds. Yes, there are two th sounds. One is voiced, and the other isn't. What
do I mean, voiced? I mean that our vocal cords are vibrating during the sound.
We have a lot of pairs of sounds that are voiced and unvoiced, but most of
them are spelled differently from one another.
For example, the d sound is voiced, but the t sound isn't. Other than that, the
two sounds are very, very similar. There are two easy ways to tell if a sound is
voiced or not. One is to put two fingers against the front of your throat and
say the sound. If it is voiced, you should feel a vibration. Some people will
plug their ears with their finger and say the sound. You should notice a big
difference between the sound during a voiced or unvoiced sound while your
ears are plugged. The b sound and p sound are another voiced/unvoiced pair,
as are the g sound and k sound. The voiced th sound and unvoiced th sound
just happen to be spelled the same.
Can you tell me if the th sound in the word the is voiced or unvoiced (the)?
How about the word think (think)?
The word "the" has a voiced th sound, and "think" has an unvoiced th sound. If
you aren't confident that you know whether a word has a voiced or unvoiced
th sound, it's time to learn the symbols your dictionary uses, or ask a native
speaker if a word starts with the same sound as in the word "the" or the word
"think". If you ask him or her if it is a voiced or unvoiced th, that person will
probably not know what you're talking about. Interestingly enough, people
usually understand very little about how they talk. This is because we all
learned our native language long before we knew what we were learning. We
were really just trying to get our parents to give us what we wanted.
So what is the right way to make the th sounds? Well, to correctly create
both th sounds, the tip of your tongue has to be touching the back of your
upper front teeth while pushing air out between the tongue and the bony
ridge behind the upper front teeth. Let me repeat that. The tip of your
tongue has to be touching the back of your upper front teeth with the tip of
the tongue while pushing air out between the tongue and the bony ridge

behind the upper front teeth. It's okay if the tongue is between the top and
bottom teeth a little, but most people find it difficult to push your tongue
that far forward, and it isn't necessary. The difference between the sounds is
in using the vocal cords or not.
Also, the th sounds are fricatives. What's a fricative? A fricative is a
continuous sound that is created by allowing only a small amount of air to
leave the mouth, which causes friction, and sound. Something special about
fricatives is that we can continue to make the sound for as long as we have
breath in our lungs. I can say either th sound for a long time.
(voiced th, unvoiced th)
If you can't do that, you are probably stopping the air at the beginning of the
sound. This creates a different kind of sound, usually something that sounds
like a t sound or d sound to a native English speaker.
The th sounds are pretty important in English. Some of the most frequent
words we say begin with a th sound. According to Wiktionary's word frequency
chart, the words: that's that, then, there, they, the, and think are all in the
top 100 words we say. That Wiktionary corpus isn't the most scientifically
derived, but I like it because it is made from television and movie scripts, so
it is more geared for counting words we say than the words we write. Since
we speak less formally than we write, this is a good guide to use for
pronunciation purposes.
Here's a little sentence to help you practice your th sounds. Ready? Here it is,
"Think about this thing, that thing, and those things." Here it is again. "Think
about this thing, that thing, and those things." That sentence forces you to
alternate between th sounds. Make sure your th's don't sound like t's, or d's, or
s's, or z'z, or f's. I don't want to hear "zis sing, zat sing,' or 'dis ting, dat ting' or
'dat fing'. Focus on nice clear th's. "Think about this thing, that thing, and
those things."
We have lots more practice on pronuncian.com, including over 5000 audio
files for specific sound practice. You can find a whole list of word that contain
the th sounds, not just at the beginning of the word, like we practiced here,
but also in the middle and end of the word. You can also practice words that
are called minimal pairs. Minimal pairs are sets of words that are the same
except for one sound. If you know you tend to say a t sound instead of a th
sound, you can practice pairs of words like, "tin-thin, boat, both, or pat, path
to help you break the habit of saying the wrong sound.
Well, I hope you've memorized that sentence by now, "Think about this thing,
that thing, and those things."
There you go. Have a great week everyone, and have fun with those th
sounds!

#2: The English t sound and d sound

Begin learning about "stops", the t sound and d sound.

Transcript
Welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation
podcast. This is podcast number two. My name is Mandy.
I hope you enjoyed our last podcast, the th sounds podcast. I also hope you
went to www.pronuncian.com for more th sounds lessons and practice.
Pronuncian.com is also where you can find transcripts and show notes to all
our podcasts. Today's practice will be 5 sets of minimal pairs: dime, time;
dense, tense; code, coat; tide, tight, and spend, spent. We'll come back to
those later.
I introduced the concept of voiced and unvoiced sounds during the th sounds
podcast. In case you've forgotten, we have both a voiced and an unvoiced th
sound. I also hope you remember that the th sounds are a type of sound
called fricatives. Fricatives are continuous sounds that are created by
allowing only a small amount of air to leave the mouth. Today I am going to
tell you about another kind of consonant sound, the stops. Specifically, we
are going to explore the t sound (t sound) and d sound (d sound). These
sounds are called stops because to create them, we briefly stop all air from
leaving the mouth, and we then make the sound when the air is released.
Do you remember from last week's show that consonants often have voiced
and unvoiced pairs? The d sound and t sound is another pair. Before we talk
about how to correctly create the English version of these sounds, I want you
to play with the inside of your mouth with your tongue. Don't feel silly,
nobody can actually see you doing this. Notice that right behind your upper
teeth, you have a hard, bony, bump. That bump was necessary for creating
the friction of our th sounds last week. Then that bump rises and there is a
slope up to the roof of your mouth, which is also hard and bumpy. Then, if
you place the tip of your tongue all the way to the back of your mouth, you
feel some soft tissue. We will keep coming back to these three places at the
top of your mouth. I will call them the tooth ridge, that's that bump at the
front, the roof of the mouth, that's the hard bony part in the middle, and the
soft palate, that's the soft part at the back of your mouth.
Now, back to our d sound and t sound. When creating these two sounds, your
tongue should briefly touch the front of the tooth ridge, then let go with a
small puff of air. The difference between the sounds is the use of our vocal
cords. In case you haven't noticed yet, the d sound is the voiced sound, and
the t sound is the unvoiced sound: (d sound, t sound).
An error I specifically hear with the d sound and t sound is that the tip of the
tongue is pressed against the roof of the mouth or at the very back of that
ridge instead of at the front of it. This is called retroflexing, and it creates a
different sound than the American d sound or t sound.

According to Wikipedia, retroflexing is not common among European

languages, but is common for the languages of the Indian subcontinent. This
very much agrees with my teaching experience. My students who speak Hindi,
Tamil, and Punjabi all tend to retroflex their d sound and t sounds. It creates
a hollow sound. If you are a native speaker of a language from India, pay
special attention to these two sounds. Also, go to the Pronuncian webpage to
see an illustration of where the tip of your tongue should be for these sounds.
Another error I hear is that many students don't allow the puff of air to come
out after the initial stop of the sound. That puff of air is where the majority
of the sound comes from and is even more important at the beginning of a
word than the end of the word.
If your native language does not have both the t sound and the d sound in all
parts of a word, it is likely that you will substitute one for the other. I hear
students not voice the d sound more frequently than accidentally voicing a t
sound, but it does go both ways.
Let's practice some d sound/t sound minimal pairs. I want you to notice the
placement of your tongue during the sound, the puff of air that comes out of
your mouth when the tongue releases, and whether the sound is voiced or
unvoiced.
Ready? Repeat after me if you want the most benefit of this podcast.
dime, time
dense, tense
code, coat
tide, tight
spend, spent
Very good.
Most people who have visited or lived in the United States have noticed that
we sometimes do some strange things to represent the t sound. We don't
always say a t sound where we would see the letter t written. I promise I will
come back to those strange issues in later podcasts. It is actually rather
complicated, but there are guidelines to help you. For now, just work on
correctly saying the sounds.
Understanding voiced and unvoiced sounds is also a key component of
understanding -ed endings. We pronounce the -ed differently based on the
last sound of the original word. I promise I will also address that in an
upcoming podcast.
That's all for the d sound and t sound today. Don't forget to also keep
practicing the sentence from the th sounds podcast, "Think about this thing,
that thing, and those things" in addition to our 5 miminal pairs from today.
Let's repeat those one more time.

dime, time
dense, tense
code, coat
tide, tight
spend, spent
Nice job everyone, and thanks for listening.

#3: The English s sound and z sound

When does the -s ending sound like an s sound, and when does it sound like
a z sound?
Practice sentence: "Cats love boxes; dogs love beds."
Transcript
Hello again, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation podcast. This is podcast #3. If you've forgotten, or are
listening for the first time, my name is Mandy.
Remember, Pronuncian.com is where you can find transcripts and show notes
to all our podcasts, as well as each practice sentence or word set. Today's
practice will be the sentence: "Cats love boxes; dogs love beds." We'll come
back to that later.
I hope you still remember our practice sentence from podcast number one,
"Think about this thing, that thing, and those things." I hope you also
practiced our d sound/t sound minimal pairs from podcast number two: "dime,
time; dense, tense; code, coat; tide, tight; spend, spent."
When I say that this is an American English Pronunciation podcast, I am
referring to what is known as the General American Accent, the accent
considered to be the most "neutral" accent for the United States. Canadian
accents are quite similar to an American accent, or at least are more similar
to an American accent than say, a British accent or an Australian accent.
Certainly, there are variances in English spoken around the world, as well as
within English speaking countries. I grew up in the United States and, since I
teach in the United Sates and most of my students are long-time residents of
the United States, I know far more about American accents than any other
accent of spoken English.
Wikipedia has a map of where the "General American Accent" is most
prevalent. I've linked to that site from Pronuncian.com. I'm from Wisconsin,
just north of the area shown on this map. However, since I am actually from
northern Wisconsin, I had a strong accent from that area when I moved to
Seattle, Washington, five years ago. Since I've been teaching pronunciation for
three years, I've lost most of that northern Wisconsin accent and picked up
the more neutral "General American Accent." When I travel back to Wisconsin,
however, my friends and family hear my new speech habits as an "accent."
That just proves that an accent is only when you speak differently than those
around you, and that is impossible to be accent-less.
Let's got to today's topic. I'm going to stay with the theme of voiced and
unvoiced consonant sounds, and we're going to talk about another set of
fricatives. The th sounds were the first fricatives we studied. In case you've
forgotten, fricative is a continuous sound that is created by allowing only a
small amount of air to leave the mouth, which causes friction, and sound.

Today's sounds are the s sound (s sound) and the z sound (z sound). Say those
sounds to yourself and see if you can tell which is the voiced sound, and which
is unvoiced. (s sound, z sound). Remember, voiced sounds use our vocal cords,
and we can feel the vibration if we put a finger against the front of our
throat. I hope you said that the z sound is voiced, and the s sound is unvoiced.
The z sound and s sound are articulated in the same area at the front of our
mouth as the t sound and d sound, at the tooth ridge. The tooth ridge is that
area right behind our upper front teeth. To create the z sound and s sound,
we make a little groove with our tongue and push air out through the center
of the tip of the tongue and along that bony ridge behind our front teeth. The
sound happens as the air is pushed into and around our front teeth.
The biggest problem I usually hear in the creation of this sound is that the tip
of the tongue is too far back and the sound is created behind that ridge. I
often hear Koreans say the s sound and z sound this way. An American English
speaker will hear that sound as an sh sound instead of an s sound or z sound.
Make sure the tip of the tongue is way forward, nearly touching the upper
front teeth. I will also hear Korean speakers stop the flow of air at the
beginning of an s sound or z sound. Both of these sounds are fricatives,
meaning the air smoothly exits the mouth. If the sound is started by stopping
all the air, a native English speaker will hear a j sound or ch sound instead of
an s sound or z sound.
Mispronunciation, however, is not the major issue with the s sound and z
sound. The most common problem I hear students have is substituting the s
sound where the z sound should be. This problem is made even bigger by the
fact that we have a huge number of words that are spelled with an "s", but
pronounced with a "z". The highly frequent words, "is, his, as, please,
because, these, those," and many, many more, are pronounced with a z
sound. How do you, the non-native speaker learn which sound you should say?
One way is to begin to pay very close attention to native speakers. Or else you
need to learn to use that dictionary and its pronunciation symbols. Sorry
everyone, there is no easy answer here.
There is one very handy rule I can teach you however, and that is how to
pronounce the -s endings that are added to nouns to make them plural, to
verbs when they are conjugated, or when two words are combined in a
contraction.
The clue is in the final sound before the ending was added. You will need to
know which sounds are voiced and which ones are unvoiced. If a word ends in
an unvoiced sound, like the t sound in the word "cats," for example, the final
"s" is pronounced as an s sound. If the final sound is voiced, like the final d
sound in the word "beds," for example, the final "s" is pronounced as a z
sound. I know I haven't talked about vowels at all yet, but let me say here,
that all vowel sounds are voiced. So if I have the word "she", which ends in

the long e sound, and I make a contraction of words the "she is" and create
"she's," the final s is pronounced as a z sound.
We also have those -es endings, the ones that happen when we add a syllable
to a word to conjugate it or make it plural. I mean in words like "kisses,
watches, or boxes". When we add a syllable for the -es ending, that final s is
always pronounced as a z sound.
So we had three rules for the -s ending we add to words. Number one: the "s"
is pronounced as an s sound when it follows an unvoiced sound. Two: the "s" is
pronounced as a z sound when it follows a voiced sound. And three: when we
add a syllable to the word for the addition of "s", the final "s" is always
pronounced as a z sound.
Here is a short sentence to help you remember all three final -s rules.
"Cats love boxes; dogs love beds."
The word "cats" is the only word with an s sound in that sentence. The rest
are all pronounced as a z sound.
"Cats love boxes; dogs love beds."
This can all be difficult to understand from just listening to someone explain
it without any visuals to look at. Go to the Pronuncian website for many more
examples and exercises to practice these skills. You can also find diagrams of
the mouth to help you create the sounds correctly, as well as many, many
audio files to repeat after. Remember, once you know the correct way to do
something, you still need a lot of practice to break the habit of doing it the
old way.
If you have a pronunciation issue that you would like me to talk about, please
email me at podcast @pronuncian.com, and I will get to it as soon as possible.
Have a great week everyone, and thanks for listening.

#4: The American English r sound

Learn how the American r sound is different from the British r sound.
Practice sentence: "On Thursday, Thelma threw three red rocks."
Transcript
Hello everyone. It's me, Mandy. Welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's
American English Pronunciation podcast. This is podcast number 4. Today we
are going to begin a series of podcasts dedicated to one of the most hated
sounds of English, the r sound and l sound. These are very complicated
sounds, and it will take us a few shows to get through them in their entirety.
In fact, today, we aren't even going to talk about the l sound. Our sentence
for practicing the r sound today is, "On Thursday, Thelma threw three red
rocks." It is no accident that we are putting so much emphasis on the r
sound after the unvoiced th sound in that sentence.
Before we begin talking about the r sound and l sound, let's review our
sentences and word sets from podcasts one through three. First, the th
sounds. Repeat after me. "Think about this thing, that thing, and those
things." (pause). Then our d sound/t sound minimal pairs, "dime, time; dense,
tense; code, coat; tide, tight; spend, spent." And finally our s sound / z
sound practice with the s endings in the sentence, "Cats love boxes, dogs love
beds." All of these practice sentences are in the show notes, along with audio
for them, as well as the transcripts for each show, at www.pronuncian.com.
Now, back to the r sound and l sound. First, let's give these sounds a
category. We'll use the common linguistic term "liquid" for these two
sounds. Liquid is the most consistent term I've found for these sounds.
When speaking with the General American Accent, Americans use a rhotic r,
which means we say it in all parts of the word, including when it occurs after
a vowel sound. This is one of the major differences among accents of English.
I tell my students, where you see an r written, pronounce the r sound.
Wikipedia has a map showing Britain and America and the areas of those
countries that speak with a rhotic and non-rhotic accent. All I want you to
remember is that the General American Accent pronounces the r
sound wherever it is written.
So how do we create this tricky sound? Well, there is no single correct way.
The tip of the tongue may be raised or lowered, some people bunch the
tongue up in the center of the mouth, and some bunch the tongue up at the
back of the mouth. The important feature of creating an r sound is that the
very back of our tongue, actually down in our throat, is constricted. In the
General American Accent, the r sound is also a smooth sound that we can
make continually without stopping: (r sound).
The continuous quality of the sound is very important. It means that we do
not tap the r sound like this, (red-tap) trill, or roll our r sound like this. (red-

trill) If the tip of your tongue is raised so high that it touches the tooth ridge,
you cannot be creating the sound correctly. Also, if the back of your tongue is
causing friction and a substantial vibration, as a fricative would, you cannot
be creating the r sound as an American English speaker would, like this. (redfricative) The sound is smooth and continuous, and the tongue never touches
the tooth ridge: red.
It is usually at the beginning of a word that a non-native speaker can first say
the sound correctly, as in the words "race" "rough" or "red". The
pronuncian.com webpage has all the General American Accent sounds with
words sorted by beginning, middle, or end of the word. See for yourself if you
have an easier or harder time with the sound based on where the sound is in
the word.
Since we've already studied the unvoiced th sound, let me bring attention to a
particularly difficult sound combination for a lot of people, the unvoiced
th sound then r sound. If you have a tendency to tap your tongue, you will
probably find that this is quite difficulty to stop doing in this combination.
Ready? Repeat after me.
"On Thursday, Thelma threw three red rocks."
Let's try it again.
"On Thursday, Thelma threw three red rocks."
And, one more time a little faster.
"On Thursday, Thelma threw three red rocks."
Let me say here that there is not a language group that I have taught yet that
has had no trouble with the r sound. So if this is a really, really tough sound
for you, you're not alone. Spend some time analyzing your own speech
patterns and see what you learn about the way you speak.
In our next podcast I'll add the l sound to the picture, and then after that I
will come back to r-controlled vowels. For now, practice the r sound at the
beginning of a word and after the unvoiced th sound. If it takes a long time to
make this change, remember that you are dealing with both relearning to use
the muscles in your mouth as well has needing to break very old habits.
If you have a pronunciation issue that you would like me to talk about, please
email me at podcast@pronuncian.com, and I'll get to it as soon as possible.
Also, if you've downloaded this podcast through iTunes, please, write a review
and tell the world what you think.
Good luck with the r sound everyone, and have a great week!

#5: The American English r sound and l sound

The r sound can cause even more problems when it is near the l sound.
Practice sentence: "I would really like a little red wagon like Laura's."
Transcript
Hello again, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is podcast #5.
Today we are going to continue our study of the two liquid sounds, the r
sound and l sound. Today's practice sentence is, "I would really like a little
red wagon like Laura's." We'll come back to that later.
Did you practice last week's practice sentence? "On Thursday, Thelma threw
three red rocks." I'm going to start only going back and reviewing the past
three show's practice sentences or word sets. Our s sound / z sound practice
with the s endings from two weeks ago was "Cats love boxes, dogs love beds."
Remember that the final sound of the word before the -s ending dictates if
the final s will be like an s sound or z sound. And our word set from Episode
Two was: "dime, time; dense, tense; code, coat; tide, tight; spend, spent."
Last week we talked about the fact that the General American Accent is
a rhotic accent, meaning we say our r sounds, no matter where they occur in
the word. Today we are going to compare the r sound to the l sound. I find
that students from Asia tend to have a lot of trouble with both of these
sounds, and if your native language is Japanese, you probably already know
the struggle with the r sound and l sound. Many of my Japanese students
come to me and not only can't say the sounds, but also cannot hear the
difference when a native speaker of English says them. There have been many
studies that link the ability to hear sounds with the ability to say them. If you
are one of those people who can't hear the difference between an l
sound and r sound, go to pronuncian.com, find the sound you want to
practice, and click "additional practice". Many troublesome sounds have
minimal pairs for very specific practice. Minimal pairs are words like we
practiced for the d sound/t sound show; they are two words that are identical
except for one sound, like dime/time. English has a lot of minimal pairs
between the l sound and r sound. Can you hear the difference between the
following words:
play, pray
climb, crime
arrive, alive
If you can't, be sure to do some listening practice.
Also, speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds have trouble with the l
sound when it occurs near the r sound. So, even if you aren't from Asia, you
aren't free of l sound trouble. The reason these sounds conflict with each
other is because of how they are produced inside our mouth. Remember, the r

sound can have lots of formations at the tip of our tongue, the important
thing is that it is the very back of the tongue, all the way in our throat, that is
responsible for articulation in the General American Accent. (r sound). The l
sound, however, happens way at the front of our mouth, with our tongue
touching the tooth ridge in the same place we touch it for a t sound. (l
sound). That requires a pretty large movement of our tongue to go quickly
from an l sound to the r sound. I also want to say that the back of our tongue
is low for the l sound, not high, like it is for the r sound.
People from India tend to have another problem with their l sounds. Just like
people from many languages of the Indian subcontinent retroflex their t
sound and d sound, they do the same for the l sound. Retroflexing is placing
the tip of the tongue too far back, behind the tooth ridge instead of at the
front of it.
Let's say some easier words with the l sound at the beginning before we
combine it with the r sound. Repeat after me.
laugh
like
let
list
Were those easy for you or hard for you? If they were hard, please practice
the l sound word list on pronuncian.com.
Now let's practice some words that have both the l sound and r sound in
them. Ready?
girl
world
learn
early
really
Let's say all of those again.
girl
world
learn
early
really
I want to make sure you that you can clearly pronounce the words word w-o-rd and world w-o-r-l-d. I have a lot of students who cannot say these words
clearly enough for a native speaker of English to hear the difference between.
You need to make sure to add the l sound to the word "world". Let's say them
both: word, world.

So, let me give you the practice sentence for today.

"I would really like a little red wagon like Laura's."
Again:
"I would really like a little red wagon like Laura's."
I have to say, this is my favorite practice sentence of all because it hits a
number of sound issues, many of which we haven't even talked about yet.
We'll come back to this sentence in the future, so you might as well memorize
it.
"I would really like a little red wagon like Laura's."
There you go. Hopefully you now better understand the r sound and l sound.
But we aren't finished yet. As I said last week, another aspect of the r sound is
r-controlled vowels. For people who learned Received Pronunciation, the
British standard of English pronunciation, you will have some major habits to
overcome if you are trying to learn an American accent, and many of those
habits are elements of r-controlled vowels.
I hope you are enjoying this podcast. Please, let me know what you think by
emailing me at podcast@pronuncian.com! You can also to go pronuncian.com
for show notes and transcripts. If you liked the show, you can let me know
your appreciation by writing a review in iTunes.
That's it for today, everyone. Have a wonderful week, and have fun practicing
your American English Accent! Thanks for listening.

#6: The American English r-controlled vowels

Practice saying and hearing the difference between r-controlled vowels.

Practice sentence: "Learning early in the morning can be fairly hard work."
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is podcast number
6. If this is your first time listening to this podcast, you should know that this
is the third of three podcasts dealing with the l sound and r sound, and you
may want to go back and start with podcast #4.
I hope you've all had a chance to visit www.pronuncian.com and see the other
free practice activities we offer on that site as well as read the transcripts if
they help you understand this information.
Did you are memorize last week's practice sentence "I would really like a little
red wagon like Laura's"? How about the sentence before that "On Thursday,
Thelma threw three red rocks"? Before that, we had the s sound, z
sound practice in the sentence "Cats love boxes; dogs love beds." Today we
will learn about r-controlled vowels and we will practice the sentence
"Learning early in the morning can be fairly hard work."
So what are these r-controlled vowels I've been talking about for 2 weeks
now? All of the sounds I've talked about so far have been consonant sounds. In
the Latin alphabet, the alphabet English uses, we have 26 letters. 21 of those
letters are consonants. For example, the letters t, d, s, z, l, and r, are
consonants. The letters that aren't consonants, are vowels. We have five
vowels: a, e, i, o, and u. These five vowels are used to represent 15 different
sounds. How do we have so many sounds for so few letters? Well, think about
the words "top" and "home". Already we can see the letter o representing two
different sounds, the (short o) sound and the (long o) sound. If we add the
word "dog", we find another sound represented by the o, the (aw sound)
sound. Listen to those three words again: top, home, dog. When we begin
talking about vowels, it is very important that we distinguish whether we are
talking about a letter or a sound.
When I talk about r-controlled vowels, I am talking about four vowel sounds
that are said differently because they are followed by the letter r. Or, to say
it another way, the r sound changes the way we say the vowel sound before
it.
Which sounds change when before an r sound? One of the easiest to hear is
the (ar sound) sound. This is usually spelled as "a" plus "r" as in the word "car".
C-a-r. Say the ar sound alone (ar sound). Now, if you learned a British
pronunciation of English, you were probably taught not to say the r sound at
the end of the word "car" unless the next word begins with a vowel sound. In
the United States, we always say the r sound. Other words with the ar

sound are farm, start, and smart. Say those words after me. Farm. Start.
Smart.
The next r-controlled vowel is the "or" spelling, which sounds like (or sound).
Word with the or sound (or sound) include the words four, tore, store, and
explore. Repeat those words now. Four. Tore. Store. Explore.
Another r-controlled vowel is the a-i-r sound (air sound), like in the words air,
stair, hair, and care. Say those words after me: air, stair, hair, care. Later, I
will expand on how these vowels sound different from when they are not
before an r, for now, I really just want you to know that they exist.
The r-controlled vowel that really seems to cause the most confusion is the
schwa + r sound. First, what is the schwa sound? The schwa sound is an
unstressed vowel sound in English. When schwa comes before an r, there
becomes almost no vowel sound at all, and we say and hear only an r
sound that takes a little longer than it would if it weren't after a vowel.
In the r-controlled vowels we looked at so far, we can hear two distinct
sounds. In the a-r sound (ar sound) we hear (a, r). With the o-r sound (or
sound) we hear o-r. And a-i-r sound (air sound) we hear (ai-r). But with the
schwa+r, we just hear (r sound), and no distinct extra vowel sound. Listen to
the word girl. Girl. Girl. We hear g-r-l, only three sounds, all of them
consonants. Listen to the word learn. Learn. Learn. We hear l-r-n, only three
sounds. The r sound is nearly taking over the vowels in those words. It isn't
completely taking over the vowel, however, because it is still responsible for
creating syllables in words.
I'll demonstrate this by comparing two very similar words, the words terrain te-r-r-a-i-n, and train t-r-a-i-n. These two words are pronounced the same
except that the first word has an r-controlled vowel and the second word does
not. Listen carefully. Terrain, train. Notice also that the first word is two
syllables long, and the second word is only one syllable long. Terrain, train.
The schwa+r sound is the most common r-controlled vowel and is commonly
spelled er, ir, or ur. For instance, and er spelling exists in the word her h-e-r.
An ir spelling exists in the word girl g-i-r-l. And a ur spelling exists in the word
burn, b-u-r-n. Those are the most common spellings, but any vowel before an
r can become a schwa+r. For example, the words work and word are both
spelled or, but sound like schwa+r. Work, w-r-k, and word, w-r-d.
Remember, a schwa+r really just sounds like an r sound that takes more time
to say. We really don't hear any vowel sound before it. Let's look back to our
first r sound practice sentence from two weeks ago, "On Thursday, Thelma
threw three red rocks." Can you pick out the r-controlled vowel in that
sentence? Maybe you noticed the first time we practiced that sentence that
the first sounds in the word "Thursday" are different form the first sounds in
the words "threw" and "three". "Thursday" has an unvoiced th sound followed
by a schwa+r sound. "Threw" and "three" are both the unvoiced th sound

followed by a plain r sound. I'm going to say all three words again. Thursday,
threw, three. Thursday, because it has aschwa+r sound, has an r sound that
lasts longer than three and threw.
Let's review the four r-controlled vowels. The ar sound (ar sound), the or
sound (or sound), the air sound (air sound) and the schwa+r sound (er sound).
Which r-controlled vowel do you hear in the word corn? (pause) It is the or
sound. How about the word first? (pause) It is the schwa+r sound. And the
word dark? (pause) That is the ar sound. Do you remember the word work?
Work, though it is spelled with an or, is pronounced as schwa+r. Work.
So, are you ready for our practice sentence for r-controlled vowels? Here it is.
"Learning early in the morning / can be fairly hard work." See if you can find
all the r-controlled vowels in that sentence. All four of them are there, and
one is there three times. Repeat after me. "Learning early in the morning /
can be fairly hard work." For some of you, saying these r sounds is very, very
hard work! Let's say the sentence again. "Learning early in the morning can be
fairly hard work."
There, after three weeks of working on the r sounds and the l sound, are they
getting any easier for you? Let me know! You can email me at podcast
@pronuncian.com, and tell me what you think. If you have a pronunciation
issue you'd like me to talk about, I'll get to it as soon as possible. Also, if
you've downloaded this podcast through iTunes, please, write a review. Tell
the world what you think. I create these podcasts for free, and writing a
review is a great way to let me know you appreciate my efforts.
Next week I am going to work my way into vowel sounds by starting with the
semi-vowels, the y sound and w sound. These two sounds are important on
their own, but become even more important when we start talking about
joined speech and I give you some tips for whole sentences and not just single
sounds and individual words.
Have a great week everyone, and remember, you can go to the transcripts
from this episode to find word lists specific to the skills we worked on today,
as well as all of the past shows. It takes a lot of practice to break speech
habits.
Good luck!

#7: The English w sound and y sound

Learn how to create semi-vowels (gides), the w sound and y sound and how
they exist in words.
Practice sentence: "Will you watch TV quietly while I'm working?"
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. This is podcast number 7, and my name is
Mandy. We have just finished up three shows dedicated to the r sounds and l
sound, and we had some pretty difficult practice sentences associated with
those shows. Do you remember, "On Thursday, Thelma threw three red rocks,"
and "I would really like a little red wagon like Laura's" and finally, last week's
really hard sentence, "Learning early in the morning can be fairly hard work."
Let's talk a bit about last week's practice. Remember, I told you that the
practice sentence has all four r-controlled vowels. The schwa+r is in the
words, learning, early, and work. The or sound is in the word morning. The ar
sound is in the word hard, and the air sound is in the word fairly. Did you get
that? I hope so.
Today's sentence is going to be, "Will you watch TV quietly while I'm working?"
because we are going to learn about the y sound and w sound.
The y sound and w sound are in the linguistic category of semi-vowels. They
are also known as glides. Semi-vowel means that they are not quite vowels,
and not quite consonants. They are similar to vowels in the way the sound
travels through our mouth, but dissimilar in how they affect syllables.
Vowel sounds have two important attributes. First, there is little constriction
in our mouth for these sounds. Vowel sounds don't create friction like the th
sounds, or r sound in some languages. Vowels don't stop air like the t
sound or d sound, or touch the tongue directly to another part of the mouth
like an l sound. Vowels are subtle sounds with our vocal tract left quite open.
Another thing vowels do, is cause syllables. Sometimes the consonant of the
word can take over the vowel sound, like was saw last week with r-controlled
vowels and the schwa+r sound. Many times, the schwa sound (or unstressed
vowel sound) can be barely heard. That was all pretty technical, and I'll link
on the pronuncian website to wikipedia articles that also explain these
concepts.
The w sound and y sound are like vowels in the way we create the sound. (w
sound) (y sound). This is very important to keep in mind if you are from India
or Germany or any other country that says a sound more similar to an
English v soundthan w sound. Our v sound is said with friction caused when we
touch our bottom lip to our upper teeth (v sound). In English, the w sound is
created by making a small circle with our lips, then sticking them out enough
so they don't touch our teeth and cause friction. Then we voice the sound. (w

sound). Try saying the word wow, w-o-w. Wow. Notice the way your lips start
in a small circle, then open, then end with the small circle again. Wow. For
those of you with w sound / v sound issues, here are a few minimal pairs to
repeat. Vest, west; vine, wine; verse, worse.
The y sound is created by lifting the middle of our tongue so that it almost
touches the roof of our mouth, then voicing the sound. (y sound) The y
sound is very similar to another sound we will study when we study long
vowels next week, the long e sound. The long e sound is the middle sound in
the word keep and the first sound in the word ear. Let's compare two very
similar words, y-e-a-r and e-a-r. See if you can tell which one I'm saying. Year.
That was year, with a y sound. Listen again. Year. Now, try this, ear. That
was e-a-r. Ear. Say both of those words: year, ear.
Something most English teachers never teach is how we need to include these
sounds in the middle of words even when we don't see them written there.
This is a big part of having fluid speech, and it happens between words as well
as within words.
Let's look at an example of where we need to add a y sound into a word that
has no y written, the word quiet.
Many of my students aren't understood when they say the word quiet. Let me
tell you why. Quiet is a 2-syllable word with two vowel sounds next to each
other in the word. The first syllable is qui, and the second syllable is -et. It is
difficult to join the final sound of the first syllable, (long i) to the first sound
of the second syllable (short e). The way to join them is to add a little y
sound between the syllables. Now we have quiet. Do you hear that y sound?
Quiet. The same thing is true of the word idea. IdeYa.
But it isn't always a y sound that gets added. It can also be a w sound, like in
the word fluent. Do you hear the w sound? Fluent. It is also in the word
evaluate. Repeat that word. Evaluate.
How do you know which sound to add, the w sound or the y sound? Well, it's
pretty easy because it will sound horrible if you use the wrong one. Here is
the word quiet with an accidental w sound added instead of the correct y
sound quiWet. Hear the difference? Quiet, quiWet.
As we get into the specifics of vowels in the next few weeks, this will begin to
make more sense. For now, start to notice these sounds happening around
you.
I'm sure you are all anxious to get to today's practice sentence. "Will you
watch TV quietly while I'm working?" I'll say it in two parts: "Will you watch TV
/ quietly while I'm working?" Again. "Will you watch TV quietly while I'm
working?"

That's all we're going to cover of the w sound and y sound for now, but both of
these semi-vowels will keep coming back in the next few weeks of vowel
practice. If you want to practice more of these sounds, go to
www.pronuncian.com.
Good luck everyone. And remember, you can email suggestions to me at
podcast@pronuncian.com. I'd love to hear from you!

#8: The American English long vowel sounds

Learn which sounds are long vowels and how to correctly pronounce them.
Long vowel practice key words: "cake, keep, bike, home, cute"
Transcript
Hi again everyone, it's me, Mandy. Welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's
eighth American English Pronunciation Podcast. I hope you're enjoying the
shows. Today we are going to begin a difficult set of shows about vowel
sounds. Actually, today's show isn't that hard, but the next couple of weeks
will have harder topics. We talked a little about vowels last week when I
introduced the semi-vowels, the w sound and y sound. Speaking of the w
sound and y sound, do you remember our practice sentence from that show?
"Will you watch TV quietly while I'm working?"
How about the r-controlled vowel practice from the week before? "Learning
early in the morning can be fairly hard work."
And before that we had my favorite practice sentence, "I would really like a
little red wagon like Laura's." That sentence is also great for practicing the w
sound. Just because those episodes are in the past, don't forget about them;
it will be very helpful for you to go back to them and practice them once in a
while. And, you'll be surprised when they have suddenly become easier.
So, vowels. Our alphabet has five vowels, a, e, i, o, and u. But we have 15
vowel sounds. There are many reasons that vowels are so hard, both to teach
about and to learn about. One reason is terminology, vocabulary. I don't teach
pronunciation using the International Phonetic Alphabet or symbols of any
kind. I do this because dictionaries do not have one standard symbol library
that they all use, and because you can't see the symbol I would be talking
about. Although, even when teaching in person I use names instead of
symbols. Once you know the name of the sound, you know exactly what I am
talking about when I say that name. However, just as dictionaries don't use
standard symbols, linguists don't use standard names. Can you see the
problems arising already?
So the names I have chosen to use for our 15 different vowel sounds come
from two places; one is the elementary schools of the United States, and the
other is from their spelling. Today I'm only going to talk about one set of
vowel sounds: the long vowels. Next week, you guessed it; I'll talk about short
vowels.
This vocabulary "long vowel" or "short vowel" comes from elementary school
and teaching kids how to read. Those teachers also need to name their
sounds, and so the very, very, VERY old terminology of long and short vowels
lives on. When I say old, I mean centuries old. The terminology is so old that
they no longer correctly describe the sounds. Yet, in all the wisdom of our
public schools this terminology is still used very frequently. Basically, 2 to 5

hundred years ago, long vowels sounded differently than they do now. Then a
phenomenon called "The Great Vowel Shift" happened, and the pronunciation
of each vowel changed. But the vocabulary didn't. So don't let the name of
the sound confuse you! Long vowel does NOT mean that it is said for more
time! Although, some long vowels are pronounced for longer than their short
vowel counterparts.
So, what sounds am I talking about when I say "long vowel"? Well, when we
teach kids how to read, we tell them that a long vowel sound says its name,
a, e, i, o, or u. So, the long a sound sounds like (long a), as in the word cake
c-a-k-e. For our vowel sounds, in addition to having some practice sentences,
we will have key words. A key word is the word I will always refer back to
when I want to compare sounds. The key word for the long a sound is the
word cake. The word cake has three sounds, (k sound, long a, k sound), even
though it has four letters. Don't confuse letters with sounds. Do you hear
the long a? (long a) cake. If I wanted to get technical with this sound, I would
mention that the end of the long a has a very brief y sound attached. Can you
hear it? (long a) Cake. Letter sounds that end in a y sound or w sound are
diphthongs, or two-sound vowels. American English uses different diphthongs
than British English. I'm just going to teach you the American ones.
Long e sounds like (long e), just like the name of the letter. Our key word
for long e is keep. (k sound, long e, p sound). Do you hear the long e sound?
Keep.
Now, in staying with the pattern, the long i sounds like (long i) and is the
middle sound of the word bike. (b sound, long i,k sound). The long i is also a
2-sound vowel that end in a brief y sound. Listen again. (long i, bike).
Long o (long o) is the middle sound of the word home. (h sound, long o, m
sound). The long o sound ends in a brief w sound. Listen again. (long o) home.
Many of my students don't say this sound with the w sound at the end, and it
can cause miscommunication.
The long u is the middle sound of the word cute. (k sound, long u, t sound).
Notice that the long u sound (long u) begins with a very distinct y sound.
Without that y sound, we only have (oo sound), which is a different sound
that we will study later. Can you hear the different middle sounds in the
words cute and rule. Cute is said with (long u) rule is said with the (oo sound)
sound.
If you and look at the transcripts for this episode at pronuncian.com you will
see these words written out by their sounds. Seeing that will help you
understand the more about sounds in words, and I encourage you to do that.
Let's practice our long vowel key words: cake, keep, bike, home, cute. See if
you can remember the whole sequence: cake, keep, bike, home, cute.

Now I'm going to say a word, and you decide if the word has a long vowel or
not. The first word is cat. Do you hear a, e, i, o, or u in the word cat? (pause)
No, the middle sound is (short a) which is not a long vowel sound. How about
the word few? Few. Yes, few has a long vowel, the long u. (f sound, long u)
Let's try another. Run. Run. Nope, that is the (short u) sound in run, not a
long vowel. Let's do two more. Eight. Eight. (pause) Yes, that word begins
with the long a sound. (long a) eight. And the last word today, dream. Dream.
I hope you could hear the long e sound in the word dream. (long e) dream.
I'm going to say five words for each long vowel sound, and I want you to
repeat after me. I know, if you're on the bus or in a public place, that is
harder to do, but if you can, repeat after me.
long
long
long
long
long

a: faith, aim, play, grade, safe, may

e: each, eat, team, deep, free
i: ice, bright, smile, shy, fly
o: own, both, drove, glow, throw
u: youth, huge, pure, few, view

Good, I hope you talked along with me.

For this week, I'd really like you to memorize the long vowel key words for
your practice. For most people, these are the easiest vowel sounds to say and
hear, and I want you to have a really good vowel base before we start the
short vowels next week. Can you remember the word set from earlier?
Probably not. We didn't actually practice it very much. So here it is again:
cake, keep, bike, home, cute. Let's say it one more time to put it to memory:
cake, keep, bike, home, cute.
Along with the transcripts to this episode, word lists for all of these sounds
and all the sounds we study are available at www.pronuncian.com.
Another reason I like using the old terminology of long and short vowels, even
though it does not describe the sound, it only names it, is because it is still so
widely used that you can do a search on the internet with the words long
vowel or short vowel and you'll find results. It is much easier than searching
for a symbol that represents a sound.
That's all for today. I would love to know if you are enjoying this podcast or if
you have any suggestions to make it better. Email me at
podcast@pronuncian.com. Or, tell everyone what you think with a review on
iTunes.
Thanks for listening, everyone.

#9: The American English short vowel sounds

Learn which sounds are short vowels and how to correctly pronounce them.
Short vowel practice key words: "cat, bed, sit, top, sun"
Transcript
Hi everyone! Welcome to episode 9 of Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. If you are a regular listener, you know we are
in the middle of learning about vowel sounds. If this is your first time listening
to this podcast, I'd like to say hello. My name is Mandy. As always, the
transcript for this show is available at www.pronuncian.com. You will also
find a link on Pronuncian for buying the book, "Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of
American English" published by Seattle Learning Academy. The book is
available as an ebook download, or as a physical copy to be shipped to you.
Along with your book purchase, you get 6 months full access to the pronuncian
website.
Let's get back to vowels. Last week we started talking about vowels and
learned the five key words for our long vowels. Do you remember them? If
not, they were: cake, keep, bike, home, cute. Long vowels are easy to
remember because they sound like their name, a, e, i, o, and u. Today we
will talk about short vowels, which are way more difficult to say and to hear.
Like long vowels, I have key words for short vowels.
Since short vowels will take longer to get through, I'm going to jump right into
them today. The short a sounds like (short a), (short a). The key word
for short a is cat. To create the short a sound we need to lift the middle of
the tongue and push it forward and into our bottom teeth a little bit. short
a is a pretty forceful sound; we use a lot of muscle in our mouth to create it.
Try saying the sound alone. (short a). Now say our key word, cat: (short a,
cat).
The short e sounds like (short e). There is very little muscle involved to
create this sound, just raise the middle of your tongue a tiny bit toward the
roof of the mouth. The sides of your tongue may lightly touch your upper
teeth. The key word for short e is bed. Do you hear the (short e) sound in
bed? (b sound, short e, d sound). So, so far we've had short a andshort e.
(short a, short e). You want to be able to hear the difference between the
sounds.
The short i sounds like (short i), (short i). It is the middle sound of the key
word sit. The middle of your tongue is a little higher for the short i sound
than it is for the short e sound. Listen to both sounds side by side. (short
e, short i), (short e,short i), (bed, sit) Try saying those sounds: (short e, short
i). Now say the key words: bed, sit.
To create the short o sound (short o), we need to open our mouth a lot. Our
jaw actually needs to open to get this sound out nice and clear. At the same

time as we open our mouth, our tongue bunches up some in the back of our
mouth. (short o) The key word for short o is top. Top. (t sound, short o, p
sound).
Do you remember the four key words so far? They were cat, bed, sit, and top.
Our last short vowel sound is the short u, and it sounds like (short u).
The short u sound is created by pressing the back of our tongue down, and our
mouth does not need to be open in the same way that it does for the short o.
The short u key word is sun. Listen to the difference in the middle sound in
the words top and sun: Top, sun. (short o, short u).
So we have the key words: cat, bed, sit, top, sun. Your job is to memorize
those words. We'll come back to them again after practicing some short word
lists, like we did last week for the long vowels.
short a (short a): add, after, bath, plan, crash
short e (short e): end, enter, bend, yes, dress
short i (short i): it, ill, gift, since, drip
short o (short o): odd, on, box, lot, rock
short u (short u): up, us, jump, luck, fun
Now let's practice with some listening for a bit. I'm going to say a word, and I
want you to decide which short vowel sound is in the word. I am intentionally
going to pick words that may confuse you because of their spelling. Keep
listening for the comparison to the key words to help you. Start to learn to
use those key words. Trust me, memorizing them will help you!
1. myth, m-y-t-h, Does it sound like cat, bed, sit, top, or sun? Myth. It is
the short i (short i) like in sit.
2. said, s-a-i-d, said. Compare it to cat, bed, sit, top, sun. Said. I hope you
said it is the short e. Please, do not say the word said with a long a, like
sayed, or people will think you are saying s-a-y-e-d, which isn't a word, but an
expected way to incorrectly conjugate the word say.
3. done, d-o-n-e, done. Compare it to cat, bed, sit, top, sun. Did you say it is
the short u? If you did, very good; you didn't let the spelling mess you up.
4. lot, l-o-t, lot. Does it sound like cat, bed, sit, top, or sun? That one should
have been easy. Lot is the short o, like the word top.
5. fast, f-a-s-t, fast. This one is also easy, it is the short a, like cat.
6. blood, b-l-o-o-d, blood. Can you get that one? The spelling is unusual for
the sound, but it is the short u, as in sun. Listen and compare. Blood, sun. It
is the same sound.

7. This is the last one today, bread, b-r-e-a-d, bread. Compare the sound in
the word bread to the key words. Did you sat it is the short e sound? I hope
so, because you would be correct.
Maybe you are starting to notice the sounds that are a bit harder for you. I
cannot stress the importance of listening practice enough, and I really
recommend that you go to the pronuncian website and practice some sets of
minimal pairs. You can find minimal pairs practice for most of these sounds
just below the word lists for each individual sound. You can click the sounds
tab and find sounds that way, and the show notes from each show link directly
to sound lists for the sounds we practice during each episode.
Thanks for listening everyone. This podcast covered the most number of
difficult sounds in one show of all the shows so far. I know I go through it
quickly, but that's why I give you so much free content on Pronuncian. That
way you can practice what is more important to you. If you find this podcast
valuable in your everyday life, please write an iTunes review. Don't worry
about imperfect English. Even native speakers don't have great grammar, and
I make mistakes all the time.
Have a wonderful day everyone. Bye-bye.

#10: American English pronunciation of the u (as in put)

Learn about the tricky u (as in put) sound and the oo sound.
Practice sentence: "Good fruit looks like good food should."
Transcript
Hello listeners around the world! I have to say, I am surprised at the
international audience this podcast has been getting. I started producing the
American English Pronunciation podcast to give extra instruction to my
students and to offer reminders for my former students. So I am excited to
see that there are so many people from all over listening. So far, Japan and
Spain have the most listeners outside the United States. If you are listening
from outside the United States, please, send me an email and say hello. Tell
me how you like the podcast. You can send emails to
podcast@pronuncian.com.
If you are a new listener, welcome. My name is Mandy, and this is Seattle
Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. And this is
episode number 10.
We worked on vowels during episodes 8 and 9. We studied the long vowels,
which are usually the easiest vowels, then went on to short vowels. If you can
remember the key words from those episodes, hooray to you. If not, here they
are again.
The long vowel key words are, and you should repeat after me if you are in a
place where you can talk to yourself: cake, keep, bike, home cute.
Remember, the long vowels sound like their letter names: a, e, i, o, and u.
Much harder are the short vowels. Here are their key words: cat, bed, sit,
top, sun. Those sounds were (short a, short e, short i, short o, and short u).
Our final five vowel sounds don't fit into a neat category, so I'm just going to
call them the "other vowels". I want to say again that the linguists don't all
agree on the number of vowels or which ones there are. I teach what I have
found to most help my students over the past three years of working with
them on pronunciation. At Seattle Learning Academy, and for this podcast, we
teach 15 vowel sounds.
We aren't going to study all of the last five vowel sounds today because I want
to be able to focus on two harder sounds. Next week we'll wrap up the
introduction to the vowel sounds with the final three vowels. So, today we'll
only have two key words: soon and put. That should be easy, right? So I'll add
a practice sentence back in today as well. Here it is: Good fruit looks like
good food should.
Let's begin with the horrible sound in the middle of the sound put. The (u
sound) sound. This sound is hard for a number of reasons. First, its spelling

makes students think it should sound like something else. I'm going to call this
sound "u as in put" because if I just call it the u sound, you may confuse it
with the short u. Listen to the difference in sound (u sound, short u) Put, sun.
The u as in put sound is also spelled o-o, like in the words book and foot, and
so students often accidentally say it like the oo sound in the word soon. The
sound in the word soon is what I call the oo sound.
Listen to the difference in the short u, u as in put, and the oo sound: (short
u, u sound, oo sound), sun, put, soon.
Another spelling for the u as in put sound is o-u-l, as in could, should,
and would. I want to make sure you understand that there is no l sound in any
of those words. They are all only three sounds: could, (k sound, u sound, d
sound), should (sh sound, u sound, d sound) and would (w sound, u sound, d
sound).
The u as in put sound actually isn't in very many different words, but that
does not make it a less important sound, because many of the words it is in
are words we say a lot. Words that we use a lot are called "high-frequency
words". There is a Wikipedia page that I really like that deals with word
frequency in TV and movie scripts. I like this frequency chart, even though it
isn't perfectly scientific, because it is more accurate to words we say than the
other corpuses that count written words. You can go to that page and see how
important a word is for everyday conversation. I'll link to it in the show notes
for this episode. Of course, this list does not add technical words that you
probably use for your job.
Here are the top u as in put words, go ahead and repeat after me:
could
look
would
should
put
I like studying the oo sound along with the u as in put sound because so many
students substitute the oo sound where the u as in put sound should be. The
direct comparison between sounds is good for listeners. Not many people have
trouble correctly saying the oo sound.
During the practice words for the oo sound, I want you to notice that another
common spelling is u-consonant-e. Remember also from episode number 8,
that the u-consonant-e spelling can also be the long u sound as in the
word cute. Here are the oo sound practice words:
school
lose
tooth

rule
choose
Let's get back to that practice sentence I told you at the beginning of the
show today: Good fruit looks like good food should. That sentence alternates
between the u as in put sound and the oo sound. Listen again: Good fruit
looks like good food should.
Now repeat it after me. I'll say it first in two parts:
Good fruit looks / like good food should.
And one more time:
Good fruit looks / like good food should.
Now all in one chunk:
Good fruit looks like good food should.
Is it memorized yet?
I'm going to give you a little listening quiz. I am going to say seven words. I
will have one word each for the short vowels, the oo sound, and u as in put.
I'm going to read them all, then come back and tell you the answers. If you
have memorized the key words, this will be easier for you because you will be
able to compare sounds in context. Here are all of the key words again:
short a (short a) cat
short e (short e) bed
short i (short i) sit
short o (short o) top
short u (short u) sun
oo sound (oo sound) soon
u as in put (u sound) put
Here are the words that I want you to identify the sound in:
1. stop
2. bruise
3. from
4. head
5. took
6. him
7. ask
Now let's go over those again.

1. stop is a short o sound, like the word top

2. bruise is the oo sound, like the word soon
3. from is the short u sound, like the word sun. Did the spelling cause you to
make an error? Listen again: from, sun.
4. head is a short e sound, like bed. That one may have been hard, too: head,
bed.
5. took is u as in put: took, put. Don't say that word with an oo pronunciation,
like t(oo)k, it should be took.
6. him, hopefully that was easy, it is the short i
7. and the last one was also not too hard, probably, ask is the short a sound,
like cat: ask, cat.
How'd you do? For most people, that activity is somewhat tough. So, if it
wasn't, good for you!
Okay, three more vowel sounds to go. We'll wait until next week for them,
and only one of them is especially hard. Then I think I'll take a break from this
hard sound stuff and do some different fun activities dealing with the way
Americans speak.
Thanks for listening everyone. Have a great week, and have fun noticing new
things about English that maybe nobody ever told you before. This has been a
Seattle Learning Academy digital publication, where we strive to help the
whole world learn.

#11: American English aw sound, oi sound, and ow sound

Practice comparing the aw sound sound with other similar vowels, and
practice the diphthongs oi sound and ow sound.
Practice sentence: The lost dog stopped running and dug under a rock until
his paws got muddy.
Transcript
Welcome to the eleventh episode of Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation podcast. If you are just joining us in this podcast, my
name is Mandy, and we are just finishing up a series of four podcasts about
vowels. I would strongly encourage you to listen to the previous three
podcasts along with this one. These shows about vowels lay the foundation for
many upcoming podcasts, and I hope you come back to them when you need a
reminder about certain vowel sounds.
Last week we had a practice sentence in addition to our new key words. It
was "Good fruit looks like good food should," and it emphasized the u as in
put sound and the oo sound. Our key words for those sounds were put and
soon.
Let's quickly review all of our key words, from the beginning.
long a (long a) cake
long e (long e) keep
long i (long i) bike
long o (long o) home
long u (lung u) cute
short a (short a) cat
short e (short e) bed
short i (short i) sit
short o (short o) top
short u (short u) sun
oo sound (oo sound) soon
u as in put (u as in put) put
Today we are going to learn about the final three vowel sounds, the aw
sound (aw sound), the oi sound (oi sound), and theow sound (ow sound).
Our new key words are the words dog, join, and down.
We will start with the word dog. (d sound, aw sound, g sound). Listen
carefully to the middle sound of the word again (aw sound). To create the aw
sound you need to have you jaw more open and make your lips round, like
the short o sound, but then stick your lips out. That sounds strange, but I
want you to push them forward so the sound comes out a longer round
opening. Don't stick your lips way out, so you look odd, but enough to create a

distinctively different sound from the short o sound. Compare the key words
for the aw sound and the short o sound, dog, top. (aw sound, short o).
There are not a lot of minimal pairs between these sounds, but there are a
few. Let's practice them now. I'm going to say the word and spell it, because
some of these may be new vocabulary for you.
odd o-d-d, awed a-w-e-d
tock t-o-c-k, talk t-a-l-k
rot r-o-t, wrought w-r-o-u-g-h-t
stock s-t-o-c-k, stalk s-t-a-l-k
pond p-o-n-d, pawned p-a-w-n-e-d
Now you know that when you see a word spelled with the letter o, you need
to be aware of the many sounds associated with that letter. Is it the long o,
like in the word most, or the short o, like in the word stop, or the aw sound,
like in the word cost?
Along with the aw spelling and the o spelling, the aw sound is usually the
sound in words spelled ough and augh, like cough c-o-u-g-h, and taught t-a-ug-h-t. When you practice the word lists on pronuncian.com, you will notice
these different spellings, and now you know the sound associated with them.
Here is a practice sentence to help you compare the short o and aw sound, as
well as the short u sound:
The lost dog stopped running and dug under a rock until his paws got muddy.
See if you can identify the vowel sounds in that sentence.
Now for our last two vowel sounds, the oi sound and the ow sound. Lucky for
you, these are usually pretty easy sounds for ESL students. They are both 2sound vowels, meaning they are a combination of a vowel sound and a w
sound or y sound. Can you hear the y sound at the end of the oi sound (oi
sound)? How about the w sound at the end of the ow sound (ow sound)?
Our key words for these sounds are join and down. (oi sound) join, (ow sound)
down.
The oi sound is usually spelled oi, like in join, obviously, and it is also spelled
oy, like in the words boy and toy.
The ow sound spelling is a little trickier, though. The o-w spelling can have
two different sounds, (ow sound) like in down, but it can also sound like the
long o, like in the word snow. s-n-o-w. If you purchase the book Pronunciation
Pages online at pronuncian.com or seattlelearning.com, you will get extra
practice at identifying confusing spelling patterns like these.

For more information about Pronunciation Pages, go to the promotional

podcast from a few weeks back. I don't want to spend too much time talking
about the book during these podcasts. But I do want to make sure you know it
exists.
Okay, let's practice some quick word lists for our three sounds from today.
aw sound (aw sound): off, boss, gone, soft, flaw
oi sound (oi sound): boy, moist, choice, toy, coin
ow sound (ow sound): brown, mouse, count, house, town
And that's it! We have now studied all 15 vowel sounds! It took us four weeks,
but for these very important sounds I wanted to make sure you got a good
introduction to them. I'll keep returning to them in the future, now that
you've got the basics.
Be sure to listen to next week's podcast, because it will be on one of my
student's favorite topics, informal contractions. If you've never been to the
United States, you may not know how important these are for understanding
spoken English. They are not formal English and are often not taught at all,
but they are common, and they do need an introduction. Informal
contractions are words like gimme, lemme, wanna, and dunno. You don't
actually need to know how to say them or use them in your speech, but if you
can't understand them, you will have a very hard time comprehending an
American's speech.
This podcast's transcripts are online at www.pronuncian.com, along with
practice word lists for all of today's sounds, and all of the sounds of American
English. As always, if you have a topic you'd like me to talk about, or if you
just want to give me comments on the show, please email me at
podcast@pronuncian.com.
Thanks for listening to this Seattle Learning Academy digital publication.
Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye now.

#12: The American English common contractions

Learn how to say and why to use common contractions in English.

Transcript
Hello everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's twelfth American
English Pronunciation podcast. I have to make an apology. I was going to
teach about informal contractions during this podcast, but I have changed my
mind. I've decided that I would do common, or regular contractions today,
and save informal contractions for next week. So I am going to
save gonna and wanna for next week, and stay with the basic contractions
like don't and she's today.
I'm doing this for two reasons. One, I can lay the foundation for contractions
now, using words people are more familiar with, and two, it is much more
important to be able to use the regular contractions before the lesser
acknowledged ones.
First, our review. Since we just finished a series of four podcasts about
vowels, I'd like to do a quick review of all 15 vowel sounds and their key
words. If you are listening from a private place, please repeat the sound and
the key word after me. Speak as accurately as possible.
long a (long a) cake
long e (long e) keep
long i (long i) bike
long o (long o) home
long u (lung u) cute
short a (short a) cat
short e (short e) bed
short i (short i) sit
short o (short o) top
short u (short u) sun
oo sound (oo sound) soon
u as in put (u sound) put
aw sound (aw sound) dog
oi sound (oi sound) join
ow sound (ow sound) down
Good. If you want specific reviews of certain sounds, go back to the previous
four episodes.
All right, contractions.
A contraction is a word like don't and can't, which is a combination of two, or
sometimes more words. Wikipedia has a pretty good article on the use of
contractions in English as well as other languages. I'll put a link up along with
the transcripts this week on pronuncian.com.

Although I think most ESL classes teach contractions, few teachers emphasize
the importance of using them in everyday speech. Contractions help us keep
the rhythm of spoken English. English is a stress-timed language, meaning we
keep about the same amount of time between stressed syllables of spoken
English. This leads to things like reducing vowels, and in turn, creating things
like contractions, along with other spoken English features.
Languages that are not stress-timed are usually a type of syllable-timed. It is
generally considered that each syllable takes about the same amount of time
in syllable-timed languages.
For some quick examples, which I am taking from Wikipedia's article on stresstimed and syllable-timed languages, the following languages are considered
stress-timed: English, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, and Czech. In
contrast, Finnish, Slovene, French, and Spanish are commonly cited as
syllable-timed languages. I'll also put the link to that article with this week's
show notes for those of you that would like to learn more.
In English, the intuitive desire of a native speaker to have stressed syllables
occur on beats makes it likely for us to reduce or omit some sounds,
especially vowel sounds of function words. Function words are the words that
serve a grammatical purpose. A content word, or a word that gives the most
information about our topic, is usually stressed. I could talk about this for a
long time, and I will in a future podcast. Right now I hope you will just trust
me that learning to say contractions is a good thing to do. In fact, when a
native speaker does not use a contraction where one is possible, it is usually
going to slightly change the meaning of the sentence. For instance, in the
sentence I didn't wash the car, using the contractiondidn't, the important fact
in the sentence is that the car wasn't washed. If I said I did not wash the car,
splitting the word didn't into the words did and not, I am actually now
emphasizing the word not. I would do this for a number of different reasons,
like perhaps to offer a correction to the fact that you thought I did wash the
car.
Let's listen to the common contractions with the word not, focusing on their
pronunciation.
don't, can't, won't, hasn't, didn't, weren't
The word don't is the combination of the words do and not, and is pronounced
with a long o sound. The whole word is only one syllable long. Listen to me
again, and repeat after me if you can.
don't
The word can't is the combination of the words can and not. It is said with a
short a sound, and is also only one syllable long.
can't

The word won't is strange because it sounds so little like the words it
combines. Won't is the combination of will and not. It is also one syllable long,
and said with a long o sound.
won't
The word weren't is the combination of the words were and not. Weren't is
only one syllable long. I often hear this accidentally pronounced as were-n't
by my students. Try to say it as one syllable.
weren't
The word hasn't is the combination of the words has and not. It is a twosyllable word and pronounced with a short asound.
hasn't
The word didn't is the combination of the words did and not, and is two
syllables long. It is pronounced with a short isound.
didn't
The other set of words that are often made into contractions are auxiliary
verbs including forms of the verb to be. These are words like: he's, she's, it's,
I'd, you'd he'd, we'd, you're, they're, I've, you've, they've and others.
Let's look first at the combinations with the word is: he's, she's, and it's. These
are all one-syllable words. Saying them as 2-syllable words is like not making
the contraction at all. Listen again, and repeat after me if you can.
he's, she's, it's
Let's listen to the contractions with the word are: you're and they're.
The words your, spelled your, and you're, spelled you're, sound exactly the
same. They are both one syllable, and sound like your. The word they're, t-he-y-'-r-e sounds exactly the same as the words t-h-e-i-r and t-h-e-r-e. Yes,
they all sound exactly the same. Listen to the word again: they're.
The word have is commonly made into a contraction, like in the
words you've, they've, and I've. These are all one-syllable words. Listen again.
You've, they've, I've.
The last set of contractions I'm going to talk about at the combinations with
the word would. When making a contraction with the word would, the only
part of the word that remains in the d sound. Most pronouns can be combined
with the word would. Listen to just a few:
I'd, you'd, they'd, we'd, she'd, he'd

All of those words are only one syllable long. Listen to them again, and repeat
them if you can.
I'd, you'd, they'd, we'd, she'd, he'd
We can combine these auxiliary verbs with other words besides pronouns, and
I would also encourage you to do so. We can combine them with any noun. For
instance, the dog is, becomes the dog's. This sounds identical to the
possessive form. So the word dog's is spelled and pronounced the same
whether the phrase or sentence is:
The dog's barking, as in the dog is barking
or
The dog's bone, as in the bone that belongs to the dog.
You will notice these contractions much more in spoken English than in
written English. The more formal the writing is, the less contractions will be
used. In informal emails, lots of contractions are used. In a business
document, few contractions are used. I try to use contractions in a more
conversational manner during these podcasts so you can get used to hearing
and understanding them. You have the option of reading the transcripts,
which makes it easier to understand if my use of contractions ever confuses
you.
The transcripts to this podcast are available online at www.pronuncian.com. I
will also add the Wikipedia links that give some more information about the
concepts I've talked about today.
As a little activity, I would encourage you to watch some video on TV or
online and try to notice when contractions are used and when they aren't.
Most subtitles on DVDs will have common contractions written the way they
are said. Subtitles often do not write all of what the actor said, though, so
you still have to listen closely.
Next week I will teach about informal contractions. Informal contractions are
so informal that you will seldom see them written, except in some very
informal emails. But they are spoken more than most Americans ever even
realize, and you need to be able to comprehend them in conversations with
native speakers.
Until then, have a great week everyone. If you have any comments for the
show or if you have anything you would like to make sure I talk about, please
email me at podcast@pronuncian.com.
Thanks for listening to the Seattle Learning Academy digital publication.
Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye everyone.

#13: The American English informal contractions

Learn how to understand and why to use informal contractions in English.

The Incredibles audio clip
HELEN (ELASTIGIRL) Cutting it kinda close, don't you think?
BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE) You need to be more... flexible.
HELEN (ELASTIGIRL) I love you, but if we're gonna make this work,
you've gotta be more than Mr. lncredible. You know that. Don't you?
PRIEST ...so long as you both shall live?
BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE) I do.
Transcript
Hi everyone, it's me Mandy, and this is the American English Pronunciation
podcast number 13. Today we have a fun podcast about informal
contractions. Last week I taught about common contractions, words like don't
and can't. Remember, contractions are important to use to help the rhythm of
spoken English. Informal contractions are optional contractions, which are
said very frequently, but rarely used in writing. Examples are words like
wanna, gimme, and lemme. You're likely already familiar with these common
informal contractions if you live in the United States.
As a listener of English, you really need to be able to understand people who
use informal contractions, and nearly every native speaker does. It is your
choice to decide to use them in your own speech or not.
Let's start with the most well known.
1. Lemme: if you see this spelled, which you usually won't, it is spelled l-e-mm-e, and is actually the words let + me. Lemme, as in, "Lemme help you with
that."
2. Wanna: w-a-n-n-a. Wanna is the combination of the words want and to. "I
wanna go to the movies. Do you wanna come along?"
3. Dunno: d-u-n-n-o. Dunno is the combination of the words don't and know. "I
dunno how to speak Japanese."
4. Lotta and lotsa. Lotta and lotsa are combinations of the words lot of or lots
of. "There are lotsa grammar rules for English."
5. Kinda k-i-n-d-a is a combination of kind and of. Kind of means sort of, or a
little.
6. Gonna g-o-n-n-a is a combination of going and to. "I'm gonna go to the
movies tonight."

7. Gotta g-o-t-t-a is a combination of the words got and to, and the double t
is said as a d sound, listen again, gotta.
Then there are the less known combinations, often of more than two words.
One of them is wheredja. Wheredja is the combination of the words where +
did + you. Wheredja. "I love your shoes. Wheredja get them?"
Whadja: Whadja is the combination of the words what + did + you. "Whadja
have for dinner last night."
Howdja: Howdja is the combination of how + did + you. "Howdja like the
movie? I thought it was great.
Like I said before, it is truly your choice to use or not use these words. They
do have benefits of sounding more casual as well as helping with the overall
rhythm of English, which I talked about a little bit last week. You will hear
these words everywhere from informal conversations in a coffee shop or
anywhere else to on TV and in movies, and even now being used by the
broadcasters for American news.
I'm going to play a few lines from a movie I like to use for teaching called "The
Incredibles." It's a funny Disney-Pixar computer generated cartoon. I've found
examples of nearly everything I teach demonstrated in this movie. I'm going to
tell you what the characters say, then play the example a few times. You'll
probably find that the example goes by very, very quickly in actual speech.
That speed is what makes it very hard to discover these aspects of spoken
language on your own. In fact, these contractions were born from people
talking quickly in the rhythm of English.
Let me tell you the scene of the movie. Helen and Bob are superheroes and
are getting married. Bob was nearly late for the wedding because he was out
performing a super-act. Helen says, "Cutting it kinda close, don't you think?"
There is the phrase "to cut it close" in that sentence, which means that you
didn't leave room for error. She uses the informal contraction kinda, to mean
that she wants to tell her husband that he was too late for her to be
comfortable. He then tells her to be more flexible, which is alluding to an
earlier scene, but is also a common phrase. Then she says the sentence, " I
love you, but if we're gonna make this work, you've gotta be more than Mr.
lncredible. You know that. Don't you?" She used the contraction gonna, for
going + to, and gotta, for the words got + to. "If we're gonna make this work,
you've gotta be more than Mr. Incredible" Then they go on to get married.
Here's the clip.
HELEN (ELASTIGIRL) Cutting it kinda close, don't you think?
BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE) You need to be more... flexible.
HELEN (ELASTIGIRL) I love you, but if we're gonna make this work, you've
gotta be more than Mr. lncredible. You know that. Don't you?

PRIEST ...so long as you both shall live?

BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE) I do.
PRIEST I pronounce this couple husband and wife.
Here is the whole clip one more time.
HELEN (ELASTIGIRL) Cutting it kinda close, don't you think?
BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE) You need to be more... flexible.
HELEN (ELASTIGIRL) I love you, but if we're gonna make this work, you've
gotta be more than Mr. lncredible. You know that. Don't you?
PRIEST ...so long as you both shall live?
BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE) I do.
PRIEST I pronounce this couple husband and wife.
I'll also add that audio separately online with the notes for this show so you
can hear just this part again and again.
If you bought the Pronunciation Pages book or are an SLA student and have
full access to the website, there is a webpage in the stress lessons which also
covers these informal contractions.
As a review for today, we learned the following informal contractions:
lemme
wanna
dunno
lotta
lotsa
kinda
gonna
gotta
wheredja
whadja
howdja
Start listening for them and notice their frequency. Play around with using
them in your own speech and see how you like them. If you don't live in the
United States or most of your interaction is in English with other non-native
speakers, using informal contractions may not have the effect you are hoping
for, as it may make you harder to understand by other non-native English
speakers. You be the judge.
Remember, you can visit www.pronuncian.com to view the transcripts for this
show and hear the clip for The Incredibles. That's all for today everyone. Next
week I'm going to begin teaching about some other aspects of speaking that
will help your rhythm in spoken English, mainly about a concept called
linking.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening, and have a great week!

#14: Linking consonant sounds

Learn how and why to link words together.

Transcript
Hi again everyone. This is Mandy, and this is Seattle Learning Academy's
American English Pronunciation Podcast. This is podcast number 14, and the
beginning of a couple of podcasts about linking.
Last week I talked about informal contractions, words like wanna and gonna
and lemme. The purpose of informal contractions is to help with the rhythm
of English. By combining some words that occur frequently together into a
single word, we can easily reduce those words and stress the words
surrounding them.
Linking two words together also helps us control pauses between words and
use rhythm to its fullest. Some other teachers use the word "blending" in the
same way that I use the word linking. Not all links words blend together,
though, so I find linking to be a more accurate term.
Linking, in its simplest terms, is joining one word into the next with no pause
between them. We aren't creating a contraction, because we aren't removing
sounds or parts of words, we are just linking the final sound of one word to
the beginning sound of the next word. We use different strategies to link
different sounds together. Native speakers do this intuitively, but it must be
taught to many non-native speakers. We usually link words all in a row until
we come to a reason to pause. That might be because it is where we would
have punctuation in written English, or we are pausing for emphasis of a
word.
Today I am only going to talk about linking a consonant sound to a vowel
sound. If you are a new listener and aren't clear which sounds are consonants
and which are vowels, it would be a good idea to go back and listen to some
of the previous podcasts.
For today I am just going to practice linking two or three words together.
When practicing linking, always think about sounds that are next to each
other, but not in the same word. To link a consonant to a vowel, share the
consonant sound with both words, so it sounds like the end of one word and
the beginning of the next word, with no pause between the sounds. I'm going
to say that again, because it is very important. You want to share the
consonant sound with both words, so it sounds like the end of one word and
the beginning of the next word, with no pause between the sounds. Here is an
example:
good_idea
The final d sound of the word good also sounds like it is the first sound in the
word idea. Listen again:

good_idea
Here is another:
wake_up
Wake_up could easily sound like the words wake and cup, if those two words
made sense together. Listen again:
wake_up
Listen to a few more examples:
can_I, can_I
some_old_animals, some_old_animals
upset_about_it, upset_about_it
click_on_it, click_on_it
because_it_is, because_it_is
That is your simple introduction to linking. If you are a current student at
Seattle Learning Academy or if you have purchased a book and have full
access to the site, you will find more lessons on this material in the linking
section of the website. Click on a lesson and at the bottom of the lesson you
will find links to additional exercises.
This transcript is available online at www.pronuncian.com. If you are finding
these podcasts helpful or if you have suggestions for pronunciation issues you
would like me to talk about, email me at podcast@pronunican.com.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Thanks for
listening everyone.

#15: Linking vowel sounds

Learn how to link a word that ends with a vowel sound to a word that begins
with a vowel sound.
Transcript
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy. Today we are going to
continue our lesson about linking, so if you haven't listened to episode 14 yet,
I'd suggest you do so before listening to this one today.
As a review, linking is a technique used to help with the rhythm of English.
Linking means to join two or more words together without pausing between
them. Last week we studied linking a consonant sound to a vowel sound. I
hope you remember that we must share the final consonant sound of the first
word with the word that comes after it in order to link them. As an example,
linking the words wake + up sounds like wake_up. The final word, up, sounds
nearly identical to the word cup in that word sequence.
wake_up
Linking vowels is a bit more difficult however, because instead of sharing a
sound between two words, we need to add a sound, specifically, a w sound or
a y sound, between the words.
Let's listen to an example. In the phrase I_asked, the first word ends in a long
i and the following word begins with a short a. To fluidly link the words
together, we add a y sound between them. Listen again.
I_asked
Now listen to an example that uses a w sound to link the words.
go_away
Did you hear the w sound between the words? Listen again.
go_away
So how do you know if the vowels should link words with a y sound or w
sound? Well, I could list all the sound combinations, but really, it becomes
very obvious if you try using the wrong one. Listen to the examples I used so
far when I intentionally say them incorrectly.
Here is I_asked said with a w sound
I (w sound) asked, I (w sound) asked
And here is go_away, said incorrectly with a y sound

go (y sound) away, go (y sound) away

Those are very obviously wrong, I hope.
One of the hardest aspects of linking vowels that my students usually have is
realizing when a word ends in a vowel sound. Any word that ends with the
letters w or y will always end in a vowel sound. When the next word begins
with another vowel, then add a w sound or y sound in between the words.
Listen to and repeat the next examples. See if you can tell which sound was
added.
hurry_up
Did I add a w sound or a y sound?
hurry_up
I added a y sound, and the word up sounded like yup.
hurry_up
very_unusual
Was it a y sound or w sound?
very_unusual
It was a y sound again.
Try these next three.
yellow_onions
my_answer
you_always
Yellow_onions was linked with a w sound.
My_answer was linked with a y sound.
You_always was linked was a w sound.
If the w sound or y sound is not added between the words, the two words can
get muddied and less clear.
Students often ask, "When can I stop linking the words?" Well, you will need to
take a breath eventually. Usually you will pause for the breath at the end of a
sentence or a phrase. Pause where you would have punctuation like a period
or comma if it were written English.
If you are a current student at Seattle Learning Academy or if you have
purchased the Pronunciation Pages book and have full access to the site, you

will find more lessons on this material in the linking section of the website.
After logging in, click on a lesson and at the bottom of the lesson you will find
links to additional exercises.
If you are interested in purchasing the book, there is a link with the
transcripts to this week's show. The transcript is available online at
www.pronuncian.com. If you are finding these podcasts helpful or if you have
suggestions for pronunciation issues you would like me to talk about, email
me at podcast@pronunican.com.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn. Thanks for listening everyone.

#16: Reduced Prounouns: he, him, her, them

Learn how and why to reduce the pronouns he, him, her, and them
Transcript
Hi everyone. Welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
Pronunciation podcast. This is podcast number 16. If you are just joining us,
my name is Mandy.
I decided to stay on a topic related to rhythm today, since that is what we've
been studying since episode number 12. In fact, today's podcast about
reduced pronouns has a lot of similarity to podcast 12, which was about
common contractions.
If you don't remember the grammatical term, a pronoun is a word that takes
the place of a noun. It is a word like he or she or they. We use them all the
time. While there are no surprises with the pronunciation of most pronouns,
there are four in particular that have unusual pronunciation issues: he, him,
her, and them.
These four pronouns, when they are not the first word of a sentence or
clause, become very similar to a contraction. With the words he, him, and
her, we will omit the h sound at the beginning of a word and link the
remainder of the word to the word before it using the linking rules we learned
in the last two podcasts. Here's an example.
If I reduce the pronoun and link the words watch + him, I get watch 'im. I take
off the h sound of the word him, Then I link the ch sound at the end of the
word watch to the first sound of the word him because it now begins with a
vowel sound. Listen carefully again. Watch 'im. Watch 'im.
Listen to an example with the word he, and I'll add an informal contraction
also, just for fun.
Does 'e wanna come along?
Did you hear it? Does 'e. I removed the h sound of the word he, then linked
the final z sound of the word does to the long e sound of the reduced
pronoun, he. I get does 'e.
Here is an example with the word her: I like 'er a lot. So, I took off the h
sound of the word her and linked the remainder of the word to the word like.
I ended up with like 'er.
Finally, we have the word them. Most students hate the word them because it
begins with a voiced th sound and it is hard to say. Episode 1 was all about
voiced and unvoiced th sounds. If you've forgotten about them, go back and
listen again for a little review. I have good news for all of you, though. You
can remove the voiced th sound from the word them when it does not begin a

sentence. You must link the remainder of the word with whatever was before
it. Then you don't have to say that voiced th at all!
Here's an example:
Give 'em a sample.
Listen again:
Give 'em a sample.
Now, the reduced pronoun of him 'im and the reduced pronoun of
them 'em sound quite similar. But your listener should know which one you
mean by the context.
All of the example so far were easy to link, because I chose words that ended
in a consonant sound. If the word before the reduced pronoun ends in a vowel
sound, though, you need to follow the rules for linking vowels. We studied
this last week in Episode 15.
Let's listen to some examples of using a reduced pronoun after a word that
ends in a vowel sound.
show + them becomes show 'em, with an distinct w sound between the words.
carry + her becomes carry 'er, with a y sound added between the words.
The only way reducing pronouns works is by linking the reduced pronoun to
the word before it. There are two times that we do not reduce pronouns. The
first time is when it is the first word of a sentence. The second time is if we
are emphasizing the word for some reason.
As an example, if I weren't emphasizing the word he in this sentence, it would
sound like this:
I thought 'e was picking me up.
But if I was emphasizing the fact that I thought it was him that was going to
pick me up, I would say:
I thought he was picking me up.
It may seem very hard to notice, but a native speaker and listener would
immediately perceive the difference. Most Americans don't expect a person
who doesn't have English as a first language to do this, but you will sound
more fluent if you can.
That's all for today. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital
publication. Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn. The
transcripts for this week's show are online at www.pronuncian.com. You can
email comments or suggestions to me at podcast@pronuncian.com.

Thanks for listening everyone.

#17: The English sh sound and zh sound

Practice comparing the sh sound and lesser known zh sound.

Transcript
Hello again, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation podcast. This is podcast #17. My name is Mandy.
I am going to get back into some sound practice for a few weeks, because
there are still quite a few sounds to study. Since it's been a few weeks, I'll
review a little bit of vocabulary from the earlier sound podcasts.
Today we are going to study the voiced/unvoiced fricative consonant pair,
the sh sound and the zh sound. Most students are well aware of the sh sound,
the first sound is the words she and show. The zh sound is a less common
sound. It sounds like (zh sound) and is in the words usual and casual.
We'll have a practice sentence for these sounds, today. It is:
Vision is usually measured with special machines.
I'll come back to that sentence later.
The sh sound and zh sound are fricatives. If you have been listening since the
beginning of these podcasts, you may remember from the first podcast, which
was about the voiced and unvoiced th sounds, that a fricative is a continuous
sound that is created by allowing only a small amount of air to leave the
mouth, which causes friction, and sound. Something special about fricatives is
that we can continue to make the sound for as long as we have breath in our
lungs.
I'm going to say both the sh sound and the zh sound so you can hear the
friction, and so you can notice that I can continue saying the sound for a long
time: (sh sound, zh sound).
Another special thing about the sh sound and zh sound is that they are a
voiced/unvoiced pair. We've studied three sets of voiced and unvoiced pairs
so far: the voiced/unvoiced th sounds, the t sound and d sound in episode 2,
and the s soundand z sound in episode 3. We use our vocal folds for the voiced
sounds, and we can feel the vibration in our throat. The unvoiced counterpart
is said almost identically, except we do not use our vocal folds.
Listen to the sh sound and zh sound again. Which one is voiced and which one
isn't? (sh sound, zh sound) I hope you said that the sh sound is unvoiced, and
the zh sound is voiced.
So, how am I creating these sounds exactly? Do you remember where the
tooth ridge is? If not, I want you to use the tip of your tongue to touch your
front upper teeth. Now slide your tongue back a little bit behind your teeth.

Do you feel that bump behind your upper teeth? That is your tooth ridge. You
use your tooth ridge when creating the voiced and unvoicedth sounds, the s
sound and z sound, and the t sound and d sound.
Let's create those sounds now. I am going to say the sound and I want you to
repeat it, noticing where your tongue is.
unvoiced th (unvoiced th)
voiced th (voiced th)
s sound (s sound)
z sound (z sound)
t sound (t sound)
d sound (d sound)
Did you feel where your tongue touched, or nearly touched, the tooth ridge
during those sounds? If you want reminders for those sounds, go back and
listen to episodes one, two, and three again.
Now let's get back to the sh sound and zh sound. To create the sh
sound and zh sound we make our lips rounded and place the tip of our tongue
near the back of the tooth ridge and push air out. The zh sound is the same,
except we also use our vocal folds and cause a vibration at the same time.
Korean speakers in particular have a lot of trouble with these two sounds. I
often hear Korean students place the tip of the tongue too far back in the
mouth, too close to the roof of the mouth. It is a subtle difference in sound,
but try to keep the tip of the tongue right at the back of the tooth ridge, but
not behind the tooth ridge. Repeat the sounds after me: (sh sound, zh sound).
Another problem with these sounds is that the spelling does not give many
clues for when the sh sound is said and when thezh sound is said. It is another
set of sounds that needs to be memorized or looked up in the dictionary if you
aren't certain which sound to use.
Let's practice some words for both of these sounds.
sh sound (sh sound): she, shoe, fish, crash, special, emotion
zh sound (zh sound): massage, pleasure, usual, leisure, version
I'd also like to note that the zh sound almost never occurs at the beginning of
the word.
Here is a practice sentence again to help remember these sounds. Please,
repeat after me:
Vision is usually measured with special machines.
Let's repeat that again.

I will have a link to the word list practice for these sounds and an audio of
just the practice sentence along with the transcripts for this episode. You can
find free word lists and transcripts at www.pronuncian.com. If you purchased
a copy of Pronunciation Pages or are a student of Seattle Learning Academy,
you can find additional practice identifying words containing these sounds.
I would love to hear from you! If you'd like to send me comments or
suggestions, please email me at podcast@pronuncian.com.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy, where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#18: The English f sound and v sound

Practice comparing the f sound and v sound, discovering common problems

with the v sound.
Transcript
Hi everyone. Welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English
Pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is podcast number 18.
Last week we practiced the sh sound and zh sound. Let's review our practice
sentence for those sounds.
Vision is usually measured with special machines.
Do you remember the linguistic classification of those sounds? They are
consonant fricatives. That means that the sounds happen when we create
friction somewhere in the vocal tract.
Today we are going to study two more fricative sounds, the voiced/unvoiced
pair of f sound and v sound. You probably already know that we don't need to
use the tongue to create these sounds. These sounds happen when we place
our bottom lip lightly against our upper teeth, and push air through the small
space between the teeth and the lip. The f sound is unvoiced, and the v
sound is voiced. Listen to these sounds and repeat after me if you can: (f
sound, v sound)
When thinking about the v sound and f sound, always think about the lower
lip and the upper teeth. If you are creating friction with air between the
lower lip and upper teeth, a native English speaker will hear a v sound or f
sound, depending on if you are voicing the sound or not.
Let's practice a few f sound, v sound minimal pairs and notice the difference
between these sounds.
leaf, leave
few, view
refuse, reviews
proof, prove
The biggest problem I hear with these sounds is usually with the v sound.
Some students do not voice the v sound, and so it sounds more like an f
sound to a native English speaker, some students have trouble between the v
sound and w sound, and some Spanish speakers have trouble between the v
sound and the b sound.
If you remember from podcast number 7, making our lips into a small circle
and pushing air out while using our vocal cords creates the w sound. We
cannot touch our lips to our teeth at all during the w sound, or it will sound
like a v sound to a native English speaker.

Let's practice some minimal pairs between the v sound and w sound to hear
and feel the clear difference between them. The w sound is created entirely
with the vibration between the lips, and the v sound is created with the
vibration between the lower lip and upper teeth.
vent, went
vine, wine
vest, west
veil, whale
verse, worse
Now I'm going to talk a little bit about the v sound compared to the b sound.
I'll talk about this again when I teach about the b sound in an upcoming
podcast. For now, I just want to point out that a b sound is made by pressing
our lips together, then letting them go with a puff of air, (b sound) and that
the b sound is not made by pressing the lips to the teeth at all.
Listen to these v sound, b sound minimal pairs.
vote, boat
very, berry
vest, best
vase, base
vent, bent
I will have a link to the word list practice for the f sound, v sound, and w
sound, and b sound along with the transcripts for this episode. You can find
free word lists and transcripts at www.pronuncian.com.
A very cool new feature for people who have purchased the book
Pronunciation Pages is downloadable MP3 lists of words for each sound.
Instead of going to the website and clicking to hear each word, you can
download the entire list as one file and keep it forever on your computer or
MP3 player. Even after the subscription ends, you still have all the lists!
As always, I would love to hear from you! If you'd like to send me comments
or suggestions, please email me at podcast@pronuncian.com.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy, where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#19: The English -ed ending pronunciation

Learn and practice the three different -ed ending pronunciations.

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is podcast number
19.
Last week we studied the f sound and v sound, and the difficulties many
students have between the v sound and w sound, or the v sound and b sound.
As a review, here are a few minimal pairs between the f sound and v sound.
leaf, leave
few, view
refuse, reviews
proof, prove
The week before that, we studied the sh sound and zh sound. Here is the
practice sentence for those sounds:
Vision is usually measured with special machines.
Today I am going to talk about the -ed ending we add to words when creating
the past participle of regular verbs. This tricky ending has three different
pronunciations. It can sound like a t sound (t sound), like a d sound (d sound),
or like the combination of a short i and a d sound (-id sound).
I talked about how exactly to create the t sound and d sound way back in
episode 2, so if you want a full review of that, go back and listen to that
episode again. The important thing for these sounds is to tap the tip of your
tongue to the front of the tooth ridge, that bony area right behind your upper
front teeth.
Today I'm going to talk about when to say these sounds for the -ed ending. If
you remember the rules for the -s endingfrom episode 3, you will find a lot of
similarities between the -s ending rules and the -ed ending rules, and it all
comes back to understanding voiced and unvoiced sounds. Hopefully, if you've
been listening for a while, you're getting very good at identifying if a sound is
voiced or not. Remember, a voiced sound uses our vocal folds, and all vowels
and the r soundand l sound are voiced. Stops and fricative often have a voiced
and unvoiced pair, like the f sound and v sound we studied last week. If you
cannot identify a sound as voiced or not, it will be very, very hard to know if
an -ed ending sounds like ad sound or a t sound.
The -ed ending rules go like this:
Rule number 1

If the final sound of a word before the -ed ending is unvoiced, the -ed will
sound like a t sound. An example is the word wish. Wish ends in the sh sound,
which is unvoiced. If I add an -ed, the word becomes wished, and the sh sound
gets followed by a t sound. Listen again, wished. Another example is the
word miss, which ends in an s sound. When I add the -ed ending, it
becomes missed.
Rule number 2
If the final sound of a word before the -ed ending is voiced, the -ed will sound
like a d sound. Remember, all vowels are voiced. So, if I have the word stay,
which ends in a long a sound, and I add an -ed, I will now havestayed, ending
in a d sound. Another example is the word live, which ends in a v sound, which
is voiced. When I make the word into a past participle, I get the word lived,
ending in a d sound.
So far, it's pretty simple, assuming you have a good grasp of voiced and
unvoiced sounds. Rule number 3 is pretty simple, as well.
Rule number 3
Rule number 3 is the exception rule for the first 2 rules. If a word ends in a t
sound or a d sound, and I mean that it ends in one of those sounds before the ed is added, the -ed ending will sound like id, which is a combination of a
short i sound and a d sound. This happens whenever we need to add a syllable
to a word when the -ed ending is added.
A few examples of this rule are the words lasted, acted, included, and added.
Notice that all of those words ended in either a t sound or a d sound before
the -ed was added, and that after the addition of the -ed ending, the words
all ended in id, and none of the words ended in it. Notice also that it is
impossible to add the -ed to these words and not add a syllable to the
word. Last became lasted, act became acted, include became included.
Most commonly, I hear students say the -ed ending with a t sound, no matter
what the last sound of the word before the -ed ending was. You won't be
misunderstood because of this error. A native speaker will always understand
exactly what you said, but you will sound less fluent than a speaker who can
control of their -ed endings.
The book these podcasts are based on, Pronunciation Pages, has exercises to
help you practice these rules of English pronunciation and online listening
activities to help you hear the difference between the -ed ending sounds. You
can find more information about Pronunciation Pages, along with transcripts
to this episode at www.pronuncian.com.
As always, I would love to hear from you! If you'd like to send me comments
or suggestions, please email me at podcast@pronuncian.com.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#20: The Rhythm Rule and Sentence Stress

Learn the basics behind sentence stress and the Rhythm Rule.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is podcast number
20. Today's podcast is exciting for a number of reasons.
First, I am looking for input from all of you. I am planning to start adding
supplemental podcasts in addition to these regular ones that are language
specific. I know I am going to do one for Japanese speakers first and Spanish
speakers second, because many of our listeners come from Japan as well as
Spanish speaking countries. After that I will go down the list of what I can
guess other listeners speak, based on the country you are listening from. If
you're listening from the United States, I have no idea what your first
language is. I can't get that information through my podcast tracking
software. I need you to tell me.
In addition, I am wondering what your language's specific problems are. Send
me a quick email and tell me what language you speak as well as what sounds
or aspects of pronunciation you find the most troublesome. The more I hear
from a language group, the more likely it is that I will do a special podcast for
your language, and the more specific I can get with resources to help you.
The second reason that this is an exciting podcast is because it is first in a set
of podcasts about sentence stress and the rhythm of spoken English. It is a bit
too detailed to be able to cover all in one podcast, so I'm going to spend 2 or
3 weeks on it.
I've talked about the rhythm of English before during the podcasts on
contractions and reduced pronouns. Those were episodes numbers 12, 13, and
16. But this podcast finally gets into some specifics about how to deal with
sentence stress.
Think about sentence stress as simply saying the most important words of a
sentence at a different pitch, or a little bit louder, or for a little bit longer
than the other words of the sentence.
It isn't surprising that the most important words (we'll call them 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.
The other words (we'll call 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.
I'll have a chart with the transcripts to this show that gives examples of
content and function words.
Content Words
Category

Description

Examples

nouns

people, places, things,

and ideas

Patty, Seattle, cars,

happiness

main verbs

verbs without auxiliaries

ran, swims, thinking

adjectives

words that describe

nouns

red, soft, careful

adverbs (except adverbs of

frequency)

words that describe

verbs

calmly, quickly,
carefully

negatives

words that negate

not, never

Function Words
Category

Description

Examples

auxiliary
verbs

a form of the words to be or to

have or modals

are, was, has, could,

should

prepositions words that tell relation to other words

at, on, to, near

conjunctions

words that tie clauses together

and, so, but, however

determiners

words that give detail to nouns

a, an, the, some, any

pronouns

words that replace nouns

I, it, we, they, he, she

I want to make sure to mention that not very many aspects of English are
concrete, and the idea of stressing content words, but not function words, is
a generalization and not a rule. Not every content word receives stress, and
not every function word is left without it. A speaker chooses exactly which
words to stress based on the message he or she is trying to send.

Here is an example of a sentence with typically stressed content words and

unstressed function words.
I bought a car.
That is a very simple and straightforward sentence, and it follows an
important concept in spoken English: the Rhythm Rule.
When English is spoken, the speaker alternates between stressed and
unstressed syllables in regular intervals, with the stresses falling within
content words. This is called the Rhythm Rule.
I'll repeat that again. When English is spoken, the speaker alternates between
stressed and unstressed syllables in regular intervals, with the stresses falling
within content words.
The Rhythm Rule is more of a guideline than a rule because it is often not
followed exactly. The main idea is that stresses in spoken English happen in
regular intervals, or beats. My sentence I bought a car had a pattern of an
unstressed syllable, then a stressed syllable, then an unstressed syllable, then
another stressed syllable. The stressed syllables create the beats that I could
tap my fingers to.
I bought a car.
I can easily add to the sentence and keep the rhythm.
I bought a car on Tuesday.
How can you tell if a word is stressed? A speaker can stress a word in any
combination of the following three ways:
1. by changing the pitch of the stressed syllable of the stressed word
compared to the syllables around it
2. by saying the stressed syllable of that word for a longer period of time
than normal
3. by saying the stressed syllable of that word louder than the surrounding
syllables
Notice that I didn't say that entire word is stressed, just the stressed syllable
of that word. This stress is in addition to the normal stress placed on the
stressed syllable, emphasizing it even further. Also note that while we are
discussing syllables as the parts of speech which receive the beats, it is the
words they are part of that are being emphasized.
The sentence I bought a car on Tuesday is seven syllables long and the
content words alternate with function words. We can easily tap our fingers on
the table during each stressed syllable and hear that the taps are equally
spaced on the verb (bought) and nouns (car and Tuesday) of the sentence.

Only the first syllable of Tuesday is stressed because it is the normally

prominent syllable of that word.
What if I were to give you more information and tell you the color of the car?
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.
Now I've added another content word, the adjective blue, and things become
trickier because I've created choices for which words to stress and how to
stress them. The Rhythm Rule says that we will stress content words and that
the stressed syllables will occur at regular intervals. With the simple addition
of the word blue, there is no longer an unstressed syllable present between
stressed syllables of the content words. I've opened up three options for
placing word stress. With all of the choices, I'd naturally try to keep the
stressed beats at regular intervals. We'll talk about why I'd choose one option
over another a little later; for now, we are just trying to understand how I
would do it.
I can:
1. Stress bought and car and Tuesday
2. Stress bought and blue and Tuesday
3. Stress all the content words (bought, blue, car and Tuesday)
Let's listen to all three examples.
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.
Now listen again. I want you to notice what happens when a content word is
not stressed, as well as what happens when two single-syllable content words
next to each other are stressed.
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.
In the first sentence, when I stressed car, but not blue, the word blue was
said very quickly. Even though we added a word between the words bought
and car, the syllable taps remained constant.
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.
In the second sentence blue is stressed but car isn't, so car is said quickly and
the beat moves to the word blue. Still, the beats happen regularly.
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.

The third sentence is where I need to make the biggest alteration in speech to
allow the Rhythm Rule to work. Becauseblue and car are both only one
syllable long, and because they are next to one another in our sentence, the
syllable of the word blue needs to take more time or the beat will be off.
Remember that lengthening the stressed syllable of a content word is one of
the techniques we can use to stress it. In this situation, we need to lengthen
the word blue for extra time just to allow us to follow the Rhythm Rule.
I bought a blue car on Tuesday.
Well, that's all I am going to cover for today. Although this podcast was not
thick with examples, there was a lot of information here. Next week I will get
into more details and hopefully we'll get to listen to another clip from The
Incredibles to hear these concepts in action.
As always, I would love to hear from you! Specifically, I'd like to know the
languages of the listeners of this show, and specific problems that you know
you have. Please email me at podcast@pronuncian.com.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#21: The Rhythm Rule and sentence stress, continued

Learn the basics behind sentence stress and the Rhythm Rule.
Incredibles clip

PRINCIPAL: I appreciate you coming down here, Mrs. Parr.

HELEN: What's this about? Has Dash done something wrong?
BERNIE: He's a disruptive influence and he openly mocks me in front of
the class.
DASH: He says.
BERNIE: Look, I know it's you! He puts thumbtacks on my stool.
HELEN: You saw him do this?
BERNIE: Well...not really. No. Actually, not.
HELEN: Oh, then how do you know it was him?
BERNIE: I hid a camera. Yeah, and this time, I've got him.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation podcast. This is podcast number 21, and my name is
Mandy.
I hope you listened to last week's show because it gives the base for today's
continuation of American English rhythm patterns and the Rhythm Rule. The
Rhythm Rule says that when English is spoken, the speaker alternates
between stressed and unstressed syllables in regular intervals, with the
stresses generally falling within content words.
Remember, content words are the words that give us the contents of what we
are saying. They are usually the words that give us a picture in our head. In
general, content words are stressed more than function words.
Function words are grammatical words like articles, pronouns, and
conjunctions. There is a table of content words and function words with last
week's transcripts.
Last week we listened to the different ways we can stress the content words
of the sentence: I bought a blue car and keep the stressed syllables on a
regular beat. Here is a repeat of the three options of ways to stress that
sentence. If you are reading the transcripts along with this show, you will see
that the stressed words have been bolded.
I bought a blue car.
I bought a blue car.
I bought a blue car.
Today we are going to expand on that a little, then listen to a clip from a
movie.

I'm going to change the color of the car that I bought from blue to purple. The
only difference between the sets of sentences is obviously the color. First my
car was blue, and now it's purple. Purple is a two-syllable word, while blue is
a single-syllable word.
I have the same options of which words to stress in the sentence I bought a
purple car. I will probably stress my verb,bought, and then I can stress the
word purple, or car, or purple and car.
Listen to the sentences.
I bought a purple car.
I bought a purple car.
I bought a purple car.
In the first example I stressed bought and car. I needed to say the
word purple quickly to be able to keep the beats equally spaced because the
word purple has two syllables.
In the second example, I chose to stress the word purple, but not the
word car. It is rather straightforward.
In the third example I can stress both words without needing to say the
stressed syllable of the word purple for any extra time (like I had to say the
word blue) because I have an extra syllable to work with and take up time
before the next stressed syllable. I am making the word purple, which has two
syllables, the same length as the word blue, which only had one syllable.
Listen to the examples again:
I bought a purple car.
I bought a purple car.
I bought a purple car.
So how would I decide which stress pattern to use? Well, because I'm a native
speaker, I didn't need to consciously decide. The decision came perfectly
naturally to me because I intuitively learned these rules as a child, the same
as you intuitively know the rhythm of your own first language.
Let's go inside my head and see what I would have been thinking when
deciding which words to stress. Since I was only saying one sentence and
there is no other context around that sentence, I would need to decide which
words and details are the most important for my listener to know about.
There isn't a right or wrong answer, it just depends on what was important to
me. First, I would stress the word bought because it says what happened. This
sentence has no auxiliary words, and there is only one verb, so that was
simple to decide. Then I needed to decide if the next important information
was the car, a detail about the car (the color), or both. Then I adjusted my
speech pattern appropriately.

Listen to the examples one more time and notice how I've made only certain
words stand out:
I bought a purple car.
I bought a purple car.
I bought a purple car.
That's enough talking about boring car colors. Let's do something more fun.
As promised last week, we'll listen to another short clip from the movie The
Incredibles. The Incredibles is my favorite Disney Pixar computer animated
movie. It is very funny. It also has wonderful actors doing the voices and
provides lots of examples of American English speech patterns.
In this clip, Dash, who is one of the children in the movie, is in the principal's
office. His teacher suspects him of putting thumbtacks on his chair. Dash has
the superpower of being a really fast runner, and when he runs he is too fast
to be seen. Dash's mom, Mrs. Parr is speaking to the principal and teacher in
this scene.
The transcripts of what exactly is being said will be online with the transcripts
for this show, and I'll also add an audio file of just this clip so you can just
listen to it again and again if you want. I'll also bold the stressed words, to
help you pick them out. Don't get confused with the added increased pitch of
some of the words. We haven't talked about intonation yet. For now, we are
only listening for the rhythm of the stressed and unstressed words.
During this clip, the principal first thanks Helen Parr for coming to the school
and she asks if her son has done something wrong. Bernie, the teacher, then
accuses Dash of mocking him in front of the class and putting thumbtacks on
his chair. Dash's mom asks if the teacher saw him do that, and the teacher
says that he didn't, but he hid a camera, and recorded the incident.
Here's the clip.
PRINCIPAL: I appreciate you coming down here, Mrs. Parr.
HELEN: What's this about? Has Dash done something wrong?
BERNIE: He's a disruptive influence and he openly mocks me in front of
the class.
DASH: He says.
BERNIE: Look, I know it's you! He puts thumbtacks on my stool.
HELEN: You saw him do this?
BERNIE: Well...not really. No. Actually, not.
HELEN: Oh, then how do you know it was him?
BERNIE: I hid a camera. Yeah, and this time, I've got him.
And here is the whole clip one more time:

PRINCIPAL: I appreciate you coming down here, Mrs. Parr.

HELEN: What's this about? Has Dash done something wrong?
BERNIE: He's a disruptive influence and he openly mocks me in front of
the class.
DASH: He says.
BERNIE: Look, I know it's you! He puts thumbtacks on my stool.
HELEN: You saw him do this?
BERNIE: Well...not really. No. Actually, not.
HELEN: Oh, then how do you know it was him?
BERNIE: I hid a camera. Yeah, and this time, I've got him.
I hope you can hear the Rhythm Rule in action during that clip. At first, it can
be kind of hard to hear the beats of English, but you can practice with any
English audio you've got to listen to, and it will get easier.
Next week I'm going to return to sound and do a review of all the sounds we've
covered so far. It is always a good idea to go back and review every now and
again. There is so much to learn about English pronunciation that it will be
easy to forget the early stuff. And if you've only listened to more recent
podcasts, next week will give you a good idea of which episodes you might
want to go back and grab off of iTunes.
Speaking of iTunes, I would love it if some brave souls would go out and write
a review of this podcast on iTunes. It would help me out a lot, and it would
give potential listeners an idea of what you think of this show.
If you'd like to send me comments or suggestions, please email me at
podcast@pronuncian.com. As always, this week's transcripts are located at
www.pronuncian.com.
That's it for this week, everyone. I hope you enjoyed the movie clip as much
as I did.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening!
Bye-bye.

#22: Review all the sounds covered so far

Review all the sounds we've studied so far

Transcript
Hi everyone! Welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English
Pronunciation podcast. If you are new to this podcast, my name is Mandy.
Today I am going to review all the sounds we've talked about so far. Of the 43
sounds we teach at Seattle Learning Academy, I've taught 33 of them so far. If
you've been listening since the beginning, I hope this will remind you of any
sounds you wanted to go back to and practice some more.
If you haven't heard all the podcasts from the beginning yet, this will be a
good one to listen to so you can decide which ones you might like to go back
and listen to.
The transcripts for this show will have links to all the sounds we've covered.
Sounds are divided into the major categories of consonant sounds and vowel
sounds.
Let's talk first about the consonant sounds and their categories. I've put a
chart along with the transcripts to this show to make is easier to understand
all of the categories of sound.
The voiced th and unvoiced th, the f sound, v sound, sh sound, zh sound, s
sound, and z sound are fricatives. The only fricative I haven't talked about yet
is the h sound. I did talk a little about the h sound in podcast number 16
"Reduced Pronouns". A fricative is a continuous sound that is created by
allowing only a small amount of air to leave the mouth, which causes friction,
and sound. Except for the h sound, all the fricatives have voiced and unvoiced
counterparts. A voiced sound uses our vocal cords along with the shape of the
vocal tract to produce the sound. An unvoiced sound only uses the vocal tract
to create the sound.
Here are just the voiced fricative sounds:
voiced th (voiced th)
v sound (v sound)
zh sound (zh sound)
z sound (z sound)
And here are the unvoiced fricative sounds:
unvoiced th (unvoiced th)
f sound (f sound)
sh sound (sh sound)
s sound (s sound)

Episodes 1, 3, 17, and 18 cover these fricative sounds in depth.

The w sound and y sound are called semi-vowels, or glide sounds because they
have similarities to vowel sounds. Most issues with these two sounds happen
when a bit of friction happens during the w sound, which most native English
speakers will hear as a v sound. Listen to episode 7 for a review of the y
sound and w sound.
The r sound and l sound are liquid sounds. It is important to remember that
the l sound happens by placing the tip of the tongue against the tooth ridge,
just behind the upper front teeth, and the r sound happens at the back of the
mouth, using the back of the tongue, just above the opening from the throat.
Another aspect of the r sound is r-controlled vowels, which are certain vowel
sounds that happen when an r follows a vowel. We have four specific rcontrolled vowels to be aware of, the schwa+r, ar sound, air sound, and or
sound. Episodes 4, 5, and 6 cover the l sound, r sound, and r-controlled
vowels in depth.
There are a number of sounds in the category of stops, but the only ones
we've covered so far are the d sound and t sound. In episode 2, I talked about
how to correctly say these sounds without retroflexing, or placing the tip of
your tongue too far back in your mouth during these sounds, and in episode 19
I talked about correct pronunciation of the -ed ending.
We have talked about all 15 vowel sounds already. I use the categories of long
vowel, short vowel and other vowel to talk about the vowel sounds. In the
English alphabet, there are 5 vowels, a, e, i, o, and u. Our long vowel sounds
sound like those letter names. I have given each vowel sound a key word to
help compare and contrast the vowel sounds. Each key word is three sounds
long, with the vowel sound in the middle. Here is the sound and key word for
each long vowel sound.
long
long
long
long
long

a (long a) cake
e (long e) keep
i (long i) bike
o (long o) home
u (long u) cute

Long vowels can be reviewed in episode 8.

Short vowels do not necessarily take any less time to say than the long
vowels. "Long" and "short" is just a name that was given to these sounds long
ago. We have 5 short vowel sounds which correspond to the 5 vowels of the
alphabet. Here is the sound and key word for each short vowel sound.
short a (short a) cat
short e (short e) bed
short i (short i) sit

short o (short o) top

short u (short u) sun
Short vowels can be reviewed in episode 9.
The category of "other vowels" is for the left over 5 vowel sounds. These are
the aw sound, oi sound, ow sound, oo sound, and u as in put sound. Here is
the sound and key word for each other vowel sound.
aw sound (aw sound) dog
oi sound (oi sound) join
ow sound (ow sound) down
oo sound (oo sound) soon
u as in put (u as in put) put
Other vowels can be reviewed in episodes 10 and 11.
There are the first 33 of the 43 sounds SLA teaches. I announced in a
promotional podcast earlier this week that you can now buy MP3 files of all
the sound lists from the Pronuncian website for just $10 US. This will give you
more than 4 and a half hours of audio practice that you can easily put on your
iPod or MP3 player. You will also get a PDF file of all the lists of sounds. This
is a really great way to practice those sounds you find most difficult.
If you have been thinking about buying the book Pronunciation Pages: Sounds
of American English, you can now get all these additional MP3 files for just $5
more. The book is still $25, but for $30 you can have the book and all the
additional files. The book always comes with online access to more than a
hundred online exercises. If you find this podcast helpful I hope you'll consider
buying the MP3 files or the book to help support the show.
That's it for today, everyone. I hope you found this review helpful, whether
you are a new listener or if you have been listening from the beginning. I will
have a link to the word list practice for these sounds along with the
transcripts for this episode. You can find free word lists and transcripts at
www.pronuncian.com. You can also email me comments or requests at
podcast@pronuncian.com.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where
the world comes to learn. Thanks again for listening.

#23: English b sound and p sound

Learn about the p sound and b sound, and compare the b sound with the v
sound.
Transcript
Hi everyone. Welcome to this week's Seattle Learning Academy American
English Pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is podcast number
23. I hope you found last week's review podcast helpful. Sometimes we all
need to be reminded of things that we learned about a while ago.
Today we are going to learn about two more consonant stops, the b
sound and p sound. Way back in episode 2, I taught about the t sound and d
sound. I reviewed them a bit when I talked about the -ed endings in episode
19. The t sound andd sound are called stops because at use some part of our
vocal tract to stop all the air from leaving our vocal tract for a very short
period of time, then we let it go with a little puff of air. The b sound and p
sound are also stops.
To create these sounds, we use our lips to stop the air, and then we push the
lips apart again with a puff of air. The b sound is voiced, and the p
sound isn't, making them a voiced/unvoiced pair. Remember, some of our
sounds use our vocal cords, and some do not. Different languages of the world
have different sounds that are voiced or unvoiced. The b sounduses our voice,
the p sound doesn't. Listen to the difference: b sound (b sound) p sound (p
sound).
Another small difference between these sounds is that the p sound has more
of a puff of air during its sound than the b sound does. Listen to both sounds:
(b sound, p sound). This is true of all of our stop sounds; there is more of a
puff of air during the unvoiced stops than the voiced stops.
Most students learn that they have a problem saying stop sounds when they
are spelling something and a native speakers hears them incorrectly. If you
are misheard when saying the letter "p", it is probably because you aren't
giving the sound enough puff of air between the b sound and the long e sound
at the end of the letter name. Listen to me say the letters: "B" "P". Now listen
to me saying the letters "T" and "D": "T", "D". Pay close attention to the puff of
air.
Listen to some minimal pairs between the b sound and p sound. Repeat each
pair after me.
bath, path
bull, pull
buy, pie
bride, pride
robe, rope

Another problem that I hear Spanish, Japanese, and Korean speakers make is
mispronunciation of the b sound by pressing the bottom lip too close the top
teeth, which causes a vibration. A native English speaker will hear that as a v
sound, and may misunderstand you.
Practice these minimal pairs, and make sure the b sound is created by
pressing the lips together, and pushing them open with the air. A small puff of
air will help create the sound. The v sound is a fricative, and the sound is
caused the friction of air moving out of the mouth between the lower lip and
the upper teeth. The air comes out smoothly, and not in a puff for the v
sound. Listen to me compare the b sound and v sound: b sound (b sound), v
sound (v sound).
Listen to some minimal pairs between the b sound and v sound. Repeat each
pair after me.
bent, vent
boat, vote
curb, curve
bail, veil
best, vest
So, if you can remember those two things about the b sound and p sound,
native speakers will be able to understand you much better. Make sure to let
out a little puff of air with the p sound, and make sure your b sound does not
vibrate against your teeth, or it will be perceived as a v sound.
I'll have a link to the word list practice for the b sound, p sound, and v
sound along with the transcripts for this episode. You can find free word lists
and transcripts at www.pronuncian.com. If you haven't heard yet, you can
now buy MP3 files of all the sound lists, so you can easily put sound practice
on your iPod and be able to practice even when you don't have an Internet
connection. You get 4 and a half hours of audio practice for just $10US. And
you also get PDF files of the lists, so you can easily print the lists you want to
practice.
As always, I would love to hear from you! If you'd like to send me comments
or suggestions, please email me at podcast@pronuncian.com. I do tailor these
podcasts to the listeners, and you can thank Pedro in Madrid, Spain for the
special attention to the b sound and v sound in this podcast. Tell me what
you'd like to make sure I cover, and I'll add it to a podcast as soon as I can!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy, where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#24: English ch sound and j sound

Learn about the ch sound and j sound, English's only two affricate sounds
Transcript
Hello listeners of the world, and welcome to this week's Seattle Learning
Academy American English Pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy, and this
is podcast number 24. Last week we studied two stop sounds, the p
sound and b sound. This week we are going to study two new sounds that are
similar to stops, but are a little different: the ch sound and j sound. Some of
you may have been taught that the j sound is a "soft g" sound, because
the g spelling sometimes is used for the j sound. I try to give as
straightforward of names as possible, so I call the first sound in the word "go"
the g sound, and the first sound of the word "giant" the j sound. Although the
letter g can sound like a g sound or a j sound, the j pretty much always
sounds like a j sound. I hope I didn't just make that more confusing for you!
Anyway, today's show is about the ch sound and j sound, and not about the g
sound at all. Here's what those sounds sound like:
ch sound (ch sound)
j sound (j sound)
As always, the transcripts for this show are online at www.pronuncian.com,
and I will link to the free sounds practice of today's sounds with this week's
transcripts.
So, what are the ch sound and j sound, and what makes them special. In fact,
there are no other sounds with their characteristics in American English
pronunciation. They are special because they are affricates. What is an
affricate?
Well, to put it simply, an affricate is a sound that begins like a stop, but ends
like a fricative. Well, now you need to remember what a fricative is. If you
listened to last week's show, the v sound is an example of a fricative. So are
thevoiced and unvoiced th sounds. A fricative is a sound we make when we
force air out of our vocal tract with friction. English has lots of fricative
sounds.
Affricates begin like a stop, because we stop all the air from leaving our
mouth for a little bit, but when we do let it out, we do it with friction. Listen
to the ch sound and j sound and see if you can tell how the sound starts like a
stop and ends like a fricative. Also, notice that the ch sound is unvoiced, and
the j sound is voiced. In fact, these sounds are a voiced/unvoiced pair. In case
you forget, that means that the inside of the mouth is the same, but one
sound uses the vocal cords, and the other doesn't. Here are the sounds:
ch sound (ch sound)
j sound (j sound)

Let me explain what is going on inside our mouth during these sounds. Both of
these sounds begin with the tongue in the same position as the t sound and d
sound, with the tip of the tongue right behind the upper front teeth. Then the
sound gets released in the same place inside the mouth as the sh
sound and zh sound. The area right behind the tip of the tongue is so near to
the tooth ridge that friction happens.
For some people, it is easier to think of a ch sound as a t sound plus an sh
sound, and a j sound as a d sound plus a zh sound. Listen to the sounds again
and listen for the sound combinations.
ch sound (ch sound)
j sound (j sound)
The biggest problem I hear students make with these sounds is to not start the
sound correctly as a stop. Make sure that the tongue stops all the air at the
beginning of this sound.
A lot of words with these sounds are spelled t+ch for the ch
sound and d+ge for the j sound. When my students see that spelling, they
seem more likely to say the sound correctly, with the stop at the beginning. In
fact, the t+ch sound is exactly the same as the ch sound, and
the d+ge spelling sounds exactly the same as the j sound.
Compare these words: touch t-o-u-c-h, and twitch t-w-i-t-c-h: touch, twitch.
The ch sound is identical for both spellings. We do not need to add a t
sound for the tch spelling. It is just the ch sound.
Now compare these words: tragic t-r-a-g-i-c, and widget w-i-d-g-et: tragic, widget. The j sound is identical for both spellings. We do not need
to add a d sound for dg spelling, it is just the j sound.
There are more spellings for these sounds than just those, but this would be a
very long podcast if I got into all the spelling possibilities for every sound. I
try to include words with all the common spellings of sounds in the free sound
word list practice as a way to bring your attention to spellings you may not
have been familiar with.
Another problem I hear with this pair of sounds, just like all the other voiced
and unvoiced pairs, is that a lot of students say only the ch sound at the end
of a word, even when the j sound is supposed to be there. Let's practice these
sounds with some minimal pairs. If you are in a private place or don't mind
people seeing you talk to yourself, please, repeat after me.
joke, choke
jump, chump
edge, etch
lunge, lunch

ridge, rich
serge, search
There you go. Hopefully now you can give more attention to these often
overlooked sounds: English's only two affricate sounds, the ch sound and j
sound.
I'll have a link to the free word list practice for the ch sound, j sound, along
with the transcripts for this episode at www.pronuncian.com. If you haven't
heard yet, you can now buy MP3 files of all the sound lists, so you can easily
put sound practice on your iPod and be able to practice even when you don't
have an Internet connection. You get 4 and a half hours of audio practice for
just $10US. With the MP3 practice, you don't have to play each individual
word, one file includes all the words for each sound at the beginning, middle,
or end of the word. And you also get PDF files of the lists, so you can easily
print the lists you want to practice.
As always, I'd love to hear from you! If you'd like to send me comments or
suggestions, please email me at podcast@pronuncian.com. I do tailor these
podcasts to listeners. Tell me what you'd like me to cover, and I'll add it to a
podcast as soon as I can!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#25: English ng sound, beginning nasal sounds

Learn about the ng sound, the first of three nasal sounds in English
pronunciation
Transcript
Hello listeners of the world, and welcome to this week's Seattle Learning
Academy American English Pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy and this
is podcast number 25. When I was writing today's show, I realized that I've
been doing these podcasts for over 6 months now. It certainly doesn't feel like
it's been that long. I also can't believe I'm not even close to running out of
topics to talk about each week. I am curious how long many of you have been
listening to this show. If you've been listening for a few months now, send me
an email. Tell me where you're from, how long you've been speaking English,
and what you're favorite topics have been. You can also tell me anything
particular to your language and any topics you've been hoping to hear about.
Let's get right to today's show. Today I'm going to talk about an oftenmispronounced sound, the ng sound. The ng sound is the final sound in the
word ring, and sound like this: (ng sound). N+G is a digraph, just
like th and sh and ch, and a few others in English. The ng sound is one sound
that gets spelled with the combination of two letters. Letter-combination
sounds are called digraphs.
The ng sound happens by pressing the back of our tongue to our soft palate.
We haven't talked much about the soft palate yet. If you can, take the tip of
your tongue and roll it as far back toward your throat as you can. See if you
can feel where the bony part of the top of your mouth becomes soft. That
soft area at the top of your mouth, very near your throat, is called the soft
palate. So, to create the ng sound, press the back of the tongue against the
soft palate, and, here's the weird part, let the air leave through your nose.
That's right, the ng sound comes out our nose. Listen to me create this sound.
(ng sound)
Sounds that come out of our nose are called nasal sounds, and we have three
of them in English: the ng sound, the n sound, and the m sound. We'll talk
about the n sound and m sound next week.
The way that I hear the ng sound mispronounced is by adding a g sound to the
end of the sound. The ng sound typically does not include a g sound, even
though there is a g spelled there. The ng sound, sounds like this: (ng sound),
not like this: (ng sound+g sound). Listen again. The ng sound sounds like this:
(ng sound), not like this: (ng sound+g sound).
Let's practice some verbs that end in -ng, then add the -ing ending to the
word as if the verb is in the continuous tense. If you can, please repeat after
me. You should not be saying the g sound at all during these words because
the -ing verb ending never has a g sound added to it. Listen carefully, and
repeat.

ringing
bringing
singing
longing
Now, not to make things confusing, but there are words where a g sound is
also pronounced in a word. Just like so many other things dealing with English
pronunciation, the only way to know for sure is to listen to native speakers or
check your dictionary.
Here are some words that do have a g sound following the ng sound. Repeat
after me if you can.
angry
finger
dangle
language
hungry
I also want to bring your attention to the -ink spelling, as in the word drink. In
the -ink spelling, the i sounds like a short i, and the k sounds like a k sound,
just as you'd expect. The n in that spelling is the ng sound. So the -ink spelling
sounds like (-ink) short i, ng sound, k sound.
Here are some words with the -ink spelling. Repeat after me if you can.
pink
bank
shrink
drink
cranky
One final note about the ng sound, it never occurs in English at the beginning
of the word. Many non-English names, and I'm thinking of Vietnamese names
in particular, begin with an ng spelling. Americans become terribly confused
when they see a name begin with the ng spelling and we'll do all kinds of
strange things when we try to pronounce it. If you have a name that begins
with an ng spelling and have had native English speakers try to pronounce it,
send me an email and let me know what we've done to the pronunciation of
your name. And, let me know if we should be just saying the ng sound as we
would at the end of a word. If so, that is one way to help an American say
your name, tell us that the first sound of your name is the same as the last
sound of the word being, or any other -ing word. It may help. But I'm not
exactly sure that is even correct. So, let me know. I'm very curious.
One quick promotional note: There is a lesson about the ng sound in the
Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of American English eBook, and practice for the
ng sound in the middle and at the end of the word as part of the MP3 audio
downloads. You can buy the book for $25US, the MP3 files for $10US, or both

of them together for $30US. You can buy these items from anywhere in the
world. All proceeds from those sales goes directly to supporting my creation
of this podcast and content for Pronuncian.com. There are purchasing links
from each transcript page online.
Transcripts for this show and links to free online listening and pronunciation
practice for the ng sound can be found at www.pronuncian.com. If you want
to email me, I can be reached at email at podcast@pronuncian.com.
Thanks for listening everyone.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where
the world comes to learn.
Bye bye.

#26: English m sound and n sound

Learn about the m sound and n sound, two of the three nasal sounds in English
pronunciation
Transcript
Hi everyone! Welcome to this week's Seattle Learning Academy American
English Pronunciation podcast. This is podcast number 26, and my name is
Mandy. Last week we began talking about nasal sounds. Nasal sounds are
strange sounds because, to make them, we need to completely close air off
from exiting out our mouth, and allow the air to go out our nose instead. The
sound we practiced last week was the ng sound (ng sound).
Let's say a few -nging words to review the fact that there is usually no g
sound at the end of the ng spelling. Repeat after me if you can.
ringing
banging
belonging
Sometimes, certain words, like finger, do also include the g sound, but those
words are the exception. You need to listen carefully to new words so you
know how to say them. Dictionaries will also tell you if there is an additional g
sound or not.
Today we are going to practice the other two nasal sounds, the m sound and
the n sound. Not too many people have trouble with the m sound. We create
that sound by pressing our lips together, the same as we do for the b
sound and p sound. Let's say a few words with the m sound in the beginning,
middle, and end of the word. I'll leave time for you to repeat after me.
mother
empty
coming
from
column
That last word, column, is spelled c-o-l-u-m-n. The last letter of that word,
the n, is silent. Other words that follow the same pattern
are: autumn, solemn, and d-a-m-n, which some people consider a curse word,
so I'm not going to say on this show. Anyway, all those words end in the m
sound, not the n sound, as the spelling would suggest.
Sometime coming up I'm going to do a whole show about unusual silent
letters, but it might be a while yet. I have lots of other topics I'm also excited
to get to.

Let's move on to the n sound. The n sound can cause considerable difficulty
for some people from China. I haven't noticed this problem with students from
anywhere else, so if you also do this, please let me know.
The n sound is produced in the same part of the mouth as the t sound, d
sound, and l sound. For all of those sounds, we press the tip of our tongue
against the tooth ridge. For the t sound and d sound, the sound is mostly
created when we let go of the sound. For the l sound, we let air travel out
our mouth around the sides of the tongue. For the n sound, because it is
nasal, we use our tongue to completely block the air from leaving our mouth,
and we push the air out our nose.
The trouble I hear from Chinese speakers is that you sometimes use the n
sound and the l sound interchangeably. I understand that is allowable in some
dialects of Chinese. English speakers however, will never substitute those
sounds for one another. For us, changing around an n and an l can create new
words, or may not be a word at all.
I'm going to say all the sounds that have our tongue against the tooth ridge in
a row. I'll go in this order: t sound, d sound, l sound, n sound. Listen
carefully. (t sound, d sound, l sound, n sound)
Here's a minimal set for all four sounds. Each of these words begins with a
different sound and ends with an n sound. I'll give you time to repeat each
word after me.
tune
dune
loon
noon
And that's all there is to it. English has only three nasal sounds: the ng sound,
the m sound, and the n sound. I hear the accidental addition of the g sound to
the ng sound from nearly all my students. If any one of those sounds is going
to give you trouble, it will probably be that one, so, if you missed last week's
show, you may want to go back and give it a listen.
If you are a native speaker of Chinese, check in next week for the Chinese
speaker's special podcast. I'll let you know all the things that I've noticed my
Chinese students have trouble with. If you are a native Japanese or Spanish
speaker, look back a few weeks. I've already done special episodes for all of
you. After Chinese, I plan to do special shows for native German speakers,
then native Korean speakers. If you speak any of those languages, let me
know your specific issues, and I'll address them during your podcast.
I'll link to the free practice for all three nasal sounds along with the
transcripts for this week's show. Transcripts can always be found at
www.pronuncian.com.

You can also buy the MP3 audio lists of all of the sounds of American English
from any of the transcript pages for $10US. You'll get 4 1/2 hours of audio
sound practice that you can easily add to your MP3 player or burn CDs of.
That's it for today, folks. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy Digital
publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening!
Bye-bye.

#27: English g sound and k sound

Learn about the g sound and k sound

Transcript
Hi everyone and welcome to this 26th American English Pronunciation
podcast. As always, this podcast is produced by Seattle Learning Academy. If
you're new to this show, my name is Mandy, and I'd like to welcome you.
I'm really excited today because as I was planning this topic, I realized that
we're down to only 3 more sounds to learn about! Today we're going to talk
about two of those three sounds, the g sound and k sound. Next week we'll
talk about the very last sound, the h sound.
Don't worry, I still have lots and lots of topics to get into more detail about.
I'm just glad that I'll finally have the opportunity to do that, now that the
basics of sound will all be covered. One thing I've been looking forward to
talking about is syllable stress, so I may start talking about that topic in two
or three weeks.
Let's get started with today's show about the g sound and k sound. The reason
these sounds got left to the end is that people really do not make too many
big errors with these sounds, with one exception; I hear lots and lots of nonnative speakers only say the k sound at the end of the word, and never the g
sound. These sounds are stops, meaning we stop all the air for a tiny bit of
time, then let it go. The g sound and k sound are made at the back of our
mouth by pressing our tongue up against the soft palate, then letting go with
a little puff of air. The g sound is voiced; the k sound is unvoiced. Listen to
the sounds: g sound, k sound (g sound, k sound).
Now, some people call the g sound the "hard g", and the j sound the "soft g".
It's always a little confusing when one letter can have two sounds. I call the
first sound of the word "girl" the g sound, and the first sound of the word
"giant" a j soundbecause the letter j is usually only said as (j sound), even
though it can be spelled with a j or a g.
Let's say some minimal pairs between the g sound and k sound. I'm going to
focus on words with these sounds at the end of the word because that is
where so many people have the trouble. Repeat after me if you can.
bug, buck
dug, duck
league, leak
pig, pick
plug, pluck
tug, tuck
Also, remember that the final sound of the word will tell you what an added s or -ed ending will sound like. An s added to a g sound will be voiced, so it

will sound like a z sound. Likewise, an -ed added to a voiced sound will sound
like the d sound. Listen to a few examples:
The plural of pig, is pigs with a z sound.
Adding an -s to the verb pick, is picks, with an s sound.
Adding an -ed to plug is plugged, with a d sound.
Adding an -ed to pluck, is plucked, with a t sound.
If that is confusing to you, go back and review episode 19 for the -ed ending,
and episode 3 for the -s ending.
Since we just talked about the ng sound a few weeks ago, I want to remind
you again to not automatically say the g soundat the end of the ng spelling.
Some words, like language and finger, do have that extra g sound, but
most ng spellings do not. Words like "ringing" do not have a g sound, please do
not add one.
So, that's it. It's a pretty short show today. I really want to thank those of you
that have purchased a copy of the book or mp3 files, or both. I do take a
number of hours from my week every week to write and record and create the
web pages for each podcast, and it certainly makes it easier for me to take
time from planning my classes when those of you who want to and can
purchase something, do purchase something. I always plan to continue to have
free resources online as well, so even if you can't afford to buy something,
you still can get lots of practice. Another great way to support me is to write
an iTunes review. It's free to do. I know you may be self-conscious of your
English, but let me tell you, nobody cares if you make a grammar error online.
I mean, I make them all the time, and I'm a native English speaker, as well as
an English teacher. We are all impressed with the level of English you nonnative speakers have.
I hope you all have a great week, and thanks for listening to this Seattle
Learning Academy Digital Publication. Seattle Learning Academy is where the
world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#28: English h sound

Learn about this often confusing little sound.

Transcript
Hi again everyone! This is Mandy with Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation podcast. This is episode 28. Today we're marking a
grand occasion: today I will introduce the last sound of English pronunciation,
the h sound. The h sound doesn't always get much attention, but it should.
After today, I'll begin going into more detail about specific sounds and refer
back to these earlier podcasts for general information about sounds and their
categories. I will also spend some time talking about syllable stress.
Eventually I'll get into intonation, which I know everyone wants to know more
about.
We did talk a little about the h sound way back in episode 16, when I talked
about reduced pronouns. If you haven't heard that show yet, it would be a
good one to go back and listen to.
The h sound is a fricative, so it's in the same category as the th sounds, the sh
sound, zh sound, f sound, v sound, s soundand z sound. All of those sounds
have voiced and unvoiced pairs. The h sound is different because it doesn't
have a voiced counterpart.
The h sound can be pretty hard to hear through microphones, and I'm
surprised how often it sounds like a speaker doesn't use the h sound when I
listen to the radio. I'm pretty certain that those native speakers are actually
saying the sound, but the filters on the microphone block it because it is such
a small and quiet sound.
So, I will try to make the sound so my microphone will pick it up, yet not
over-exaggerate the sound and distort it. Here it is: h sound (h sound).
That sound comes from way down in my throat. I'm restricting the space in my
throat just a little bit while pushing the air out. Listen again: h sound (h
sound).
I hear three errors with this sound. The first error is using too much friction.
I'm going to attempt to create a sound like I hear from some non-native
speakers. (incorrect h sound) You should not actually be able to feel this
sound very much.
The second error I hear, and native French speakers are well known for this, is
to not say the h sound at all. If you've already listened to episode 16 about
reduced pronouns, you may remember that this is okay with certain words.
However, when you omit the h sound from the words him, her, and he, you
need to link it with the word before it, or it will just sound weird. Unless it is
one of those words, or a word that you know begins with a silent h, you

should say the h sound. If you don't, people will still probably understand you,
but it increases the perception of your foreign accent. Once enough small
issues like these pile up, people end up asking you to repeat yourself.
And the third error I hear with the h sound is simply not knowing when the h is
silent at the beginning of a word. The silent h sound is the exception, and not
the rule. Words that begin with a silent h must be memorized. Here are a
few honor, h-o-n-o-r, honest h-o-n-e-s-t, heir h-e-i-r (which sounds identical
to air a-i-r). In the word herb, spelled h-e-r-b, native English speakers from
the United States don't say the h sound, but I believe people from Britain do
say the sound. Another crazy thing about h-e-r-b, if it's a name, usually short
for Herbert, we do say the h sound. So, Herb is a name, and an herbis a plant.
I promise I will do an episode just about unusual silent letters sometime,
hopefully soon.
For a little practice with the h sound, here are some minimal pairs between
words that begin with the h sound and words that are the same, except there
is no h sound at the beginning. This will make sense once you hear a few.
Repeat after me, if you can. The first word will have the h sound, the second
word will not.
hear, ear
heat, eat
his, is
hitch, itch
hold, old
So there's the h sound. Most of the difficulties around this sound come from
students not knowing when to say the sound or not. Do be careful, however,
that you are not creating too much friction for this sound. The amount of
friction is really light. Listen to the sound one more time: h sound (h sound).
As always the transcripts for this show can be found online at
www.pronuncian.com. I'll also link to the free h soundpractice and the other
shows I mentioned during this show along with this week's transcripts.
If you want to practice the h sound in one long mp3 format list, you can buy
the whole set of every sound of English, spoken with an American accent, for
just $10US and download it immediately. You can also buy the ebook,
Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of American Accent for $25 US, or the ebook and
MP3 download for just $30US. You do not need to be in the United States to
buy any of those products. All the money from those purchases goes directly
to producing these shows and for programming Pronuncian.com.
Next week I'm going to go into detail about the short i and long e sounds. I
hear nearly every single one of my students, no matter what their first
language is, say the short i sound incorrectly. Usually, I hear these people
saying the long e sound in its place. So I'm going to go into more detail about

how these sounds are different so you can begin to break your habits with
those sounds. I'll also help you to not accidentally swear due to
mispronunciation of these sounds.
I'm hoping that the following week I can begin talking about the somewhat
complicated subject of syllable stress.
That's all for today folks. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital
publication. Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#29: Compare the short i and long e sounds

Learn about the often mispronounced short i sound, and compare it with
the long e sound
Transcript
Hi everyone! Welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English
Pronunciation podcast. This is episode 29, and my name is Mandy.
Last week I talked about the h sound and we practiced a few minimal pairs
between words that began with the h sound, and words that are identical
except that they do not begin with the h sound.
Here's a repeat of a few of them:
hair, air
hitch, itch
his, is
Words that are the same except one sound are called minimal pairs. Minimal
pairs are a great way to compare and contrast between two similar sounds.
They are important for training your ears so you can hear the difference
between them and then hear yourself to tell if you are saying the words
correctly or not. Minimal pairs are really helpful for today's topic, theshort
i and long e sounds. I hear most of my students say these sounds the same, as
the long e sound.
Some of my first podcasts were about long and short vowels. If you haven't
heard them yet, or haven't heard them in a while, you may want to go back to
episodes 8 and 9 and listen to them. I want to make it very clear that the
words "long vowel" and "short vowel" do not refer to the length of time, or
duration, the vowel is said. While it is true that some short vowels and said
for less duration than long vowels, and today's sound do work out that way, it
is not always true, and it absolutely does not describe the difference between
two different sounds. The difference between a short a and long a is not the
length of time it is said. In modern English pronunciation, those are just titles
for sounds. You need to learn the length of each sound separately. Not all
short vowel sounds are said for less time than long vowel sounds.
Now that I've told you again NOT to assume that long vowels are said for more
duration than short vowels, it is true that for the sounds we'll talk about
today, the short i is said for less time than the long e. The major difference
between these sounds is not their duration, however, the difference is the
placement of the tongue that creates a different sound.
You need to pay very close attention to the middle part of your tongue for
these sounds. Both of these sounds are created when the center of the tongue
is put closer to the roof of the mouth. The roof of the mouth is the hard, bony
part of the inside of the top of your mouth, behind the tooth ridge, and in

front of the soft palette. The long e sound is created by putting the center of
the tongue very close to the roof of the mouth. The short i sound is created
by lowering the tongue from the long e position. Listen to both sounds: long
e, short i (long e, short i). Remember from our earlier posdcast that I've
assigned key words for each vowel sound, and that the long e key word is the
word keep, and the short i key word is the word sit. Can you hear the
difference in the vowel sound between those two words? Keep, sit. long
e, short i (long e,short i) keep, sit.
These sounds happen completely inside the mouth. My lips can actually be in
a lot of different relaxed positions, and I can still correctly create these
sounds. If I had a video of myself, I could show you, but I'm hoping you'll just
believe me. I can't make my lips into a small circle like the oo sound (the
sound in soon) or it will alter the sound. As long as my lips are relaxed, I can
create both the long e and short i sound.
Let's practice these sounds with some minimal pairs. I want you to listen for
both the difference in sound, and the difference in the duration of the sound.
The long e sound does take more time than the short i sound. The most
important difference, however is the sound itself. There are lots and lots of
minimal pairs between the long e and short i sound, which means that there
are lots of opportunities to have you listener misunderstand you.
Here we go, repeat after me if you can. I'll say the word with the long e sound
first, then the short i sound.
each, itch
least, list
sleep, slip
green, grin
steal, still
One other thing about these two sounds that causes trouble and
embarrassment for many of my students is that confusion between these
sounds makes native listeners think they are swearing when they aren't. This
is actually really common.
I'm not going to give you the minimal pairs between the curse words
themselves, but I will give you words that rhyme with them.
Take the words hit and heat, and substitute the h sound with an sh
sound: hit, heat. Also, take pitch and peach and substitute a b sound for the p
sound: pitch, peach.
One of my poor students from Brazil won't talk about the beautiful beaches of
her country anymore because so many native English speakers have misheard
the word beach as a curse word. So please, practice these two sounds. It's a
good idea for so many reasons.

Let's practice the long e/short i minimal pairs again. Even if you can't repeat
after me because you're on a crowded bus or something, listen really carefully
for the difference. You can move your tongue around even if you aren't
making any sounds.
each, itch
least, list
sleep, slip
green, grin
steal, still
And here are those stand in words for practicing to not swear
heat, hit
peach, pitch
If you haven't discovered them yet, along with the free online practice for
the long e and short i, there is also minimal pairs practice for these sounds.
Look in the "more practice" section of each sound page to see other minimal
pair practice as well.
I've actually had to write and record this show a couple of weeks before
publishing it because I am traveling to Florida to visit my mother for a week,
so I'm not certain what next week's show will be yet. It depends on how crazy
the week is after I return. I'm really hoping to get to start syllable stress. It is
a very important aspect of pronunciation, and it seems that nobody will teach
about it. So I will.
As always I'll have the transcripts for this show online, and I'll link to the
free long e and short i word list practice as well as the other podcast episodes
I mentioned during this show. Don't forget that you can buy the MP3 sound
lists for extra practice for both of these sounds. You'll get these two sounds as
well as ALL of the other sounds in American English for just $10US. Your
purchase does a lot to support this free podcast every week.
That's all for today, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this detailed lesson about
the long e and short i sounds. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy
digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#30: 2-syllable word stress and -tion/-sion syllable stress

Introduction to understanding syllable stress, the 2-syllable word rule, and tion/-sion syllable stress.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's 30th American
English Pronunciation Podcast. Today, we have a long show to introduce you
to the complex rules of syllable stress.
But first, I hope everyone found last week's episode about the short i and long
e sounds helpful. It really is a show that everyone should pay attention to. I
hear people from nearly every language group have trouble with the short i.
The best way to notice the problem is generally to compare and contrast that
sound with the long e. Remember, the short i is said with the tongue lower
and more relaxed, and for a shorter amount of time than the long e.
As a really quick review, repeat the following pairs after me.
itch, each
list, least
slip, sleep
grin, green
still, steal
I have been waiting a long time to do today's show about syllable stress.
Syllable stress is often overlooked as the issue when mispronunciation is
concerned. This is really too bad. I think if syllable stress rules were taught
alongside other grammatical English rules, non-native speakers would be able
to develop a more intuitive approach to syllable stress.
For the most part native speakers can guess which syllable would be stressed
in a multi-syllable word, even if they have no idea how they know that
information. Today I am going to let you in on some secrets of syllable stress.
It starts simple, but can get complicated really quickly, so you have to pay
attention.
The first general rule I'm going to give you is also the most well known. When
dealing with 2-syllable words, syllable stress depends on the part of speech a
word is in. Nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are generally stressed on the first
syllable, and verbs are generally stressed on the second syllable. This rule is
not 100 percent, so don't rely solely on it.
A fun way to play with and demonstrate this rule is with a special class of
words called heteronyms. Heteronyms are two words that are spelled the
same, but have two different pronunciations based on way the word is being
used. Here is an example you may be familiar with: p-r-o-j-e-c-t. That word
can be said two different ways, PROject, or proJECT.

PROject, stressed on the first syllable, is a noun.

I finished the project on time.
ProJECT is a verb, meaning to estimate.
We project earning to grow in 2009.
The list of heteronyms in English continues to grow as people make up new
ones. Wikipedia lists at least 170 pairs of heteronyms based on moving the
stress to the first syllable. In my text, Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of
American Accent, I list the more commonly used heteronyms in the appendix,
and include an exercise to help train your ear to identify heteronyms as
nouns, adjectives, or verbs.
But, hopefully for most of you, that little 2-syllable word rule is old news.
What I am really excited to teach you next is how to deal with more complex
words, words that are longer than 2 syllables. I can't teach you a rule for
every word, but I can teach you rules for lots of them. Unfortunately, it isn't
just one rule; there are a whole bunch of rules. The only way to become
fluent with your pronunciation is to memorize them all, and there are few
shortcuts.
Here's the first trick to learning syllable stress: look for suffixes. The key to
syllable stress in many, many words is in the suffix.
Here's the second trick, learn to count syllables from the end forward to the
front. That nasty bit of information is why syllable stress doesn't seem
intuitive. We don't say that we stress the first, or second, or third syllable.
Nope, it doesn't work that way. Instead, we say that we stress the first, or
second, or third syllable from the end. Because of that, it seems like the
elusive stressed syllable hops around the in word. But it doesn't.
Lets start with one of the very most common set of suffixes, the consonant
plus -ion suffix. This rule will cover the -tion, -sion, -ation, -cion, and xion suffixes. When we have a word that ends with any of those suffixes, the
second from last syllable gets the stress. Let's check it out.
Here's a little 2-syllable word, nation. Nation is stressed on the second from
the last syllable. That's simple. We would also expect it to be stressed there
because it is a 2-syllable noun, and, as per our first rule above, it would be
stressed on the first syllable.
Let's take a 3-syllable word, emotion. We want to stress the second from last
syllable, so we will stress on the -mo- syllable. Listen closely: emotion.
How about 4 syllables? Try reputation, reputation. We will stress on the
second to last syllable, on the -ta-: reputation.

Can we go to five syllables? Sure we can: specification, specification. Again,

just like all the others consonant plus -ionwords, we stress the second to last
syllable: specification.
Isn't that great? I love it. But, let's make it even better. Let's make this rule
work for even more words. In English, we have a peculiar way of stacking
suffixes on top of suffixes. We can take a simple verb, like direct (stressed on
the second syllable, as most verbs are) and make it into a noun by adding a tion to it. Now we have direction (which is stressed on the second to last
syllable). Then, we can add another suffix, -ally, and turn our noun into an
adverb. Now I have the worddirectionally, Sure, directionally isn't a very
common word, but it makes my point well. The suffix -ally, does not alter a
syllable stress. We will still rely on the -tion of that word to dictate the
stressed syllable. So the word directionally gets stressed in the same part of
the word as direction, on the -rec- syllable.
Let's try another word: emotion. It will be stressed on the -mo- syllable
because of our consonant plus -ion rule. We can add an -ally, and the stress
won't move. Listen closely, emotionally.
Would you like another one?
Profession, stressed on -fess-, keeps its stress in the same place for the
word professionally.
The -al suffix, when added to any other suffix also won't cause a syllable
stress move.
Nation, stressed on the first syllable, keeps it's stress in the same spot for
national, and keeps it in the same spot fornationally. Nation, national,
and nationally will all be stressed on the same syllable because of the -tion in
each of those words.
Nutrition, stressed on the -trit-, holds that stress in nutritional.
See why I said you'd need to pay attention closely today?
Just think of how many words you learned the correct syllable stress for
today. You now can guess the stress of 2-syllable nouns, adjective, adverbs,
and verbs, as well as all words that end in the letters consonant plus -ion,
consonant plus -ional, and consonant plus -ionally. That is a lot of words, my
friends.
Now, because I am an English teacher, I will say that these rules are not
foolproof, and that I am speaking about American pronunciation of these
words. I do not claim to know the rules of the other world-English
pronunciation patterns.

I know this was a huge amount of information, and more than I usually give in
one podcast. But, because we have a lot of suffixes to get through, I need to
cover a lot in each episode.
If you want a sneak peek at other syllable stress rules that are based on
suffix, go to pronuncian.com and click stress, then syllable stress lessons.
Pronuncian.com is also where you will find the transcripts for this show and
direct links to lessons that correspond with this show.
This podcast is made possible because of those of you around the world that
have bought my book Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of American English and
MP3 sound files. That text does include longer lists of words for each suffix
than are listed on the webpage in the drills section, so if you have already
bought the book, don't miss that resource at the end of it. If you haven't
purchased the book, there's another reason to. As I've said before, I truly
appreciate your financial contributions to this show.
Next week I'm going to continue on this topic. Actually, it will probably take a
month's worth of shows to even begin to introduce you to this topic fully. Let
me tell you, though, it is well worth the time invested in learning all these
rules. Syllable stress leads to miscommunication as much as sound
mispronunciation does. For those of you who like to analyze things and like
rules, you'll probably enjoy these shows even better than sound practice.
In Seattle, I teach a lot of scientists, engineers, and computer programmers,
and they love these lessons because something that seemed to make no sense,
finally does. It is just hard to notice because we count backwards.
I challenge you to go out his week and begin to notice how many suffixes we
use in English. I hope you'll come back next week and learn even more about
syllable stress.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy Digital publication. Seattle
Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#31: -ic suffix syllable stress

Learn about -ic word stress and review the 2-syllable word stress rule and tion/-sion syllable stress.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 31st episode.
Last week, I began talking about syllable stress. Hopefully you have already
heard that show, because I think it'll make today's show easier to understand.
Last week I talked about the 2-syllable word stress rule. Do you remember it?
It goes like this:
2-syllable nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are stressed on the first syllable. So,
this would include words like, "table, quiet, and often."
2-syllable verbs are usually stressed on the second syllable. So, this would
include words like, "predict, suspend, and remove."
Some words, called heteronyms, can have two different pronunciations, but
only one spelling. 2-syllable heteronyms often use a change in the stressed
syllable to show a change in the usage of the word. For example, the word co-n-t-e-s-t. A "CONtest" (noun) is a competition, but to "conTEST" (verb)
means to oppose something. "Wilma won the CONtest, but her opponents
intend to conTEST the results."
English has lots of heteronyms, and we'll talk about more of them in the
coming weeks.
The other aspect of syllable stress that I talked about last week was that
suffixes play a large part in deciding which syllable to stress. I told you that
words that contain the -tion/-sion suffix are usually stressed on the syllable
before the -tion or -sion. By knowing this rule, we know where to stress the
words, "creation, intuition, and reputation."
I also told you that we can add the -al and -ally suffixes to the -tion/sion suffix and the stress will still remain before the -tion or -sion. Now we
will also know where to stress words like,
"oppositional, situational and nutritionally."
If you could understand all of that, you'll have no problem with the new topic
for today, the -ic suffix. The -ic suffix rules are identical to the -tion/sion rules. Words that contain the -ic suffix are stressed on the syllable before
the -ic.
Let's talk a little bit about what the -ic suffix is, and what it does. While both
nouns and adjectives can end in -ic, adjectives are far more common. With
the -ic suffix, we can take nouns like athlete, hero, or alcohol and create the

adjectives: athletic, heroic, and alcoholic. Or, we can take verbs

like symbolize or specify and create symbolic andspecific. For some reason,
the word specific is really hard for a lot of my students to say. Listen carefully
to the pronunciation of this word, specific. Repeat it after me: specific.
All of those adjectives we just created: athletic, heroic, alcoholic, symbolic,
and specific, follow the same syllable stress rule as the -tion/-sion suffix; the
words are stressed on the syllable before the suffix.
Let's practice words from 2 to 6 syllables to hear this rule in action. Repeat
after me to get the feel for this stress rule.
2 syllables: tragic
3 syllables: athletic
4 syllables: alcoholic
5 syllables: enthusiastic
6 syllables: materialistic
Okay, everybody understand that? I hope so, because now I'm going to make it
harder. Remember how we could add the suffixes -al and -ally to the -tion/sion suffix? Well, we can do the same thing to the -ic suffix. And, just like the
-tion/-sion suffix, the addition of these extra suffixes does not change the
syllable stress. What is weird about this is that we can add the -al suffix to a
word that is already an adjective. I'm not going to get into why we would do
this, and it doesn't happen very often, but it can. What I want you to know,
for the purposes of pronunciation, is where to place the syllable stress in
those words.
Let's listen to some examples.
I can take the noun, logic, and add -al to get the adjective logical. The stress
didn't move.
Or I can take the adjective, logistic, and add an -al to it and get logistical.
Still, the stress didn't move.
I can create a 7-syllable word by adding an -ally to enthusiastic and the stress
will remain on the syllable before the -ic. I'll have the word enthusiastically.
That is a very long word! Say it after me: enthusiastically.
The sciences use suffixes like these all the time, and if you are in a scientific
field, you should pay attention to this stuff. Also, if you are in any kind of
computer programming field or have a job in economics, it is well worth your
effort to learn and pay attention to suffixes in a new way.
I wouldn't encourage you to go out and create words just because you know
how to use suffixes, you really can't. You need to know that the word exists
first, or you will likely come up with words that don't actually exist. However,
if you come across a new word, spend some time dissecting it. Find the root

of the word, guess the syllable stress, and see if you can think of other words
with the same root. Because I am an English teacher with a love for
linguistics, I find games like this to be lots of fun. I realize that few other
people actually care to the extent that I do. I'll tell you, though, that when
you see how many new words you can learn doing this, you may find my
tiresome games fun as well.
Now I've got a quick promotional note, because your purchases from
Pronuncian.com make it possible for me to spend the time on these podcasts.
The text, Pronunciation Pages, Sound of American Accent, has a chapter on
syllable stress, including a nice list of words that are quite frequent and
follow these rules. I'd encourage you to read those lists aloud so you can start
to develop a more intuitive approach to syllable stress. You can purchase that
text from Pronuncian.com for $25US, and you can buy it and the MP3 sound
files for the combination price of $30US. That is pretty inexpensive, and you
get 4 1/2 hours of audio with those files.
That's it for today everyone. I'm planning to spend at least 2 more weeks
talking about syllable stress, and even that will only touch the surface. Don't
forget, all the podcast transcripts are available for free online at
www.pronuncian.com, and the transcripts pages have links to other free
lessons online to give you more information.
As always, I would love to hear from you! Specifically, I'd like to know the
languages of the listeners of this show, and specific problems that you know
you have. Please email me at podcast@pronuncian.com.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#32: -ize suffix word syllable stress

Learn about -ize word stress and review the 2-syllable word stress, -tion/sion, and -ic syllable stress rules
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 32nd
episode.
The past 2 episodes were about syllable stress, and today I am going to
continue with that theme. I'm spending a lot of time talking about syllable
stress because it really is a big deal. If you continually stress the wrong word
while speaking, your listeners will undoubtedly miss parts of what you are
saying. And, if you don't use syllable stress correctly, it will also mess up how
you use intonation because intonation relates directly to stressed syllables. I
will eventually get into shows specifically about intonation.
First today, let's review everything we learned so far about syllable stress.
We learned the 2-syllable word rule. It said that we will stress the first
syllable of 2-syllable nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, and that we will stress
the second syllable of 2-syllable verbs. It isn't always true, but it is often true.
Then we learned that suffixes, those short endings added to words, may
dictate which syllable receives the stress. So far, we only learned suffixes
that cause the syllable before the suffix to take the stress. Those were the tion/-sion suffix, and the -ic suffix. We also learned that when we add the al and -ally suffix to those suffixes, the stress stays in the same place it was
before the secondary suffix was added. Let's review our examples from the
last 2 weeks.
First, the -tion/-sion suffix. Remember, we stress the word on the syllable
before the -tion or -sion, even when -al or -allyis also added to the word.
Listen to the syllable stress in the word profession. It is on the -fes- syllable
of the word. It stays there for the wordsprofessional, and professionally.
Now listen to an -ic suffix example. Here is a short little word, classic. I can
add -al, and get classical, or add -ally and getclassically.
Today I am going to tell you about the -ize/-ise suffix. This suffix is used to
create verbs, often from nouns and adjectives. I want to add that Americans
are more likely to spell these verbs with a z, and British are more likely to use
the s spelling. In the transcripts for this show I am only going to use the
American spellings of words in order to keep it simple. I'd go crazy if I were to
check each spelling to see if it is different from what I am most accustomed
to. I certainly mean no disrespect to English speaking countries with other
spellings.

So, the -ize suffix creates verbs, and those verbs will be stressed in the third
to last syllable. I know it is hard to hear these long words, then need to think
backwards to figure out the stress. Sorry about that. Until an intuitive
knowledge of these rules is acquired, you're stuck counting or comparing to
another word with the same number of syllables.
Let's look at some examples. First, here are a few 3-syllable words. Repeat
the words after me if you can.
advertise
memorize
recognize
And here are few 4-syllable words. Again, please repeat after me.
idealize
prioritize
hospitalize
(Note: This podcast incorrectly states that hospitalize is stressed on the third
from the last syllable; it is, in fact stressed on the fourth from the last
syllable.)
Because these words are verbs, I want to mention that when an -ing, -ed or s suffix gets added to these words because we need to conjugate them, the
stressed syllable stays in the same place that is in with the original word,
even though a syllable gets added to the word.
As an example, advertise is stressed on the first syllable, -ad-, because it is
the third from the last syllable of the word. The word advertises will stay
stressed on that syllable, as will the words advertising and advertised. In fact,
-ing, -ed, and -sendings will never cause a shift in which syllable is stressed,
no matter what word they're added to.
I am choosing to go through these syllable stress rules slowly instead of giving
them all to you at once because they take a lot of memorizing and I don't
want them to all blur together in your mind. Spend time reading in English
and find all the words that use these rules. Notice how frequently they
happen, and say each word aloud to practice each rule. Just like all the rest
of perfecting a language, it takes a lot of attention and practice.
So far, you should have rules for -tion/-sion, -ic, and -ize words memorized.
In fact, the word memorize, follows the -izerule. The third from the last
syllable takes the stress.
Now I've got a quick promotional note, because your purchases from
Pronuncian.com make it possible for me to spend the time on these podcasts.
The text, Pronunciation Pages, Sound of American Accent, has a chapter on
syllable stress, including a nice list of words that are quite frequent and

follow these rules. I'd encourage you to read those lists aloud so you can start
to develop a more intuitive approach to syllable stress. You can purchase that
text from Pronuncian.com for $25US, and you can buy it and the MP3 sound
files for the combination price of $30US. That is pretty inexpensive, and you
get 4 1/2 hours of audio with those files.
I'm not sure yet if I'll spend one or two more weeks talking about syllable
stress, I don't want it to get boring. You can always email me and tell me if
you want me to keep talking about this topic, or move on. My email is
podcast@pronuncian.com. In fact you can email me about any aspect of this
podcast. I want to thank Maksymilian, in Germany, for giving me a tip that
may help the sound quality of the show. I hope this shows sounds better than
ever, and everyone owes it to him. Thank you Maksymilian.
Don't forget, all the podcast transcripts are available for free online at
www.pronuncian.com, and the transcripts pages have links to other free
lessons online to give you more information.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#33: -ate suffix word syllable stress and heteronyms

Learn about -ate English word stress and heteronyms, and review the 2syllable word stress rule, and the -tion/-sion, -ic, and -ize English syllable
stress rules.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 33rd
episode.
Before I begin the topic of syllable stress today, I'd like to make an
announcement: Pronuncian.com now has forums! The forums link is on the
right-hand side of the page and will take you directly into this new feature. In
order for any forum to be successful, I need you to take part. So, be brave,
and don't worry about spelling errors or grammar errors, and go post a
question for me or for other speakers of your language, or for anyone at all.
But someone needs to start it. I know the color scheme doesn't match the rest
of the Pronuncian site yet, but don't worry about that; the colors will come.
So, please, please, please, go there, and post your comment or question and
get help me get things started.
Now, on with the show.
Today I am going to continue talking about the confusing and complicated
topic of syllable stress. By carefully memorizing these details, you really can
develop a more intuitive approach to syllable stress, and you will certainly
have fewer miscommunications when you are talking with native speakers.
Unfortunately, it isn't easy. There are simply a lot of rules to learn and
memorize. But, if you've gotten your English skills high enough to listen to and
understand this podcast, you can also master syllable stress.
First, let's review. I know our list of things to review each week is getting
long, but review leads to long-term memory development, and that's what I
want for all of you.
Three long weeks ago I began this topic by telling you that 2-syllable nouns,
adjectives, and adverbs are usually stressed on the first syllable. 2-syllable
verbs are usually stressed on the second syllable. Don't forget, we have that
special group of words, called heteronyms, which are two different words
with different pronunciations that are spelled exactly the same. For 2-syllable
heteronyms, the difference in pronunciation is usually a shift in the stressed
syllable.
For example, the word o-b-j-e-c-t:
an OBject is a noun, meaning a thing
to obJECT is a verb, meaning to protest something

We'll come back to the subject of heteronyms in a little bit. (By the way, in
the past 2 sentences, I said two more heteronyms, to proTEST and a SUBject.
If I would have stressed the other syllable of either of those two words, as in
PROtest and subJECT I'd have said the wrong word.) I know, it's tricky.
Three weeks ago I also introduced the idea that suffixes control which syllable
of a word receives the stress. Words that end in the -tion or -sion suffix get
stressed on the syllable before the -tion or -sion. Examples are the
words attention andcomprehension.
Two weeks ago, I told you that words that end in the -ic suffix also get
stressed on the syllable before the suffix. Examples are the
words heroic and enthusiastic.
Don't forget that the -al and -ally suffix can get added to the -tion, -sion, or ic suffix and the stress stays on the syllable before the original suffix. Whew,
that was a lot of information. But I'm not done yet.
Last week, I told you about verbs that end in -ize. Those words are stressed
on the third from the last suffix. An example is the word memorize. Yes, this
is a lot to memorize.
If any of this is still confusing to you, please go back and listen to those first
shows on this topic or visit the free lessons online. Syllable stress is all about
the details, and you need to be able to organize these details in your head.
This week I'll introduce another suffix that controls syllable stress, the ate suffix. The -ate suffix is similar to the -ize suffix because, like the ize suffix, we stress the third from the last syllable. Also, the -ize suffix is
used to create verbs, and the -ate suffix also creates verbs. Examples are the
words generate and decorate.
However, the -ate suffix can do more than create verbs. It can also create
nouns and adjectives, as in the noun certificateor the adjective passionate.
Luckily, it doesn't matter if a word that ends in -ate is a verb, noun, or
adjective, it is always stressed on the third to last syllable. There is a
different difference in pronunciation, though.
Listen carefully to the following -ate ending words and try to hear the
difference in the pronunciation of the final
syllable.Generate, certificate, passionate. I'll say them
again: generate, certificate, passionate.
I hope you could hear that the final syllable of generate sounded like -ate,
with a long a sound, but the final syllable of the
words certificate and passionate sounded like -it, with a short i sound.

I hate to pile pronunciation rules on top of pronunciation rules, but this is one
to remember. When a verb has the -atesuffix, the -ate is pronounced with
a long a sound. It will sound like -ate, as in the word generate.
When a noun or an adjective has the -ate suffix, the -ate is pronounced with
a short i sound, like -it, as in the wordscertificate and passionate.
And remember, all words with the -ate suffix are stressed on the third to the
last syllable.
Now, remember that I said that we'd return to the topic of heteronyms. The ate suffix, due to its two different pronunciations, also creates heteronyms
(two words that are spelled the same but sound different). Here are some
examples:
(verb) graduate, (noun/adjective) graduate
or
(verb) advocate, (noun/adjective) advocate
In those words, the syllable stress was the same, but the final syllable of the
word had a different pronunciation based on the word's part of speech.
Well, I think that is definitely enough for today. I've decided that I will spend
one more week on syllable stress. The final rules I will teach you next week
will really allow you to know a rule for the majority of multi-syllable word
stress rules in English. For the most part, these rules are true no matter what
dialect of English you are speaking, however, if you want to know for certain,
you always need to check your dictionary. My dictionary is my most used
reference. I usually use the electronic dictionary on my computer. It is quick,
accurate, and necessary.
I've got a quick promotional note, because your purchases from
Pronuncian.com make it possible for me to spend the time on these podcasts.
The text, Pronunciation Pages, Sounds of American Accent, has a chapter on
syllable stress, including a nice list of words that are quite frequent and
follow these rules. There are also lists of all the different kinds of heteronyms
in English. I'd encourage you to read those lists aloud so you can start to
develop a more intuitive approach to syllable stress. You can purchase that
text from Pronuncian.com for $25US. With the book purchase you also get 3
months subscription to Pronuncian.com and access to all the audio that goes
with the book. Or, you can buy the book and the sound practice MP3 files for
the combination price of $30US. The sound files are the most convenient way
to practice the lists of words located in the sounds tab on pronuncian.com.
That is pretty inexpensive, and you get 4 1/2 hours of audio with those files.
Go to the products page on Pronuncian.com for the details.
Don't forget, all the podcast transcripts are available for free online at
www.pronuncian.com, and the transcripts pages have links to other free

lessons online to give you more information. Also, don't forget to go and post
something to the Pronuncian forums. We need your help to get them started.
One last note, today. I thought I had fixed the stereo audio problem last
week, but I found out that I still had a problem with it. THIS podcast should
have equal sound coming from both left and right speakers. In the next few
days I'm going to go back and fix the previous shows. So, if you want equal
sound in your iPod earbuds, wait a couple of days and you can re-download
the shows. I have heard that there is a way to manually fix it in iTunes as
well. Hey, maybe I'll post about it in the forums! I know some of you have
found the way to fix it after it is downloaded. I'll also make an announcement
there when I get the new files uploaded.
Thanks for sticking with me for these longer and more complicated syllable
stress lessons. Now I'm finished for this week!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#34: consonant plus y suffix word syllable stress

Learn about the consonant plus y suffix word syllable stress, review the other
word stress rules
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 34th
episode.
I want to start today by thanking Kaoki, Monica, and ShortHair for starting
topics in the forums! I am really excited about the learning opportunities we
all have as the online community builds at pronuncian.com. If you haven't
checked it out yet, just click the forums link on the right-hand side of any
pronuncian.com page. Join the discussions about the ng sound, zh
sound, coffee verses tea, or start your own new topic. It is free, and it is for
everybody! If you are a teacher and listen to these shows, please, add your
input, too.
I have to say, the discussion about the nasal g sound in Japanese compared to
the ng sound in English has me very curious. If you are a native Japanese
speaker, let us know what your opinion is. It would also be great to have some
other non-native speakers' comments about the zh sound.
ShortHair, I'm not exactly sure if I answered your question or not. I wasn't
exactly sure what you were asking.
Wherever you are from, whatever your first language is, go to the forums at
Pronuncian.com, and let's all learn together.
Well, today is the final day of the topic of syllable stress. Five weeks is a long
time to spend on any topic, so I hope these in-depth podcasts have been
useful to all of you. Syllable stress is more important than I feel most teachers
realize. It's not just sound that causes miscommunication, and all of the
rhythm of English builds on syllable stress, so if your syllable stress is off, your
rhythm and intonation will also be off, and that will make you sound less
fluent.
We've learned a lot of things already about syllable stress. We learned the 2syllable word rule, which states that 2-syllable nouns, adverbs, and adjectives
are usually stressed on the first syllable, and that 2-syllable verbs are usually
stressed on the second syllable.
Then we learned that suffixes in English control which syllable of many words
receives the stress. Words that end in the -tion/-sion suffix or the -ic suffix
are usually stressed on the syllable before that suffix. Don't forget that we
can also add -aland -ally to those suffixes and the stress remains on the
syllable before the -tion/-sion or -ic. You can review all of that information in
episodes 30 and 31.

In episodes 32 and 33 we learned that words that end in the -ize and ate suffix are stressed on the third from the last syllable. It is because we
count backward to find the syllable stress that syllable stress doesn't seem to
follow a pattern. But it does, it is just a little hard to notice at first. We also
learned that the -ate suffix has two different pronunciations depending on the
part of speech of that word. Verbs that end in -ate sound like -ate, with
a long a sound, as in the word decorate. Nouns and adjectives that end in -ate
sound like -it, it with a short i sound, as in the word passionate. Either way,
the word is stressed on the third from the last syllable.
Today I am going to talk about words that end in consonant+y suffixes. This
includes quite a few suffixes, including -cy, ty,gy, phy, and fy. So, you can
see that this includes a huge number of words. Luckily all these words follow
the same rule.Consonant+y suffixes are stressed on the third from the last
syllable.
Before I give you examples of this rule, I want to point out that this rule does
not include the -ly suffix. The -ly suffix often creates adverbs, and it does not
have a syllable stress rule. Many words that end in -ly have another suffix
before the -ly. If that suffix has a syllable stress rule, the stress will stay in
the same spot when the -ly is added. For example, the word accurate ends in
-ate, so it is stressed on the third from the last syllable. If I add an -ly I'll get
the word accurately. Both accurate and accurately get stressed on the ac- syllable because of the -ate suffix. The -ly just gets added to the end of
the word, and the stress doesn't change.
Now, let's get back to the consonant+y rule and some examples of that.
Because there are lots of consonant+y suffixes, I'll have quite a few examples.
Listen to some 3-syllable words. We will stress the third from the last syllable,
so in 3-syllable words, it is the first syllable that is stressed. Please repeat
after me.
-cy, pol-i-cy
-ty, qual-i-ty
-gy, all-er-gy
-phy, at-ro-phy
-fy, clar-i-fy
Now listen to and repeat some 4-syllable words:
-cy, dem-o-cra-cy
-ty, e-qual-i-ty
-gy, a-pol-o-gy
-phy, pho-tog-ra-phy
-fy, i-den-ti-fy
Here are just a few 5-syllable words:

-ty, dur-a-bil-i-ty
-gy, ar-che-ol-o-gy
-phy, chor-e-og-ra-phy
As I've said before, many of my students have professions in computer
programming, economics, and the sciences and healthcare. These professions
use a lot of multisyllable words in everyday speech. I often hear my students
rush through these words, trying to say them very quickly in order to try to
hide any syllable stress or sound errors. Don't do that! Speaking faster does
not make you sound more fluent, it only makes you harder to understand,
which then makes you sound less fluent. Speaking more clearly makes you
sound more fluent. Learn the rules and slow down! The only way to learn the
rules is to study them and then practice them. The longer you've been
speaking English, the more practice it will take to break incorrect speaking
habits.
If you have any questions about syllable stress, go ahead and post them in the
stress section of the Pronuncian forums. Nobody has made any posts there
yet, so you could be the first! There is also a section for suggestions and
comments. So if you have anything you want me to talk about here or that
you want to see on Pronuncian, let us know! We'd love to hear from you. You
can also email me personally at podcast@pronuncian.com.
Check out Pronuncian.com for the transcripts for this show which have links to
the free online lessons associated with this topic. For more in-depth learning,
you can also purchase Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of American Accent from
Pronuncian.com for $25. That text includes lessons for all the sounds of
English as well as a chapter about syllable stress with practice word lists and
additional online lessons. Along with the purchase of that book, you receive a
full 3-month subscription to Pronuncian.com in order to hear all the audio
included with the book.
You can also purchase the text along with MP3 files for convenient practice of
all the sounds of American English for $30. All purchases from Pronuncian.com
directly support production of this ongoing American English Pronunciation
podcast. I truly appreciate all of you that have already made a purchase.
Without that support, I don't know if I'd be able to still create these podcasts
every week. So, thank you very much.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#35: there, their, they're--they're all said the same!

Learn the correct way to pronounce these three homophones

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 35th
episode.
For the next few weeks I am going to have shortened podcasts. There are a
lot of things going on at Pronuncian, including getting ready to publish video
podcasts. So, until I get all of that figured out and get everything else finished
and announced, these will be, as we say, "short and sweet".
Today I am going to talk about three very frequently said homonyms.
Homonyms are different words that are pronounced the same. Today's
homonyms are the words there, their, and they're. Let me spell
them: there (t-h-e-r-e), their (t-h-e-i-r) , they're (t-h-e-y-'-r-e). I often hear
students say the first two the same, there and their, but many do not realize
that t-h-e-y-'-r-e is also said the same: they're.
The first sound is a voiced th, and then we say an r-controlled vowel, the a-i-r
sound. The word has only one syllable. If you're saying it as two, it will sound
like you are not saying the contraction for they are, it will sound like you are
saying the words they and are.
Say all three with me: there, their, they're. It doesn't matter what order
you're saying them in; they all sound the same!
I most frequently hear students substitute a d sound for a voiced th sound.
Listen to the difference between the words d-a-r-e (dare)
and their/there/they're:
dare, there/their/they're
dare, there/their/they're
Some students also substitute a z sound for a voiced th. Zare isn't a word, but
listen to the comparison anyway:
zare, there/their/they're
zare, there/their/they're
And, as one last comparison, listen to there/their/they're pronounced
correctly, as one syllable, and incorrectly, as two syllables. I'll say it correctly
first.
correct: there/their/they're
incorrect: they-re
I'll say them again.

correct: there/their/they're
incorrect: they-re
I'll still have the transcripts up for this show at Pronuncian.com, and I'll link to
lessons about the voiced th sound and the a-i-r sound from this week's show.
And that's all for today, everyone!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening everyone!
Bye-bye.

#36: palpable--a word worth learning to say

Practice the p sound, b sound, l sound, and short a sound with this word
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 36th
episode.
I'm going to explore another word in depth today. That word is palpable. p-al-p-a-b-l-e Palpable is not a high-frequency word, it's just a fun word to say,
and an excellent practice word for languages that have difficulty with the p
sound, b sound, l sound, and short a sound.
In case you're curious, palpable is a word that means something can be
touched or felt. It is often used with a feeling in the air, such as fear,
excitement, or nervousness. A sentence might be:
The children's fear during the typhoon was palpable.
Say the word palpable to get a feel for it. Palpable.
Enough about what it means, let's talk about how to say it. Palpable has two p
sounds. Korean speakers have a problem with making the p sound as an f
sound. Palpable also has a b sound. Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and
Korean speakers all have a tendency to say the b sound as a v sound. Russian
and Arabic speakers have trouble saying the p sound and b sounddifferently.
With those two languages the sound comes out as a b sound, no matter which
sound it is.
There are also two l sounds in the word, so Japanese speakers need to be
careful of that, and Chinese especially need to be sure that the final l doesn't
sound like a w sound.
Palpable also has a short a sound, (short a) and every language seems to have
trouble with that sound, especially if you learned British pronunciation and
are now trying to use a more American accent.
Listen to the word again, palpable. Palpable. I'm going to break it apart by
sound
(p sound)
(short a)
(l sound)
(p sound)
(schwa)
(b sound)
(l sound)

The p sound and b sound are stops, so, if you put your hand in front of your
mouth, you should feel three distinct puffs of air during this sound, palpable.
Can you tell how many syllables are in the word palpable, and which one is
stressed? Palpable.
Palpable has the suffix -able. I didn't talk about this in any previous syllable
stress podcasts, but the -able suffix causes the word to be stressed on the
third from the last syllable, or for this word, the first syllable (since it is a 3syllable word).
Listen to the word again and notice where the stress is, palpable. Repeat it
after me, palpable. Say it again: palpable.
Very good.
Along with the free transcripts to this podcast, which you can find at
pronuncian.com, I will link to all the previous podcast episodes that are
related to this show, and the online lessons so you can learn more.
Don't forget you can post any questions you have on the Pronuncian forums. It
is absolutely free. Also, check out the remote assessment on the Products
page and learn how you can have a Seattle Learning Academy teacher assess
your pronunciation.
If you want to purchase the MP3 sound downloads of the sounds of American
English, they are only $20US, and you'll get 4 1/2 hours of audio practice,
including all the sounds in the word palpable.
I am going to try to have the first video podcast to be the first podcast of
2009. Only 6 more podcasts to go before then!
All right, that's all for today, everyone!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening!
Bye-bye.

#37: says and said--two words NOT pronounced with long a

Be careful about mispronouncing these two high-frequency words

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 37th
episode.
I hope you enjoyed last week's word: palpable.
This week I've chosen two high-frequency words that I often hear
mispronounced. Most of my students that say these words incorrectly never
noticed that Americans ever pronounced them any other way. The words
are says and said.
The words says and said are not pronounced with a long a sound, even though
they are spelled the way the long a is usually spelled: with an ay and an ai.
Remember, the long a sounds like the letter name, so long a sounds like (long
a). The wordsay, s-a-y, is pronounced with a long a. Can you hear it? Say.
The words says and said are pronounced with a short e sound. If you
remember from way back in episode 9, the key word for the short e sound
(short e) is bed. (b sound, short e, d sound) Bed.
Notice that the word said, s-a-i-d, rhymes with bed. Said, bed. Repeat those
two words after me.
said, bed
If you pronounce s-a-i-d with a long a, it will sound like you are
saying sayed (s-a-y-e-d). Saying sayed will just sound like bad grammar.
S-a-y-s, sounds like says, not (sayes). Pronounce that word as if it were
spelled s-e-z if it makes it easier.
By the way, s-a-y and s-a-y-i-n-g ARE both pronounced with a long a.
Here are all four: say and saying (with a long a), says and said (with a short
e). I'll say them again: say, saying, says, said. Now you say them.
Now, one more time, to make sure you are using a different vowel sound in
the words say and saying than you are using insays and said. Repeat after me:
say, saying, says, said
Nicely done!
If you're not sure you are properly pronouncing these sounds, even when you
know which words should be pronounced a certain way, then the remote

assessment is for you! For $80US, you can buy the remote assessment. You
will download a script to read, then you call us, over the phone or with Skype,
and read the script into a voicemail. Within 5 days we will send you your
results, scored by real, professional teachers at Seattle Learning Academy.
You will be told which sounds you are not saying correctly, and any sounds
you substitute with a different sound. We also check your syllable stress for
any errors you make there, too.
If you do know which sounds cause you the most problems, you can buy the
MP3 sound drill downloads for just $10US. You will receive over 4 hours of
audio practice as well as PDFs of the lists. Practicing your sounds through
these MP3 files will also bring lots of new vocabulary words to you attention
as well.
Of course, you can also still buy the ebook Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of
American English as well. Go to Pronuncian.com, and click the products tab to
learn more.
I'm also getting very excited about the beginning of video podcasts on January
1, 2009, and an exciting announcement that will come with them. Only 5
more shows to go until then!
All right, that's all for today, everyone!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening!
Bye-bye.

#38: idea--a troublesome little 4-letter word

A few tips about adjacent vowel sounds for this 3-syllable word
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 38th
episode.
I hope you're enjoying our words of the week. We'll continue with this format
until January 1, when I'm going to start video podcasts!
Today I'm going to talk about the word idea.
Idea is a short little word that causes a lot of problems for multiple reasons.
First, the word is three syllables long. I-DEE-YA. If you are saying it as two
syllables, it will be very hard for people to understand what word you're
saying. So, repeat the word after me to notice all three syllables. Idea.
Then, the first sound of the word is a long i sound. If you remember from way
back in episode 8, about long vowels, thelong i sound ends in a very quick y
sound. Listen to just the long i sound (long i). Say the sound, and feel you
tongue go toward the top of your mouth. (long i).
The next troublesome issue with this word is that there are two vowel sounds
next to each other. There is a long e, then a schwa that sounds like short
u sound. Remember, schwa has no distinct sound of its own. It often sounds
like a short u,short e, or sometimes a short i. It usually happens next to a
stressed syllable. In the word idea, the middle syllable is stressed, and the
letter a at the end is said as (schwa).
When there are two vowel sounds next to each other in a word, native
speakers add a very quick w sound or y sound between the vowels. If you don't
do this, one of two things will happen. You will tend to blend one vowel sound
into the next, which we just don't do. Or else you will add a glottal stop
between the vowels. A glottal stop is the sound in the middle of "uh-oh". If
you do that, it will sound like ide-a. It sounds choppy and less fluent.
So, for the word idea, we add a very quick y sound between the vowels. Can
you hear it? Idea. Repeat the word after me,idea. Say it again. Idea.
If you're curious for other examples of words with this little y sound added,
here are a few more. See if you can hear it.
react, science, chaos, stereo, reality
By the way, the dictionary usually will not show you this little added sound.
That always surprises me, but they just don't note it. I sure wish they did.
All right, that's all for today, everyone!

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening!
Bye-bye.

#39: quit, quite, and quiet

Learn to correctly say these three similar-sounding words.

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 39th
episode. There are only two more podcasts until our first video podcast. I'm
getting really excited. Don't worry if you don't have an MP3 player that doesn't
show video, I'll also upload each show as audio, so you can listen the same as
always, if you want to.
I want to thank ollie22 from the forums, for suggesting that I continue to do
shows about similar sounding words. You're right, even simple words can
cause trouble for pronunciation.
So, for today, I've chosen three very similar words: quit, quite, and quiet. The
first thing I want to note is that the letteru, when it is part of the "qu"
spelling, is not treated as a vowel for pronunciation purposes. Q + U is treated
as the k soundplus w sound.
Let's look first at quit q-u-i-t, and quite q-u-i-t-e. The only difference in
spelling is the addition of the e at the end of quite. It is that e, that silent e,
that causes quite to be said with a long i. Remember, the long i sounds like
(long i). Quite. On the forums, ShortHair started a thread about long and
short vowel spellings. If you're not sure what I mean about the silent e, go to
the forums and check out that post.
In the word quit, q-u-i-t, because the letter i is acting like a single vowel (if
we consider the u to be part of the q-u sound) is going to sound like a short i.
Remember, short i sounds like (short i) Listen for that sound in quit. Quit.
So, the difference between quite and quit is a long i (long i) and a short
i (short i).
Quiet q-u-i-e-t, unfortunately, does not follow any nice pronunciation rules.
There are two things to remember with this word. First, and most
importantly, quiet is a 2-syllable word, stressed on the first syllable. QUI-et.
Secondly, the word quiet is pronounced with two vowel sounds next to each
other. I hope you remember from last week that we need to add a y sound or
a w sound between the vowel sounds to make each sound nice and clear.
Quiet gets a tiny y sound added. Listen closely. Qui(y)et. I wish dictionaries
showed this additional sound, but most dictionaries don't get to that level of
detail. Native speakers do it without knowing it, and therefore seldom teach
non-native speakers this trick to clear adjacent vowels. That second syllable
of quiet is a schwa, so it doesn't get much sound, but it is there.

Since quiet and quite both have a long i, if you aren't careful with adding the
schwa sound to quiet, quiet and quite sound very much the same.
I'm going to say all three words, then I'm going to say them again so you can
repeat after me.
quit, quite, quiet
Now, repeat each word after me:
quit
quite
quiet
There you go. That's today's short little show; I hope you enjoyed it.
Don't forget, January 1, 2009 will be the first video podcast! And check out
the forums for some interesting discussions going on there. Don't be shy about
your grammar or level of English; post any questions you might have, as well.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening!
Bye-bye.

#40: been, not bean

Learn how Americans and British say these words differently.

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 40th
episode. There is only one more podcast until our first video podcast, which I
will release on January 1, 2009.
Today's podcast is about the word been, b-e-e-n. I always hear my students
pronounce been as bean, which is not necessarily incorrect, it's just not the
American style. Listen to the difference: British (been), American (been).
Since I teach people who do live in the United States, I like to let them know
that there is a British pronunciation of this word, and an American
pronunciation.
According to all of my students who were taught British pronunciation, as well
as the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the British, pronounce this
word as bean, with a long e. In the US, bean (with a long e sound) is thought
of as b-e-a-n, the food we want our kids to eat more of.
The British long e pronunciation makes perfect sense, since it is spelled like
the long e is usually spelled. However, Americans say been, with a short i, as
if the word was spelled b-i-n. I know, it's frustrating that the most frequent
words we say have the least expected pronunciation. It isn't just English
though; your native language probably does this, too. It is a common feature
among many, many languages.
So, in the US, we say, "Where have you been?" and the British will say, "Where
have you been?" Don't worry, this difference in pronunciation will not cause
miscommunication between a non-native speaker and a native speaker. But, if
you are trying to get as close to an American pronunciation style as possible,
it would be a good idea to spend some time with been. Let's practice the
minimal pair between bean b-e-a-n and bin b-i-n.
Repeat after me:
bean, been
bean, been
By the way, I'm already working on creating the second video podcast, and it
will have something to do with long and short e and long and short i, and the
common spellings. I haven't decided all the details yet, but I can tell you that
I'm hoping to publish that podcast on January 16th, since I'm hoping to publish
two video podcasts, and two audio-only podcasts per month, starting in
January.

I also want to mention that transcripts for this episode, as well as every
episode of this podcast, are available on Pronuncian.com (p-r-o-n-u-n-c-i-an.com)
As a side note, since so many cultures and religions of the world celebrate
some sort of holiday this time of year, I want to wish you all a happy and
peaceful holiday season.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening!
Bye-bye.

#41: the silent b in the mb spelling

Learn this rule 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 41st episode.
Don't forget, our first video podcast will be released in just a couple of days,
on January 1, 2009.
I decided to start talking about a few odd silent letters that seem to get
missed when many non-native speakers are first learning English. The
accidental addition of these silent sounds won't usually cause
miscommunication; it'll just make you sound a little more fluent if you are
aware of these small rules.
Today I'm going to talk about the silent b in the mb spelling, like the word
climb c-l-i-m-b. The silent b in the mb spelling only happens at the ends of
words, and it only happens in about 10 words. But I want you to know about
it. Just because you see the b at the end of the word does not mean that you
need to say it. The final sound in the word climb is the m sound, not a b
sound: climb, not climb(b)
The rule is simple: if a word ends in the letters mb, the b is silent. Lets look
at some examples. I already told you the word climb. Some others are thumb,
comb, crumb, lamb, limb, bomb, and dumb.
I want to make it clear that we can still add the necessary grammatical
suffixes to the word. So the b is silent in climb, climbs, climbed, and even
climber. The word no longer ends in mb, but the b is still silent because the
original root word ended in mb.
It isn't unusual that words with surprising pronunciations are quite old. This
set of 'mb' words has been around for quite a long time, most of them since
Middle, or even Old English. Middle English was spoken from the 11th to the
15th century, and Old English started way back in the 5th century.
Remember, the silent b in the mb spelling rule is just for the end of the word,
so don't start skipping the b in words like number, combine, or... remember.
Just in case you're interested, I'll put the list of 'mb' words up with the
transcripts to this episode, along with the origin of the word. That is, just in
case any of you find that interesting like I do. All transcripts can be found on
Pronuncian.com (p-r-o-n-u-n-c-i-a-n.com). Just click the podcasts link on the
right hand side of the page.
You can learn other interesting things by going to the site and reading through
any of the nearly 100 lessons, or through the forum posts. Remember, you can
always start your own topic, too, if there is an English question you're

wondering about. Of course, we'd love to have you comment on some ongoing
topics as well.
That's all for today, everyone. Thanks for listening, and have a wonderful and
safe holiday season!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye
-mb word origins
numb: Middle English
comb: Old English/Germanic
dumb: Old English/Germanic
jamb: Middle English/French
thumb: Old English
bomb: French
crumb: Old English
lamb: Old English/Germanic
limb: Middle English/French
climb: Old English
From Dictionary (MacBook), Version 2.0.2 (51.4)

#42: review of long and short vowels, long a and short a

Hi everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's 42nd American

English Pronunciation podcast, and our very first video podcast. My name is
Mandy. This podcast was written with video in mind, so seeing the examples
of what you are hearing about is ideal, but I did write it so that if you can
only listen to it, you won't miss any of the information. This video and its
transcripts are both available online at Pronuncian.com.
The purpose of the video podcast series is to highlight a segment of our new
video lessons, which are now available to subscribers of Pronuncian.com. If
you already have a subscription to Pronuncian, go to the Materials tab, and
click "Video Lessons" to see the link to this entire lesson.
Along with the video lesson, as well as future video lessons, subscribers have
access to additional MP3 audio practice and online listening quizzes. Your quiz
scores are saved for you, so you can log into you account information and
quickly see what quizzes you've taken, as well as what exercises online you
have already seen and which ones you would like to revisit for review later.
Did you know that there are already close to 100 listening exercises online? In
fact, almost every sound lesson that you see for free online has at least one
additional listening or comprehension exercise that goes with it for
subscribers.
A subscription can cost as little as ten dollars a month with a one-year
commitment, or you can join for a set number of months for a single pre-paid
fee. Click the "Join Pronuncian" link on the right side of the Pronuncian home
page to see our plans!
Now let's watch a portion of the first video lesson. This lesson teaches about
long and short vowels, and specifically the long a and short a. Subscribers to
Pronuncian will have access to the entire lesson, which also includes an
introduction to sound and how vowels are pronounced differently than
consonants.
I hope you enjoy it.
For lesson 1 and 2, we will only talk about long and short vowels. It is very
important to note, right from the beginning, that the words "long" and "short"
do not describe the amount of time we say the vowel sounds. Some short
vowel sounds take just as much time to say as long vowels.
So what is the difference between long and short vowels? Well, when it comes
to pronunciation, they are very different. But if you are thinking about
spelling, they can be very similar, and sometimes exactly the same. All of the
long and short vowels will be taught in depth throughout the first few video
lessons.

Long vowel sounds are usually easier to identify because they sound like the
vowel letter names, a, e, i, o, and u.
Here is a brief preview of the long vowel sounds.
The
The
The
The
The

long
long
long
long
long

a sounds like (long a). It is the vowel sound in the wordcake.

e sounds like (long e) and is the vowel sound in the wordkeep.
i sounds like (long i) and is the vowel sound in the wordbike.
o sounds like (long o) and is the vowel sound in the wordhome.
u sounds like (long u) and is the vowel sound in the wordcute.

Short vowel sounds are not as easy to identify by sound as long vowels are. It
is often the spelling that offers the first clue to a short vowel sound. Just like
long vowels, there is a short vowel sound corresponding to each vowel letter.
Here is a brief preview of the short vowel sounds.
The
The
The
The
The

short a sounds like (short a). It is the vowel sound in the wordcat.
short e sounds like (short e) and is the vowel sound in the wordbed.
short i sounds like (short i) and is the vowel sound in the wordsit.
short o sounds like (short o) and is the vowel sound in the wordtop.
short u sounds like (short u) and is the vowel sound in the wordsun.

Before I get into specific sound pronunciations, I want you to explore the
inside of your mouth with your tongue. Notice how much your tongue can
move. It can move up and down, and forward and backward. You can curl
your tongue by moving the tip toward the back of your mouth, and you can
also curl the sides up toward the middle. Control of these muscle movements
controls sound when we speak.
Now use your tongue to feel the top of your mouth. Feel your front teeth,
then move the tip of your tongue toward the back of your mouth. Feel the
tooth ridge, the part of your mouth that slants up, right behind your top front
teeth. Feel the flat part of the top of your mouth. This is called the hard
palate. If you can, feel the very back of the top of your mouth. Can you feel
the soft area in the back of your mouth? That is called the soft palate.
So, the words we will use to describe the inside of the mouth are:
teeth
tooth ridge
hard palate
soft palate
We will also use specific vocabulary for the parts of the tongue as well. The
tip of the tongue is the very front. The main part of the tongue is the tongue
blade. The front of the tongue blade is near the tip of the tongue. We also
have the back of the tongue, which is where the tongue starts to bend down
into the throat.
So, the words we will use to describe the tongue are:

tip
front of tongue blade
tongue blade
back of tongue
All of these areas of your mouth, as well as your nose, lips, larynx, your jaw
are important for creating sound. Your larynx is what vibrates to help create
most sounds. It is deep in your throat. Your jaw is the bone that moves to
allow you to open and close your mouth.
This video lesson is going to compare the long a and short a pronunciation and
spelling.
The long a sounds like (long a). If you listen very carefully to the
pronunciation of this sound, you will hear a very brief y sound at the end of it.
(long a), (long a).
The long a is a two-sound vowel. To create this sound, begin with your tongue
in the middle of your mouth, not too low, not too high. Then the tongue
moves up and forward so that the front of the tongue blade is very close to
the tooth ridge. Listen to the sound again.
(long a), (long a)
The key word for the long a sound is cake. Can you hear the long a sound
(long a) in cake?
Compare the long a (long a) with the sound of the short a (short a).
The key word for the short a is cat. Can you hear the short a sound (short a)
incat?
The short a sound is a sound that requires a lot of movement in the vocal
tract. First, the jaw opens up a little bit for this sound. Then the whole
tongue gets pushed forward. Your lips should remain relaxed during this
sound. Listen to the sound again.
(short a, short a)
I'm going to say some minimal pairs for the long a and short a sound. The only
difference in these words is the vowel sound. I'll say the word with the long
afirst, then the short a. These words take the same amount of time to say.
The word with the long a should not take a longer amount of time than the
word with the short a. Remember, the names long and short have nothing to
do with how long we say the sound.
bake, back
pain, pan
jays, jazz
eight, at

All four of the long a words in that set show a different a long a spelling. Yes,
there are four common spellings for the long a sound, and many more
uncommon ones. This lesson will only cover the four common spellings.
The first word was bake, b-a-k-e. The word bake demonstrates one of the
most standard long vowel spelling rules: the vowel-consonant-e rule.
The vowel-consonant-e rule says that when a single vowel is followed by a
single consonant, and then the letter e, the first vowel is said as a long vowel.
The letter e in the vowel-consonant-e rule is silent.
Our key word for long a is cake, c-a-k-e, the a is said as a long a, and the e is
silent, cake. I do not say cake-uh. I don't need to make any sound at all for
the e at the end of the word. The only job of that e is to make sure I know
that thea is long.
Here are some more examples of the vowel-consonant-e rule:
safe, s-a-f-e, the a is said as a long a, and the e is silent
grade, g-r-a-d-e, the a is said as a long a, and the e is silent
age, a-g-e, the a is said as a long a, and the e is silent
We will return to the vowel-consonant-e rule for all of the long vowel sounds
in this lesson series.
Our next long a word is pain, p-a-i-n. The word pain demonstrates another
common long a spelling, the ai spelling. When we see the
letter a and itogether in a word, the word is usually said with a long a. Don't
try to say two different vowel sounds just because there are two vowels
written there. There is only one sound, the long a sound.
Here are some more examples of words with the long a sound because of
the aispelling:
rain, r-a-i-n
aid, a-i-d
sail, s-a-i-l
The third common spelling for the long a sound is the ay spelling. You don't
need to add any extra y sound to the ay spelling. Remember, the long a
already has a y sound as part of its sound. There is no reason to say extra y
sound.
Here are some more examples of words with the long a sound because of
the ayspelling:
say, s-a-y
play, p-l-a-y
today, t-o-d-a-y

So far, this lesson has taught the three most common spellings for the long
asound, a-consonant-e, ai, and ay. The fourth long a spelling is much less
common that the first three; it is the -eigh spelling. The letters -gh can make
vowel sounds do strange things, so we will study them in all their
combinations throughout these lessons.
Here are some more examples of words with the long a sound because of
theeigh spelling:
weigh, w-e-i-g-h
sleigh, s-l-e-i-g-h
neighbor, n-e-i-g-h-b-o-r
Those are the four most common spellings for the long a sound. Let's review.
a-consonant-e: bake
ai: pain
ay: jays
eigh: eight
All of those spellings sound exactly the same, long a (long a).
Luckily, the short vowel spelling is much, much simpler. There is only one rule
to remember for the short a sound, the consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC
rule. When a single vowel is between two consonants, it is said as a short
vowel sound. This rule is also true if the word begins with a single vowel,
followed by a consonant. Don't forget, if the second consonant is followed by
ane, the vowel-consonant-e rule takes over!
All four of our words from the minimal pairs list we first listened to follow this
rule. Those words were:
back, b-a-c-k
pan, p-a-n
jazz, j-a-z-z
at, a-t
Listen for the short a sound (short a) in each of those words.
back
pan
jazz
at
Now that we know the how to pronounce and spell the long a and short a,
let's practice.
Hi again.
Hopefully you learned some new things about the long a and short a spelling
and pronunciation from that video. Remember, you can see the entire video

and have access to the additional practice MP3s and online listening quizzes
by joining Pronuncian. Go to Pronuncian.com to learn more.
Our goal at Pronuncian.com is to produce two free video podcasts per months,
and each will also have a subscribers-only, full-version, along with lesson,
activities, and quizzes online. If you've already subscribed, go check it out!
Don't worry, we'll keep producing and distributing our weekly podcasts free in
their entirety, and all the current free service on Pronuncian will remain!
Thanks for watching and listening, everyone.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#43: About the words world and word

the w sound, r-controlled vowels, and an l, lots of opportunity for trouble

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 43rd
episode. I hope you enjoyed last week's video podcast about long and short
vowels and the long and short a sound spellings and pronunciations. I was
originally hoping to have another video podcast published next week, but it
looks like it will more likely be released January 23rd. I was teaching a
corporate class intensive this week, and I'm now a little behind on getting the
video started. But that reminds me, if you would like Seattle Learning
Academy classes to come to your workplace, visit www.seattlelearning.com to
learn about class options and details.
Today I'm going to talk about two more difficult little words: the word "world"
w-o-r-l-d, and the word "word" w-o-r-d. For some people, the difficulties with
these words starts right at the beginning of them, with the w sound.
Remember, the w sound is created by making the lips into a small circle. It
sounds like this (w sound). You should feel the vibration equally on the top
and bottom lip. If you feel more vibration on your bottom lip you are probably
accidentally creating a v sound by placing the bottom lip too close to the top
front teeth. The v sound sounds like this (v sound). Say the w sound and check
that your lips both feel the vibration equally (w sound).
Next issue with the words "world" and "word", the letter o, and the r sound.
For most words, the or sound is pronounced like "or". This is not true for the
words "world" and "word". In both of these words, the or gets pronounced like
a schwa+r, which really just sounds like an r sound. So, don't say wORld or
wORd. The sound should go from the w sound immediately into the r sound.
Listen closely, world, word. Did you hear it? I'll say them again, world, word.
If you aren't sure what I'm talking about when I say "schwa+r", you should go
back and review episode 6, which is all about r-controlled vowels.
Next issue: the word world has an l sound immediately after the r sound. This
is a really difficult sound combination for many, many language groups. To get
from an r sound to an l sound, your tongue has to make a large movement.
The r sound is created with the tongue bunched up at the back of the mouth,
way back near your back teeth. The l sound is created by placing the tip of
the tongue right behind you top front teeth. So you tongue moves from being
mostly at the back of your mouth to the front of the mouth, and it happens
very quickly. Listen again "world". Repeat it after me: world. (pause) One
more time: world (pause).
Episode 5 was all about r sound and l sound, and has more practice for the r
sound/l sound combination.

The final sound of both the words, world and word, is the d sound.
Thankfully, that final d sound does not cause too much trouble except that a
lot of languages tend to drop the final consonant sound, so just make sure you
are actually saying thatd sound at the end of both words.
Now that you know all the possible problems with your pronunciations with
both of these words, let's practice them a few times.
Repeat after me. I'll say both words, then pause for you to repeat.
world
word
Again.
world
word
One more time:
world
word
If you're still having trouble, keep repeating them, again and again, first
slowly, then more quickly.
If you're like most non-native English speakers, you are not exactly sure which
sounds you are and aren't pronouncing correctly. Well, at Seattle Learning
Academy, we understand that problem, and we have created an assessment
that you can take which allows you to find that personal information out. You
just purchase the assessment from the Pronuncian website, download the
script from the email sent to you, and call our Skype phone number from your
phone or Skype account read the script into the voicemail. We then receive
and score your assessment, and send your results back to you within 5 days of
receiving your message. We listen for every sound of American English as well
as syllable stress. It is the perfect place to start for anybody who seriously
wants to improve his or her English pronunciation.
You can learn more about purchasing the assessment or any other learning
material, as well as view lots of free pronunciation lessons, the forums, and
the transcripts for all of our podcasts at www.pronuncian.com (p-r-o-n-u-n-ci-a-n.com).
That's all for today, everyone. You can expect the next video podcast in 2
weeks. Next week I'm planning to have a regular, audio-only show.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.

Thanks for listening!

Bye-bye.

#44: letter x pronunciations

While "ks" is the more common, "gz" is also an x pronunciation

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 44th
episode.
Today's topic is about the x sound, and is taken directly from the Pronuncian
forums. I want to thank Ollie22 in California for starting this topic,
and Alberto in New York for adding a comment to it. If you've never gone and
looked at the forums, go to Pronuncian forums. Check them out, read the
topics, start a topic of your own, or add to an ongoing topic. It is all
absolutely free.
I thought Ollie22's question was so interesting, that I decided to do a little
more research on the letter. The letter x is an odd little letter. Because the
letter represents two sounds (usually k+s), whereas most letters in English
represent only one sound at a time, x has caught the attention of many
famous people of America's past, all the way back to the birth of the country
itself. Benjamin Franklin, one of our forefathers, suggested removing the
letter from the alphabet. It wasn't just the x that bothered him, though; he
also wanted to get rid of c, j, q, w, and y, since they can all be represented
by other letters.
Literary great Mark Twain also had issues with the letter x. He suggested, in
satire, that we get rid of x, and then reintroduce it to represent the th sound,
so that sound could be represented by a single letter. I guess the x was
supposed to represent both the voiced and unvoiced th sound, but I don't
know for sure. Mr. Twain didn't get into that much detail.
Perhaps the best-known name in linguistics regarding English for non-native
speakers is Noah Webster, the original creator of the great Webster's
Dictionary. Webster was all about spelling reform, and did do a number of
things to make English spelling simpler. Unfortunately, his solutions created
new confusions, because British English did not follow along. That is the
reason for those differences in spelling between British and American spelling.
Even Webster couldn't get rid of the letter x, and so we still have it to this
day.
Most ESL teachers teach their students the same thing we were taught as
children in the United States, that the letter x is said as (ks), or the k
sound plus the s sound, as in the word "box". Some of you out there have
noticed that this is not always true, though, and so Ollie22 decided to find out
what the rule is for when the x is pronounced as (gz) or g sound + z sound, as
in the words exam and exaggerate.

First, there is this rule of thumb from Alberto: x is pronounced ks whenever x

is between a vowel and a consonant. This is very much true. If the x isn't
followed by a vowel, ks is going to be the way to say it. Alberto gave the
examples of the words "excuse" and "experience".
Before I tell you which set of sounds to say, k+s or g+z, I want to talk about
how to say these sounds next to each other. The k sound and g sound are both
stops, meaning we stop the air from exiting the mouth for a little bit of time,
then let the sound go with a little puff. The s sound and z sound are both
fricatives, meaning the sound is made with air smoothly exiting the mouth.
When we say a stop sound before a continuous consonant, such as a fricative,
the air gets stopped for the first sound, and the second sound begins as soon
as the air is released. Notice how this happens for the k+s sound and the g+z
sound. I'll say both sets of sounds so you can hear how the sounds link
together:
(k+s)
(g+z)
I'll say them again so you can repeat after me.
(k+s)
(g+z)
Listen to a word with a k+s sound and a g+z sound.
k+s: Except
g+z: Example
So when do we say k+s and when do we say g+z? There are two parts: first,
the stressed syllable of the word must begin immediately after the letter x
AND secondly, the x must be followed by a vowel. Then the x is pronounced as
a g sound plus z sound. The trick there is that the syllable following the x
must be stressed for it to work.
Let me repeat the rule: When the stressed syllable begins immediately after
the letter x AND the x is followed by a vowel sound, the x is pronounced as a g
sound plus z sound.
An example is the word "example". Do you hear the g+z: example.
Let's look at some other examples of the rule at work as well as a few
exceptions. Because it is English, there are always exceptions.
The following words are all pronounced with the letter x as g+z. Please repeat
them after me, as long as you are in a somewhat private place.
ex-AM-ine
ex-EC-u-tive
ex-HAUST (there is no h sound)
anx-I-e-ty

aux-IL-ia-ry
ex-ACT
ex-OT-ic
Next are three exceptions to the rule. These words are pronounced as g+z,
even though the word stress would not dictate it.
EX-it
ex-is-TEN-tial
EX-ile
There you go everyone. If you were always pronouncing the x as k+s, now you
know you need to be careful with this letter, it has multiple pronunciations.
You can find the entire dialog about the x sounds on the forums at
www.pronuncian.com/forums, or click the Forum link from the Pronuncian
homepage. You can also go to Pronuncian to see lots of free pronunciation
lessons and the transcripts for all of our podcasts.
That's all for today, everyone. You can expect the next video podcast next
week. I'll also upload an audio-only version for those of you who don't have
video options on your MP3 players.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening!
Bye-bye.

#45: VIDEO long e and short e

Hi everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's 45th American

English Pronunciation Podcast, and our second video podcast. My name is
Mandy.
I want to keep this episode considerably shorter than the last video podcast,
so all I'm going to say about this show is that it is a portion of our full video
lesson that is available to Pronuncian subscribers.
I hope you enjoy learning about the spelling and pronunciation of the long e
and short e in American English.
The long e sounds like (long e).
Repeat after me.
(long e), (long e).
To create this sound, the place the middle of the tongue blade very close to
the roof of the mouth, right in the flat area at the top of the inside of the
mouth. The long e sound places the tongue closer to the top of the inside of
the mouth than any other sound. Listen to the sound again.
(long e), (long e)
The lips can be relaxed for this sound. Some pronunciation guides say that the
lips should be spread wide at the edges, but it isn't really true. I can have
relaxed lips, and still say the sound perfectly. In order to speak in a relaxed
way, focus on the inside of your mouth. Very few sounds are distinguished
from the outside.
Repeat the sound again.
(long e), (long e)
The key word for the long e sound is keep. Can you hear the long e sound
(long e) in keep?
Compare the long e (long e) with the sound of the short e (short e).
The key word for the short e is bed. Can you hear the short e sound (short e)
in bed?
The short e sound is one of the most relaxed sounds in American English. The
tongue is soft, and placed right in the middle of the mouth. It is not up high,
it is not down low, it is just relaxed. The lips should also be relaxed for this
sound.
(short e, short e)

Repeat after me.

(short e, short e)
I'm going to say some minimal pairs for the long e and short e sounds. The
only difference in these words is the vowel sound. I'll say the word with
the long efirst, then the short e. With these two sounds, the long e takes
more time to say than the short e. That is not true of all pairs between long
and short vowels, but it is with these. The word with the long e should take
slightly more time to say than the word with the short e.
feel, fell
sweet, sweat
bead, bed
These pairs show two different long e spellings and two different short
espellings. One spelling, the ea spelling, can be pronounced as long e or short
e, although it is more commonly the long e. long e has two more spellings as
well, the ie-consonant-e spelling and the -y ending.
Let's explore all four long e spellings. The first two long e words feel f-e-e-l,
and sweet s-w-e-e-t demonstrate one of the most standard long e spelling
rules. The letters e-e are usually pronounced as a long e.
Here are some more examples of the ee spelling for the long e sound:
free f-r-e-e
keep k-e-e-p
seem s-e-e-m
exceed e-x-c-e-e-d
Our next long e spelling is e-a. The ea spelling is tricky because it can
represent both the long e and short e sound. It is more likely to be a long
e sound, so it is a good idea to try that pronunciation first. Remember, don't
try to say two different vowel sounds just because there are two vowels
written there. There is only one sound, and that sound can be the long
e or short e sound.
Here are some examples of words with the long e sound because of the ea
spelling:
dream d-r-e-a-m
please p-l-e-a-s-e
speak s-p-e-a-k
each e-a-c-h
We'll talk about the ea spelling for the short e pronunciation in a little while.
The third common spelling for the long e sound is the -y ending. This spelling
can have two different pronunciations the long e and the long i. The long i

pronunciation is actually more common than the long e. Right now, however,
we'll only talk about the long e pronunciation.
Here are some examples of words that end in the letter y and the long
e sound:
marry m-a-r-r-y
simply s-i-m-p-l-y
pony p-o-n-y
empty e-m-p-t-y
There is a fourth spelling for the long e sound that is not hugely common, but
worth mentioning, the ie-consonant-e spelling. This is similar to the typical
long vowel due to the vowel-consonant-e spelling. When the letters ie are
followed by a single consonant, and then the letter e, the first vowel is said
as a long e. The letter e after the consonant is silent.
Here are some examples of words pronounced with a long e because of the ieconsonant-e spelling.
piece p-i-e-c-e
achieve a-c-h-i-e-v-e
siege s-e-i-g-e
premiere p-r-e-m-i-e-r-e
Those are the four most common spellings for the long e sound. Let's review.
ee: keep
ea: dream
-y ending: any
ie-consonant-e piece
All of those spellings sound exactly the same, long e (long e).
The short e, like most short vowels, has easier spelling rules. The most
common rule is the consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC rule. When a single
vowel is between two consonants, it is said as a short vowel sound. This rule is
also true if the word begins with a single vowel, followed by a consonant.
Listen for the short e sound (short e) in each of these words. These examples
all follow the CVC rule.
bed b-e-d
yes y-e-s
end e-n-d
dress d-r-e-s-s
The word r-e-a-d quickly reminds us that there is another spelling for
the short e sound, the ea spelling. The word can be pronounced read, or read,
depending on context. Remember, the ea spelling represents both the long
e sound and the short e sound, so be careful with it.

Here are some examples of the short e sound due to the ea spelling.
sweat s-w-e-a-t
bread b-r-e-a-d
heaven h-e-a-v-e-n
threat t-h-r-e-a-t
There you go everyone. If you want to see the entire lesson and have access
to online exercises and quizzes that accompany this video, go to
www.proununcian.com/join. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital
publication.
Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#46: th+r=difficult sound combination combination

The unvoiced th sound is difficult, the r sound is difficult, together they are
even more difficult
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 46th
episode.
I hope you enjoyed last week's video podcast about the long e and short e
sounds. I'm going to try to publish the next video podcast in the middle of
February.
I also want to apologize that this podcast is late this week. Because the video
podcasts were so popular, I used up my bandwidth for January, and I had to
push this show back until February, when my bandwidth allocation was reset.
That means, if I want to do more than 2 video podcasts every month, that I
need to start another campaign for listeners to financially support this show.
Anything you purchase from Pronuncian.com, and especially your site
subscriptions, are what keep this podcast coming to you every week.
Today's podcast is about a combination of sounds that are especially difficult
for many non-native speakers, the unvoiced thsound, followed by an r sound,
as in the word three. Three.
Interestingly, it is only the unvoiced th that gets followed by and r sound,
never the voiced th, at least never in commonly said words in English.
It isn't surprising that this sound combination is so difficult; the unvoiced
th sound or r sound alone cause problems for many non-native speakers. When
they occur right next to each other, the level of difficulty is multiplied.
Let's look at how to successfully say this combination by practicing with the
word three. Both the unvoiced th and the r sound are continuous consonants,
meaning the sounds can be said for a long time, not like a t sound or d sound,
which can only be said one time. Let's compare the continuous unvoiced
th and r sound to the discontinuous t sound and d sound. I'll say all four
sounds in a row. unvoiced th (unvoiced th), r sound (r sound), t sound (t
sound), d sound (d sound). Notice how I can hold the th sound and r sound for
a long time. (unvoiced th, r sound). Because I can hold those sounds like that,
I can also blend them one into the next when they are near each other.
(unvoiced th sound plus r sound). Three.
It takes a lot of tongue movement to get from the unvoiced th into the r
sound. The unvoiced th happens at the front of our mouth, with our tongue
very near the top front teeth. Air gets pushed out the very small opening
between our tongue and our teeth and we get this sound (unvoiced th).

The r sound happens at the back of our mouth, with our tongue bunched up
near our very back teeth, and, here's the really important part, the tip of our
tongue cannot touch anything. It doesn't really matter where the tip of the
tongue is, as long as it is not touching any other part of the inside of your
mouth. If you touch something, you will create a sound that is similar to the
English l sound. You should be saying this sound (r sound).
So, to get from the unvoiced th sound to the r sound, the tongue needs to
quickly move from the front of the mouth for the th sound, to lifting the back
of the tongue up for the r sound. Listen to the combination (th+r, th+r, th+r).
Now you try it. (th+r).
In common English, this sound combination is most likely to occur at the
beginning of the word, so let's practice a few words. Repeat after me, if you
can.
three
threw
thrill
threat
throw
throat
thread
If you have a Pronuncian subscription, you can find an exercise for the th+r
sound combination when you log in and go to the voiced and unvoiced
th sound lesson, or the r sound lesson. If you want to remember to practice
the exercise again later, click the button that says you would like to review
the material further, and it will show up in your account information page.
Remember, you can keep track of all the exercises you've practiced that way.
Okay, one more time, let's practice those th+r words. Repeat after me.
three
threw
thrill
threat
throw
throat
thread
One other note about blending continuous consonants, it happens the same
whether the sounds are within a single word, or are next to each other, with
one sound at the end of one word, and the next sound at the beginning of the
next word. This is called linking, and there are specific lessons and exercises
for linking continuous consonants, and they have all been recently updated
with audio examples. You will need a Pronuncian subscription for access to

the additional listening exercises, but the lessons are free. I'll add a link to
those lessons on this week's transcripts page.
That's all for today everyone. Remember, you can still always find sound
practice and lots of free lessons, as well as the transcripts for this show, at
www.pronuncian.com.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where
the world comes to learn.

#47: could, should, and would

There is no l sound, and the vowel is the same as the u in the word put.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 47th
episode.
Today I'm going to talk about three words I frequently hear
mispronounced: could, should, and would. It is really the -oul- spelling that
causes these problems. These are the only three words that we say very
frequently that have the -oul- spelling, so it is good to give extra attention to
those words. First, there is no l sound in any of those words. The Online
Etymology Dictionary, which I will link to with these transcripts, says that
the l was added to the spelling of these words in the 16th century, though it
does not say why it was added. All that is truly important for you to know is
that you shouldn't say the l in those words, ever, no matter what.
Besides the trouble that the l causes, the vowel sound in these words can be
tricky, too. That vowel sound is the sound of the u in the word put, which is
also the same sound of the o-o in the word look. This vowel sound, the (u as
in put) sound, is not pronounced correctly by many of my students at Seattle
Learning Academy. Podcast episode 10 was all about the u as in put sound,
and the sound that many non-native speakers accidentally replace it with,
the oo sound, as in the word soon. Listen to the difference between the u as
in put sound and the oo sound. I'm going to compare it with two words that
are both spelled oo, l-o-o-k and s-o-o-n, look, soon. Those are different vowel
sounds. Look, soon.
Listen to the vowel sound in look and could, look, could. Look, could. Can you
hear that those words both have the same vowel sound? It is also the same
sound in the word put. Look, could, put. They are all the same, look, could,
put.
Now, can you tell that the vowel sound is different than the vowel sound in
the word soon? Look, could, put, soon. The first three words all have the
same vowel sound, and the vowel in the fourth is different. Listen
again. Look, could, put, soon. Be careful that you don't confuse the u as in
put and the oo sound of the word soon. If you want to review it more fully, go
back and listen to episode 10 again.
Let's get back to the three specific words we are studying today. Listen to the
words could, should, and would, as I say them slowly.
Could (slow)
Should (slow)
Would (slow)

Hear the initial consonant sound, the (u as in put) sound, and the final d
sound. Remember, there is absolutely no l sound in any of these words.
I'll say them at a regular speed, and leave time for you to repeat after me.
Could
Should
Would
One more time.
Could
Should
Would
If you have a pronuncian subscription, there are two different listening
exercises for the u as in put sound, since it causes so much trouble. I'll link to
the lesson, which is available to everybody, from the transcript for this page.
If you have a subscription, be sure to be logged in when you go to the lesson
so the additional exercises show up at the bottom of the page.
Speaking of subscriptions, I want to thank those of you who have subscribed to
Pronuncian or made a purchase from the website. Those purchases are what
keep Pronuncian running. Because the site has had an increase in traffic, we
are using more bandwidth, and we need to pay for that bandwidth. The
intention is to always keep plenty of free content available to everyone, and
add extra learning content for the people who help us support the site
financially. So thank you all very, very much.
Another way you can support this site is to write an iTunes review. Those
reviews help new listeners find the podcast, which in turn, helps us out. So,
thank you also to the people who have written reviews.
You can find the transcripts for this episode, where I'll also include links to
the sound practice, u as in put sound lessons, and the Online Etymology
Dictionary.
That's all for today everybody. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy
digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening.
Bye-bye.

#48: talk and walk and other -alk words

There is no l sound, and the vowel is the aw sound.

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 48th
episode.
Last week, I talked about the fact that there is no l sound in could, would,
and should. I decided to continue along that line this week, and tell you that
there is also no l sound in the words walk and talk, or any other word that
ends in -alk for that matter.
The words could, should, and would have something else in common
with walk and talk, an odd vowel sound. No, it isn't the same vowel sound in
both sets of words, but they both have less understood vowel sounds.
Remember, could, should, and would have the u as in put sound. (u as in
put) Walk and talk have the aw sound. I call it the aw sound because it is
often spelled that way, as in the words awful, dawn, and draw. This sound
can be confusing because it has a lot of common spellings. It is the vowel
sound in the word dog, which is obviously spelled with an o, and is also
commonly spelled au, as intaught and cause. I'll get to all of the aw sound's
spellings when I do the video for that sound in a few weeks.
For now, I want to make sure you know how to say this sound. It sounds like
this (aw sound, aw sound). Many vowel sounds we can't see from outside out
mouth, this one we can. First, the lips are made rounded. They don't get
closed like the oo sound, the sound in soon, but they are made round and
open. Also, our jaw opens a bit for this sound. A lot of things are happening
inside our mouth as well. The middle and tip of the tongue are pushed low in
the mouth, and the back of the tongue raises and pushes back. So, you can
tell now why this sound is so hard to say correctly, you need to be thinking
about every part of your mouth for this sound. Again it sounds like this: (aw
sound)
I'll explain how to pronounce again. The lips are open and rounded, the jaw
opens, the middle area and tip of the tongue are pushed low, and the back of
the tongue is raised and pushed back. Got it? Let's try it, repeat after me. (aw
sound, aw sound)
Now, let's get back to the words talk and walk. First, remember, there is no l
sound is words that end in -alk, ever. Don't try to sneak one in. It isn't there. I
often hear my students say the l sound really softly. What they tell me is that
they don't hear it in native English speakers, but they didn't trust that the
native speaker wasn't saying it, so they add it in really quickly and quietly,
just in case it is supposed to be there. Trust your ear on this one. We really
aren't saying the l.

Let's practice some words that end in -alk. Practice saying the aw sound, and
if you know you add the l sound, now it the time to break that habit, and take
it back out again.
Please, repeat after me.
talk
walk
chalk
balk
And I'm sorry to say everyone, it is really only those four words you are likely
to ever come across the end in -alk. And you may rarely, if ever, need to
say chalk or balk. However, walk and talk are very, very high-frequency
words. You want to practice saying them correctly just because you probably
say them so often.
Also, because I don't want to create confusion, I said it is words that end in alk. I mean the root words. If I add an -s or -edto these words for grammatical
purposes, the sound of the root word is the same, we just add the extra
ending.
Let's practice the words talk, walk, chalk, and balk with an -s ending. These
words end in the k sound, which is an unvoiced sound, so the s will sound like
an s. Here we go, repeat after me.
talks
walks
chalks
balks
And, here is the -ed ending. Because these words end in an unvoiced sound,
the -ed will end sound like a t sound. Again, repeat after me.
talked
walked
chalked
balked
If you want to review the rules for the -s ending, review podcast episode 3.
You can review the -ed ending rules in podcast episode 19, and you can
review the aw sound in podcast episode 11.
I'll link to those episodes and the free online lessons related to those topics
with this week's transcripts, which you can find at www.pronuncian.com.
I really want to thank those of you who have subscribed to Pronuncian or
made a purchase from the website. Those purchases keep this podcast coming
to you every week, and are now essential to the upkeep of Pronuncian's

programming and the addition of new content. So, thank you, thank you,
thank you. Pronuncian support and I rely on you, our listeners and users, to
show us how you value the site by financially supporting it.
Also, don't forget to check out the forums on Pronuncian. Gabriel, a Brazilian
listener who lives in New Zealand, asked a question specific to Portuguese.
You are also welcome to ask similar questions about your specific language, or
more broad English questions, as well as post comments and make suggestions
for the site and podcasts. Thanks, Gabriel, for your question.
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.

#49: American English pronunciation of long i and short i sounds

Hi everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's 49th American

English Pronunciation Podcast, and our third video podcast. My name is
Mandy.
Today's show is taken from Video Lesson 3, which is available in its entirety to
Pronuncian subscribers. You can find it by joining Pronuncian, logging in, and
going to the materials page.
The show today is about the long i and short i sounds. We'll learn how to
pronounce and spell both of these sounds, but I don't want to just compare
them with each other. The short i causes so many pronuncian problems that I
am going to continue the study of that sound in another video podcast in two
weeks. In that show, I'll compare the short i with the short e and long e,
which is where I hear the most problems. If you can't wait to hear that
portion, subscribe to Pronuncian. Today's video podcast and the next video
podcast are both part of the third video lesson, so, you'll get the practice
before everyone else!
You'll also get the MP3 minimal pairs practice and quizzes for all of these
sounds. It's a good deal.
Now, let's compare the long i and short i pronunciation and spelling.
The long i sounds like (long i). If you listen very carefully to the pronunciation
of this sound, you will hear a very brief y sound at the end of it.
(long i), (long i).
The long a is a two-sound vowel. To create this sound, begin with your tongue
in the middle of your mouth, not too low, not too high. Then the tongue
moves up so that the center of the tongue is very close to the roof of your
mouth, in the same position as the long e. Listen to the sound again.
(long i), (long i)
The key word for the long i sound is bike. Can you hear the long i sound (long
i) in bike?
Compare the long i (long i) with the sound of the short i (short i).
The key word for the short i is sit. Can you hear the short i sound (short i)
insit?
The short i sound is a sound that requires only a slight movement in the vocal
tract. Then the blade of your tongue should be in the middle to high area
inside your mouth. It will be higher than the short e, but much lower than
the long e. Your lips should remain relaxed during this sound. Listen to the
sound again.

(short i, short i)
I'm going to say some minimal pairs for the long i and short i sound. The only
difference in these words is the vowel sound. I'll say the word with the long
ifirst, then the short i. With these two sounds, the long i does take more time
to say than the short i. That is not true of all pairs between long and short
vowels, but it is with these, as well as the long and short e sound. The word
with the long i should take slightly more time to say than the word with
theshort i.
file, fill
mice, miss
fight, fit
night, knit
These examples show two different spellings for the long i sound, and one
spelling for the short i sound. There are two more spellings for the long
isound, ie, and the -y ending.
The first word was file, f-i-l-e. The word file demonstrates one of the
standard long vowel spelling rules: the vowel-consonant-e rule.
The vowel-consonant-e rule says that when a single vowel is followed by a
single consonant, and then the letter e, the first vowel is said as a long vowel.
The letter e in the vowel-consonant-e rule is silent.
Our key word for long i is bike, b-i-k-e, the i is said as a long i, and the e is
silent, bike. I do not say bike-uh. I don't need to make any sound at all for
the eat the end of the word. The only job of that e is to make sure I know
that the iis long.
Here are some more examples of the vowel-consonant-e rule for the long
ispelling
hide, h-i-d-e, the i is said as a long i, and the e is silent
mice, m-i-c-e, the i is said as a long i, and the e is silent
stripe, s-t-r-i-p-e, the i is said as a long i, and the e is silent
The vowel-consonant-e rule works for all the long vowel sounds, although it is
rarely used for the long e sound.
The second long i spelling is much less common that the first; it is the ighspelling. The letters gh can make vowel sounds do strange things, and
lesson 1 showed that the eigh spelling is often pronounced with a long a. Take
the e off, and we have -igh, and we change the pronunciation to a long i.
Here are some more examples of words with the long i sound because of
theigh spelling:
night n-i-g-h-t
bright b-r-i-g-h-t

light l-i-g-h-t
sight s-i-g-h-t
If you've been noticing that these words all end in a t, you're right, the igh
spelling for the long i sound is usually followed by the letter t. It is possible to
not have any letter after the igh, also, as in the words:
high h-i-g-h
thigh t-h-i-g-h
sigh, sigh
The third common spelling for the long i sound is the -y ending. The -y ending
can also be pronounced with the long e sound, so be careful with it.
Let's look at some words that end in the letter y and the long i sound:
why, w-h-y
fly f-l-y
apply, a-p-p-l-y
satisfy s-a-t-i-s-f-y
Let's review the three most common spellings for the long i sound. Let's
review.
a-consonant-e: bike
igh: night
-y ending: fly
All of those spellings sound exactly the same, long i (long i).
The short i sound also has only one rule to remember for the short a sound,
theconsonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC rule. It says that when a single vowel
is between two consonants, it is said as a short vowel sound. This rule is also
true if the word begins with a single vowel, followed by a consonant. Don't
forget, if the second consonant is followed by an e, the vowel-consonante rule takes over!
Listen for the short i sound (short i) in each of those words. All of these words
follow the CVC rule.
it, i-t
will, w-i-l-l
gift g-i-f-t
dinner, d-i-n-n-e-r
listen l-i-s-t-e-n
There you go everyone. If you want to see the entire lesson and have access
to online exercises and quizzes that accompany this video, go to
www.proununcian.com/join. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital
publication.
Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.

Bye-bye.

#50: American English pronunciation of words with a silent t

There is no t sound in words like listen and whistle.

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 50th
episode.
I hope you enjoyed last week's video podcast about the long i and short
i sounds. Next week I'll do another video podcast that compares the short i to
the short e and long e. I hear so many people who cannot say the short
i properly, that I think it is well worth the time to compare those three
similar sounds. Plus, I really want to focus on what these sounds look like
from outside the mouth, so I want you to be able to see me say these sounds.
Today, since I'm getting good feedback from people saying that you're
enjoying these topics, I'm going to continue talking about words that have
unusual silent letters. You can send me your thoughts about past or future
shows as well. Send comments to podcast@pronuncian.com, or you can also
post them on the forums on the Pronuncian website.
Today's topic is the silent t in words like listen and whistle. That's right, those
t's are absolutely silent. Don't say them. There are two different spelling
patterns here to be aware of, the -sten pattern, as in the word listen, and
the -stlepattern, as in the word whistle. Both of those patterns are
pronounced with no t sound.
Let's look first at the word listen. Listen to the word, listen. You are not
hearing lisTen. What other words follow this pattern? Well, there aren't a lot
of them, but enough for me to call it a rule.
Here are the words that end in the spelling -sten; they all have a silent t:
listen
moisten
fasten
glisten
I know, it isn't very many words. But, if you happen to be an engineer, you
may say the word fasten or fastener quite often. And we all need the
word listen.
Now, for the -stle spelling, as in the word whistle. Words in this category
include:
whistle
castle
hustle

nestle
rustle
bustle
gristle
Again, for some of you, those words don't matter very often, but that doesn't
mean we shouldn't learn the rule, and maybe some interesting vocabulary as
well. It is important to start noticing spelling patterns and how the
pronunciation matches. That is how you take control of your own English
learning. The more aware you are, the faster you'll notice these weird silent
letters. I want to make you as aware as possible.
Let's practice saying the words in those lists again, so you can become more
familiar with them.
listen
moisten
fasten
glisten
whistle
castle
hustle
nestle
rustle
bustle
gristle
I liked adding the inflectional suffixes (those are suffixes like the -ed and -s
ending) to the words 2 weeks ago for a little extra practice, so I'm going to do
that again. All of the words we've practiced today end in either an n sound or
an l sound, which are voiced sounds, so the s, when added to these words,
will sound like a z sound. For a review of this concept, go all the way back
and listen to episode 3 again.
Here we go, with an added -s ending.
listens
moistens
fastens
glistens
whistles
castles
hustles
nestles
rustles
bustles
gristles

Now, let's add the -ed ending to the verbs. I can add an s to all of the words
above because I can either make the nouns plural, or conjugate the verbs in
the third-person singular. However, I can only add the -ed ending to verbs, so
this list will be shorter. Again, all of the words end in a voiced sound, so the ed ending will be pronounced as a d sound. Review episode 19 for a review of
this concept.
Here we go, with an added -ed ending.
listened
moistened
fastened
glistened
whistled
hustled
nestled
rustled
bustled
There you go, two new rules to add to your list. Words that end in -sten or stle are pronounced without a t sound.
I'm going to be talking about how to link words that end in -ed to the word
that follows it in two weeks. I'm working on my next pronunciation book,
which will focus on the rhythm and intonation of English, so we're going to
have some fun new podcast topics coming up. I'll mix them in with the videos.
I also want to mention that Seattle Learning Academy has a Pronunciation
intensive class coming up in April. You get a discount for registering for the
class before March 15. So if you are in the Seattle area, or would like a visit to
the Seattle are, and you want an intense, 3-day class covering all the sounds
and syllable stress rules of English, you should check this class out. Go to
www.seattlelearning.com for more information.
I want to thank those of you who have subscribed to Pronuncian or made a
purchase from the site, or have added an iTunes review. We really rely on the
support of you, our listeners and site users, to be able to keep adding new
educational content to Pronuncian, and to be able to continue to create and
publish these podcasts. If you value this service, please, help us support it.
That's all for today everyone. Please continue your comments and forum
posts, and please, keep on learning.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning
Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#51: American English pronunciation comparison of long e, short e and short i sounds

Hi everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's 51st American

English Pronunciation Podcast, and our fourth video podcast. My name is
Mandy.
The show today is about comparing the short i sounds the short e and long e,
which is where I hear tons of problems. This show is taken from Video Lesson
3, which is available in its entirety to Pronuncian subscribers. You can see it
by joining Pronuncian, logging in, and going to the materials page. You'll also
get the MP3 minimal pairs practice and quizzes for all of these sounds. It's a
good deal.
Today we're going to watch a short portion of the video, which explains what
is happening inside the mouth during these sounds, then I'm going to come
back to the screen and read some minimal sets. I want you to see me read
these sets so you can see that the lips are NOT what set these sounds apart.
Our lips to not need to be tight and pulled apart at the corners during the
long e sound. The long e sounds like this (long e). Notice that my lips are
relaxed. I do NOT need to say it like this (tight long e). I can, and I will get
the same sound, but, because it is so much more mouth movement, it is
actually much harder to do. The more you need to move your mouth to create
a sound, the less likely you are to do it. These sounds are created inside the
mouth, not on the outside.
Let's watch.
I'm going to compare the long e, short i, and short e sound because all of
these sounds happen with the placement of the tongue in the middle of the
mouth. The long e has the tongue the highest, then it lowers slightly for
the short i, then lowers a little more for the short e. Listen to all three
sounds, long e,short i, then short e.
(long e, short i, short e)
Say those sounds with me, noticing your tongue placement. All three sounds
have relaxed lips.
(long e, short i, short e)
Now I'm going to say some minimal sets of these sounds. I'll say the short e,
which is the lowest tongue position, then the short i, which is in the middle,
then the long e, which is the highest. I'll give you time to repeat after me. Try
for really good accuracy in these sounds.
bed bid bead
check chick cheek
dead did deed
etch itch each

fell fill feel

head hid he'd
net knit neat
peck pick peak
red rid read
wet wit wheat
Now you're going to hear and be able to repeat the list again without watching
my mouth. Remember, keep your lips relaxed. Focus on the movement of the
tongue inside the mouth. The next video podcast will be about the long and
short o sounds, and THEN you'll need to focus on the outside of the mouth,
but not today.
Good luck!
Now let's practice some minimal sets for these three sounds. I will say all
three, then pause for you to repeat the set.
bed bid bead
check chick cheek
dead did deed
etch itch each
fell fill feel
head hid he'd
net knit neat
peck pick peak
red rid read
wet wit wheat
There you go everyone. If you want to see the entire lesson and have access
to online exercises and quizzes that accompany this video, go to
www.proununcian.com/join. The biggest benefit of the quiz is that you really
test if you can hear these sounds accurately. If you can't hear it, you will
never be able to tell if you are saying it correctly. Listening comprehension is
SO important for language production!
Don't forget, if you're interested in attending the upcoming Pronunciation 1
course intensive in Seattle, WA, in April, go to www.seattlelearning.com for
more information. You get a discount for registering before March 15, so
check it out now!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy Digital publication. Seattle
Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#52: Linking from the -ed ending in American English pronunciation

Linking from the -ed ending is important for listening comprehension and
fluency.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 52nd
episode.
Today I am marking a change in the content I will be teaching in the audio
podcasts. The video podcasts will continue working their way through the
vowels, then the consonants. The audio podcasts, however, are going to start
a focus on the rhythm of English. I've been working on this content for a while
now, and in April you will be able to pre-order the book about rhythm and
intonation of American English pronunciation. The book is scheduled for
release in mid-May.
I want to give a special shout-out to a Pronunican user named Leonardo today.
Leonardo has been quite active on Pronuncian and has been doing me a big
favor by letting me know when he finds errors on the site. We have a very
small staff at Pronuncian, and we really do rely on users to help us keep
things clean and accurate. Since Leonardo has helped us out few times now,
we've decided that we are going to send him a free copy of the new Rhythm
ebook when it comes out in May. Congratulations Leonardo. Now, I told
Loenoardo that I'd mention his name today, but I didn't tell him he'd get a free
ebook. So, I hope that is a fun little surprise for you, Leonardo.
Also, I want to mention quickly, listen all the way to the end of this show for
a 5 dollar coupon code for Pronuncian products.
Today I am going to begin a more detailed discussion about linking than the
earlier podcasts got into. This is a rather complicated and advanced lesson. If
you are a new listener you may want to go to the transcripts page and find
lessons related to this lesson to help you understand today's concepts. You
may also want to read the transcripts along with this show to help you
understand. Transcripts can be found at www.pronuncian.com.
Let's begin. Linking is why it seems like native speakers are speaking so
quickly. For some of you, linking is what still makes understanding spoken
English very difficult. Linking is how the end of one words flows into the
beginning of the next word. I'll say that again.
Linking is how the end of one word flows into the beginning of the next
word.
For you, as non-native speakers, being able to link fluidly will allow your
listeners to perceive you as being more fluent, even if your vocabulary and

grammar are the same because of the more accurate rhythm your speech will
acquire.
The topic today is how to link the -ed ending to the word that follows it. So
many of my students do not say the -ed endings of words, and most of them
tell me that they do not perceive that native speakers are saying it either.
Native speakers generally stay pretty grammatically correct with our -ed
endings, so it isn't that we aren't saying them, it is that we link them so
fluidly into the word that follows, that is can be hard to hear.
For instance, can you hear the difference between:
I call them
and
I called them
I'll say those both again.
I call them
I called them
The first sentence is in the grammatical simple present. I - call - them. As in "I
call them every Saturday morning." I call them.
The second sentence is in the grammatical simple past. I - called - them. As in
"I called them last Saturday, but they weren't home. I called them.
Now, if you need a review of when the -ed ending sounds like a d sound, t
sound, or the id sound, go back and listed to Episode 19.
For this podcast, I'm going to talk about what makes the -ed ending so hard to
hear. It has to do with the type of sound thed sound is. It is a discontinuous
consonant, specifically, it is a stop sound. The t sound is also a discontinuous
consonant, and a stop sound. That is an important detail when it comes to
linking.
Stop sounds are called stop sounds because, to create them, we stop all the
air from leaving our mouth, and then release it with a little puff of air. Stop
sounds and affricate sounds both, for a very, very short amount of time, stop
the air. We call them discontinuous consonants because they are different at
the beginning of the sound than they are at the end. This is different from a
continuous consonant, like an unvoiced th sound, which I can say for a long
time (held unvoiced th).
Are you still with me? This really is important for fluid speech. We have two
major categories of consonant sounds: discontinuous consonants and
continuous consonants. Sounds like the d sound and t sound are discontinuous
consonants (d sound, t sound), sounds like th and sh and f and v are
continuous consonants. (unvoiced th, sh sound, f sound, v sound)

Here's why this is important.

When I want to link a discontinuous consonant to a continuous consonant or a
vowel sound the puff of air at the end of the first sound gets taken over by
the sound that follows it.
So, in our phrase "called them" the d sound of the word "called" was stopped
by my tongue, but when I released the d sound, the th sound of the word
them immediately began. The d sound was not fully said. The air was stopped
like a d sound, but released as a th sound.
Listen closely
called_them
If I were to fully release the d sound instead of blending it to the th sound, it
would have sounded like this:
called them
instead of like this:
called_them
Did you hear how it almost sounded like an extra vowel was between the
words when I fully said the d sound? I'll say it again.
called them
To most of you, it would have sounded much clearer. It would have been
easier to understand. Unfortunately, however, we don't break the words apart
like that.
Here's another example, this time with an -ed ending that ends in a t sound,
the word washed. Don't forget, because thesh sound is unvoiced, the -ed will
sound like a t sound.
I'm going to say a sentence in the simple present, then the simple past. Listen
carefully.
We wash my car.
We washed my car.
Could you hear that teeny-tiny t sound in the second sentence? I'll say both
sentences again.
We wash my car.
We washed my car.
It is hard to hear because the air at the end of the t sound gets blended with
the m sound of the word my.

We washed my car.
It isn't just the t sound and d sound of the -ed ending that get linked to the
words that follow in this way. All stops link like this.
Here is an example with the word don't
Don't_think
here's another link from a t sound
aren't saying
And here's a sentence:
Don't think we aren't saying the t sound.
Let's practice some sentences with the -ed ending. All of these sentences will
be in the simple past. If you are reading the transcripts, the other links from
discontinuous consonants are also marked. Repeat after me if you can.
We asked_my friend_for a ride_home.
Leroy wondered_if she'd_like some chocolate.
Carry spilled_the cup_of milk_on the floor.
Everybody looked_for the lost_puppy.
It sounded_like_a good_idea.
There are a number of linking lessons that have been added to
Pronuncian.com lately. If you haven't checked out that section of the website
lately, I'd encourage you to go look at it.
Also, people who have subscribed have additional linking practice exercises
available to them. Those people are able to mark listening exercises that have
been practiced, or that they would like to go back and practice again.
Subscribers also have access to the new -ed ending quiz AND the -ed
ending linking quiz that was recently created. It can be found as a link on the
bottom of the -ed ending lesson as well as at the bottom of the linking
discontinuous consonants lesson. I'll link to those lessons from this transcript
page.
To join pronuncian, go to www.pronuncian.com/join.
Your purchases and subscriptions are what keep Pronuncian running and allow
me to spend the time on these podcasts each week. Your financial support is
appreciated, and necessary.
Also, I want to mention that you will be able to sign up for the Pronuncian
enewsletter soon from Pronuncian. You will find out lessons that have been
added or revised, as well as get the coupon code for the month. This month's
coupon code went out to people who had signed up through

seattlelearning.com. But, since I love all of my listeners, I'm going to give you
all access to a coupon code for the month of March. So, use coupon code
"March9" M-a-r-c-h, then the number 9, as in the current month, for 5 dollars
off any pronuncian product or subscription, or even Seattle Learning Academy
classes. So, keep your eyes open for the newsletter sign-up, and don't miss
out on valuable savings.
That's all for today, everyone. Whew, I know this was a long, and kind of
complicated show. Go to Pronuncian to view the transcripts and free lessons if
this was a tough concept for you. Be bold, and practice your linking!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where
the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening.
Bye-bye.

#53: Phrasal verb sentence stress in American English pronunciation

Typical sentence stress changes when phrasal verbs are involved.

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 53rd
episode.
I want to send a welcome to all the new listeners from Brazil today! I have
had a sudden jump in Brazilian listeners due to a link from a prominent
English learning website there. I've gotten emails from a few of you this week,
and I want to make sure you all know we have forums on Pronuncian, and that
is a great place to post your questions. That way everyone can learn from
your question!
Today podcast is dealing with the rhythm of English, specifically sentence
stress. Spoken rhythm is primarily created through a pattern of stressed and
unstressed words. I'm sorry, but a bit of grammar is necessary here.
Generally, content words are the stressed words, and function words are
unstressed words. Nouns, main verbs, adjectives, and certain adverbs are
usually content words, the other words, including pronouns, auxiliary verbs,
and prepositions are usually unstressed words.
Before we get started, I want to make sure everyone remembers that verbs
tell us the action of a sentence. In the sentence
Janet swims.
The word swims is the verb, and verbs are considered content words.
In the sentence
I am speaking.
The words am and speaking are verbs. Speaking is the main verb, and am is
the auxiliary verb. In sentences that have a main verb and an auxiliary verb,
main verbs are content words, and auxiliary verbs are function words. The
main verb gives the main information, and the auxiliary verb allows us to use
the main verb in a grammatically correct way.
Prepositions are words that tell the relationship between a noun and another
word.
In the sentence
Janet swims in a lake.
The word in is a preposition. It relates swimming to the place it happened.
Prepositions are usually function words.

In the sentence
I am speaking into a microphone.
The word into is a preposition. It is relating speaking to the microphone.
Besides in and into, other prepositions include the following words:
at
below
under
over
toward
near
on
through
beside
and many more. I hope you get the idea.
We also need to talk about adverbs. Adverbs are words that give additional
information to verbs. They help to describe the activity. In the sentence
Janet swims quickly.
The word quickly is an adverb. It is describing how Janet swims. Other
adverbs include:
over
above
up
down
This list could also be very long. Some adverbs and prepositions look very
similar, and sometimes the same word can be an adverb or a preposition
depending on how it is used in a sentence. For what we will talk about today,
it doesn't matter if the word is technically an adverb or a preposition, so don't
worry about it too much. In fact, we are going to clump prepositions and
adverbs that have this feature into their own group of words called particles.
Now I am going to talk about idioms that happen when a verb gets combined
with a particle. These are called phrasal verbs. Most of you are probably
aware of phrasal verbs, and many of you may hate them for their complexity.
Phrasal verbs can make English comprehension difficult because they have a
different meaning than either word alone. This will be easier to understand
with examples.
To hang up is a phrasal verb. It can mean to put something, such as clothing,
on a hook, or it can mean to end a conversation transmitted over phone or

cellular lines, or even over the Internet. To hang up has nothing to do with
the direction "upward", as in looking up at the clouds. For English rhythm,
while it isn't overly important to be able to tell a preposition form an adverb,
it is important to be able to tell as phrasal verb from a verb the just happens
to be near a preposition or adverb.
Is everyone still with me? Well, if not, I'll link to some other websites from
this episode's transcripts page for more help learning about phrasal verbs.
Learning phrasal verbs is just another part of learning vocabulary, so don't
skip over learning this feature of English.
I want to talk about a peculiar thing that happens when we speak using
phrasal verbs; the particle becomes a stressed word; it behaves like a content
word. If the verb is a small, single-syllable word, often the particle is given
more stress than the verb. This is because of the Rhythm Rule. Remember,
the Rhythm Rule tells us that the stressed words of English happen on regular
beats. Stressing the particle of a phrasal verb and can be easily demonstrated
with the phrasal verb to hang up. Listen to the following sentence.
Juan hung up on me.
Hung was a small, single-syllable word, and the particle up took the stress. I'll
say it again.
Juan hung up on me.
To give up is another phrasal verb with a single-syllable main verb. To give
up means to quit, and the word up will usually become a stressed word in the
sentence.
Don't give up; keep trying.
Here's another example; to hang out means to spend time together casually.
Here it is in a sentence:
Wanna hang out for a while on Sunday?
Did you hear that the word out was stressed, and the word hang was not? I'll
say it again.
Wanna hang out for a while on Sunday?
If the verb of our phrasal verb is more than one syllable, the likelihood of it
being also stressed increases. The verb is still important, but the particle is
more important because of the shift in meaning it causes.
The phrasal verb to carry away mean to lose self-control. Since the
word carry is two syllables, it may also be stressed in spoken English. Here's
an example:

Jane got carried away with making cupcakes and baked one for every student
in the school.
In that sentence, the words carried and away were both stressed. It was easy
to do so because we had the unstressed syllable of the word carry before the
stressed syllable of the word away. Remember, the Rhythm Rule is all about
keeping the beat of the sentence. We need alternating stressed and
unstressed syllables in order to follow it.
Sometimes that can get even more confusing because objects may appear
between the main verb and the particle. An example is the phrase to take
out. If I asked you to take out the trash, I would like you to put it outside. I
can ask you this in a couple of different ways. Listen closely.
Will you take out the trash?
Will you take the trash out?
I the first example, "Will you take out the trash?" the word take is probably
not going to get stressed because it is only one syllable long and occurs next
to the particle "out". I'll say it again.
Will you take out the trash?
In the second example, " Will you take the trash out?" I can easily stress the
word take because it is followed by the wordthe, which is not being stressed.
That makes it easy to still stress the word "out". Listen again.
Will you take the trash out?
Wow, I know that was a lot of complex grammar stuff, and if phrasal verbs are
new to you, this episode will take listening to a few times to get what I am
talking about. You'll also want to go back and listen to earlier episodes on the
subject of sentence stress. I'll link to those episodes from the transcripts for
this episode on Pronuncian.com to make them easier to find. I'll also link to
the free Pronuncian lessons related to this topic. For now, let's practice all
the phrasal verb sentences we heard today. I'll leave time for you to repeat
after me.
Juan hung up on me.
Don't give up; keep trying.
Wanna hang out for a while on Sunday?
Will you take out the trash?
Will you take the trash out?
How did you do? If you find this, and similar topics interesting, you'll be able
to pre-order my new book on the topic of the rhythm of English in a couple of
weeks. The ebook is scheduled for release in mid-May, and you'll find big
savings if you order it before it is released.

That's all for today, everyone. I know this was another long, and kind of
complicated show. Go to Pronuncian.com to view the transcripts and free
lessons if this was a tough concept for you. Be bold, and practice your
sentence stress!
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where
the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening.
Bye-bye.

#55: High pitch words in yes/no questions

Introduction to English intonation and high pitch words in yes/no questions

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 55th
episode.
We are entering a new area in our American English Pronunciation Podcast
today - the world of intonation and pitch, otherwise known as the way
humans can make their voice go up and down.
The words intonation and pitch are very closely related. Intonation is the use
of pitch, just like mathematics is the use of numbers. Now, some people use
these words interchangeably because the world of teaching is usually more
concerned with helping students understand a concept than staying within the
somewhat strict linguistic terminology. I'll use the word intonation more
broadly, and the word pitch to refer specifically to the highness or lowness of
the voice.
The best-known use of intonation is to make a statement into a question.
Listen to the difference between the following sentences:
You drove to work.
You drove to work?
The first sentence, "You drove to work." is a statement, and the second
sentence, "You drove to work?" is a question. Well, I'm sorry to say that the
previous overused example has caused a major oversimplification of the uses
of intonation. I'm hoping to help you understand the very complex aspect of
American English intonation beyond the simple "make a statement into a
question" use.
I hope you're ready to think, because the next few weeks' podcasts are
probably going to challenge your English listening perception, as well as
improve your listening comprehension, and hopefully, improve your own
pronunciation of English.
Let's begin with an introduction to the terminology I use to teach intonation.
Instead of considering all the different aspects of intonation at once, I break
it apart into three categories:
1. pitch words
2. pitch boundaries
3. starting pitches
Today we're only going to talk about pitch words. A pitch words is an
individual word that a speaker chooses to set apart by raising or lowering

their voice on that word. Pitch words convey which word of the sentence is
most important, and how to interpret the importance of that particular word.
Every sentence has at least one pitch word, and some sentences can have
many; it depends on the speaker's style and intention.
I'm going to focus on pitch words in yes/no questions today, just to get you to
realize that it's more than the end of the sentence that carries the meaning in
regard to pitch.
Today I'm only going to talk about high pitch words. The purpose of a high
pitch word is to tell the listener that the word conveys new information and is
the main topic of the sentence. Because of its topic-defining nature, high
pitch words are one of the most common tools for guiding the conversation.
A high pitch word is most detectable because the stressed syllable of that
word is said at a higher pitch than the syllables that surround it. In addition to
the higher pitch, the stressed syllable of that word is usually said louder and
for more time than surrounding words.
So, the main features of a high pitch word are as follows:
it conveys information new to the dialog
it guides the direction of the conversation
the stressed syllable of that word is said at a higher pitch than the
syllables that surround it
the stressed syllable of that word is usually said louder and for more
time than surrounding syllables and word
Now, let's see how to use a high pitch word in a yes/no question.
Say I ask you to following question:
"Did Lilly give you that necklace?"
If Lilly had given the necklace to you, the simple answer would be, "Yes." Of
course you could add to your answer, "Yes, she did," or, "Yes, isn't it
beautiful!"
But what if the answer to that question is no? If the answer is no, hopefully
you were able to recognize what part of the question the speaker was giving
the most emphasis to.
When I said the question before, I gave emphasis to Lilly. I'll say it again.
"Did Lilly give you that necklace?"
If the answer is no, I'm looking for the name of the person that did give it to
you. The answer could be, "No, Tom did," or even, "No, I bought it at the
street fair."

Because I gave the word Lilly the high pitch in the question, I was attempting
to guide the conversation in the direction of where the necklace came from.
Now, I'll switch the high pitch word. I'm going to stress the word give.
"Did Lilly give you that necklace?"
The yes answer could be identical to the answers above, "Yes," "Yes, she did,"
or, "Yes, isn't it beautiful!" or any other appropriate answer.
However, if the answer is no, your answer should relate back to the original
high pitch word, which was the word "give".
So, the no answer would probably be something like, "No, she's just lending it
to me."
Let's play with one more option for this question. Let's make the word that
the high pitch word.
"Did Lilly give you that necklace?"
Notice that the word that was not said at very much higher of a pitch; it was
the word's duration, or how long it took to say the word that made it the high
pitch word.
What purpose could I have for choosing to make the word that into a high
pitch word? Well, we would assume this is a continuation of a previous
conversation. The person I am talking to already seems aware that Lilly gave
me a necklace, and that person now assumes that the necklace I am wearing
right now is that specific necklace. Just as with all the other pitch word
options, if the answer is yes, I have can answer a simple "Yes," or I can add to
the answer and take my turn guiding the conversation.
If the answer were no, however, my answer should relate directly to which
necklace Lilly did give me, since it isn't this one. The answer would be
something like, "No, she gave me a different necklace."
I don't expect these short podcasts to be able to give you a complete
understanding of the concepts I'll be talking about in the next few weeks.
They are just too complicated, and they require more listening practice than
listening to a few simple examples only one time. I'm happy to say, though,
that there are more examples in the online lessons, and even more lessons
being added every week.
Since listening perception is so important for full understanding of these
concepts, there is now a listening exercise added to the high pitch word
lesson, as well as a high pitch word listening quiz. Exercises and quizzes are
only available to subscribers, lessons, however, are available to everyone.
When the Rhythm and Intonation book comes out next month, these exercises
and quizzes will be included with it as well.

Don't forget, you can pre-order the book now for a big discount! The full price
of the ebook will be $38, but until April 18, you can purchase the book for
$28. So you can save $10.
I'd like to make sure you all know that you don't need to be living in the
United States to purchase the book, you can buy it from anywhere that PayPal
accepts, and that is most of the countries that can download these podcasts.
I also need to say again that we rely on you, our listeners, to keep the
podcasts coming every week. We had to increase our bandwidth again last
month, which means it costs us not only time, but also money to keep
publishing these podcasts. We now accept donations on the site, and we
would be sincerely thrilled to receive a $5 donation from you to keep the
podcasts available and free to the entire world.
I also want to remind you to sign up for the enewsletter, where you can
receive a monthly coupon toward Pronuncian subscriptions and purchases. The
April newsletter has already been sent, but sign up now so you can take
advantage of the May coupon. When you sign up, you can mark if you are a
student, teacher, or subscriber. Everyone gets the monthly newsletter, but
we're going to start sending a notice to subscribers every time a new exercise
or quiz has been added, so you will always get to use Pronuncian fully.
That's all for today. Thanks for listening everyone. I'll be back next week with
another intonation-related lesson.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where
the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#56: Extra-High pitch words for extra intensity

Add drama, correct someone, and try to not sound angry with these pitch
words
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 56th
episode.
Last week I started talking about intonation and pitch, and I'm going to
continue on that topic for a while yet. As a review, intonation in the use of
pitch, and pitch is the way we make our voice go up and down, like we do
when we're singing.
Everything I'm talking about in these podcasts is also in our new book,
"Rhythm and Intonation of American English", which you can pre-buy as an
ebook through April 18 for only $28; after that, the price goes up. I was told
last week that I should mention again that you do not need to be in the
United States to purchase the ebook. You can download it from any country
that you can download this podcast from. So, as long as PayPal accepts your
currency, and it accepts all the major world currencies, you can buy the
book! Pronuncian, and these podcasts, cannot continue without support from
our listeners, so please consider making a purchase from the site to help it
continue to grow and provide these educational services.
This content, and extra listening exercises and quizzes, are also available
online. Exercises and quizzes are available only to subscribers, so if you prefer
more interactive learning, please consider signing up for a Pronuncian
subscription.
Now, let's get back to intonation and pitch. At Pronuncian and Seattle
Learning Academy, we break the study of intonation and pitch apart into
three categories:
pitch words
pitch boundaries
starting pitches
Last week I talked about high pitch words, which have the following
characteristics:
they convey information new to the dialog
they guide the direction of the conversation
their stressed syllable is said at a higher pitch than the syllables that
surround it
their stressed syllable is usually said louder and for more time than
surrounding syllables and words

This week I am going to talk about extra-high pitch words. Extra-high pitch
words sound like intense, or extra strong, high pitch words. Their stressed
syllable is said at an even higher pitch, and that syllable often lasts for even
more time and is said even louder than high pitch words.
Extra-high pitch words have different uses than high pitch words. People use
extra-high pitch words to
to magnify or dramatize a situation
to correct another speaker's assumption
to verbally defend themselves
Let's listen to a quick example of each of these. First, here is an example of
adding drama (or excitement) to what we're talking about. Let's pretend I just
got finished with a boring meeting, and you asked me how it was. I might say.
It was SO boring.
If I say that, I'm not trying to direct the conversation, I'm not even really
trying to add details to the conversation. This is probably small-talk, or
informal conversation. I didn't merely say that it was boring, I said it was SO
boring. I added drama to the extent of boredom I felt during the meeting.
This may be the most common use of extra-high pitch words.
Extra-high pitch words can also be used to correct someone else. The use of
this more prominent and noticeable pitch helps the speaker be certain that
the listener is aware of the correction.
The next example is on the website as a dialog between two speakers. The
first speaker is checking again of the other speaker still cannot go somewhere
with him tomorrow. The second speaker replies,
Oh I CAN come now. My meeting was canceled.
By using the extra-high pitch word on the word can, there should be no
confusion if the second speaker is or isn't going to come along. She definitely
is coming.
Hopefully you could tell from context that the above conversations that the
dialog was friendly. Extra-high pitch words, however, can turn a conversation
defensive, or even aggressive.
I get students from quite a few different countries that tell me that native
English speakers have told them that they sound angry. I'm going to rephrase
that sentence: a native English speaker is telling a non-native speaker that
the non-native speaker sounds angry when speaking English. I'm not going to
list the countries of students who tell me this, because I don't want everyone
from those places to become unsure of themselves and stop using extra-high
pitch words. But if anyone has ever commented that you, or others who speak
your native language, sound angry, it could be because your intended high

pitch words have accidentally turned in to extra-high pitch words, which can
be used in angry situations. Let's listen to some examples.
I'm going to give you some potential parent and teenage child situations
because it is easy to think of situations between a parent and teenage child
that the teenage child is getting defensive. In the following example, the
child is correcting the parent.
A mother might say, "Do you homework." And the child could reply
I already DID my homework.
Or, a mother might say, "Clean your room." And the child might say back
I CLEANED my room already.
Again, the child was correcting the parent, which teenagers love to do.
Teenagers can also be dramatic and defensive toward their parents at the
same time. Extra-high pitch words can easily convey both things to the
parent.
A mother might say, "You have to be home by midnight on Saturday." The
child might reply, in disgust,
You ALWAYS make me come home earlier than everyone else.
The major difference between an extra-high pitch word being used to show
drama, correction, and self-defense, is the context. The context is how a
native English speaking listener knows that their non-native speaking friend is
not actually angry, it is just part of their accent. You can learn to tune your
pitch appropriately, with listening and speaking practice.
Again, there are more examples of extra-high pitch words on Pronuncian.com.
Those have illustrations of the highness of the pitch used, so you can look at
that while listening to the short dialogs to learn to hear the difference
between high pitch words and extra-high pitch words.
Feel free to ask for clarification on any of these topics on the forums, too.
The pitch section of the forums has been sadly without activity. So, if you
have questions, please post them there and I'll be happy to add some answers.
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.

#57: Compare extra-high and rising pitch words

Learn the difference between contrasting and defensively correcting your

listener.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 57th
episode.
I hope you're enjoying the pitch word podcasts, because today I'm going to do
another one; I'm going to compare extra-high pitch words with rising pitch
words. Remember, a Pitch word is an individual word that a speaker chooses
to set apart by raising or lowering the pitch of its stressed syllable. Pitch
words convey which word of the sentence is most the important, and how to
interpret the importance of that particular word.
So far we've talked about high pitch word and extra-high pitch words. A high
pitch word conveys information new to the dialog and guides the direction of
the conversation. The stressed syllable of that word is said at a higher pitch,
louder, and for more time than surrounding syllables and words. Remember, a
high pitch word is given more emphasis than a stressed word. I most recently
talked about stressed words in episode 53, when I talked about phrasal verbs.
Let's get back to today's topic of comparing extra-high pitch words to rising
pitch words. I told you last week that an extra-high pitch word is used
to magnify or dramatize a situation
to correct another speaker's assumption
to verbally defend themselves
And extra-high pitch word's pitch is even higher than a high pitch word's pitch.
Now, let's add another kind of pitch word, the rising pitch words. Rising pitch
words are used
to contrast something previously mentioned
to contradict something previously mentioned
Rising pitch words are called rising pitch words because the pitch rises during
the stressed syllable of that word. It is important to distinguish between an
extra-high pitch word and a rising pitch word because of the way we use each
kind of word. Rising pitch words contrast something previously said, which is a
kind of correction, but not as defensive as an extra-high pitch. Remember
how I said the extra-high pitch words can convey anger? Well, rising pitch
words are less likely to do that, and can be safer to use if the purpose is to
change the listener's mind or persuade them, since you will be less likely to
cause them to feel defensive in return. It is a subtle, but important
difference.

Let's go back to last week's example of an extra-high pitch word conversation

between a parent and a child. The mother told the child to clean her room,
and the child responded,
I CLEANED my room already.
That defensive tone might create a general defensive tone of the whole
conversation. However, if a rising tone were used, which would sound like,
I CLEANED my room already.
The contrasting nature of the rising tone is alerting the parent that the chore
is done already, and is less likely to anger the parent. The child contrasted
the parent's assumption, but not in a defensive manner. The whole
conversation can continue in a less defensive way, and will probably be more
productive.
Extra-high pitch words are not always used in defense; sometimes they are
simply used to be more dramatic.
Let's listen to some examples of beginnings of sentences, and how we would
expect a different ending of the sentence based on the choice of pitch words
in the first half. I'll say each of these a couple of times so you get a chance to
hear the difference.
First, here is an extra-high pitch being used on the word hot to add drama.
It was hot in Florida
Here is a rising pitch on the same word, being used to show contrast.
It was hot in Florida
I'll say both of those again. They are similar, but not exactly the same.
It was hot in Florida
It was hot in Florida
Now I'll add the ending of the sentence.
It was hot in Florida
so hot we didn't even want to go outside.
It was hot in Florida
I expected it to be cooler, since it was January.
Don't worry, I'll explain both.
The first sentence
It was hot in Florida
so hot we didn't even want to go outside.

added more details about how hot it was, making it even more dramatic. The
end of the sentence with the rising pitch word
It was hot in Florida
I expected it to be cooler, since it was January.
explained the use of the contrasting pitch on the word hot. Since Florida is a
southern state, it is often quite hot, but the speaker through that maybe
since it was a winter month it would have been cooler. She used a rising pitch
on the word hot to contrast the temperature she was expecting.
A native English speaker could guess what kind of information would be added
to each of these sentences based only on the type of pitch word used on the
word hot.
I don't expect these podcasts to be able to fully teach these concepts. They
are subtle, and they are complex. That is why Pronuncian.com has more
examples of the difference between an extra-high pitch and a rising pitch,
and if you are a subscriber, there is also a quiz to see if you comprehend the
meaning correctly based on the use of pitch words.
That quiz is also included with the audio for my new book, Rhythm and
Intonation of American English. The new pre-order price is $32 for the ebook
and $42+shipping for the physical book. The book comes out May 15, but if
you order before then, you get this reduced price. You can purchase the book
from most countries of the world. If you buy the ebook, you simply get an
automatic email with a link to the site to download the book from. The book
will come as a PDF file, and the audio will come as an MP3.
Some of you may be wondering where the video podcasts went. Don't wory,
they'll be back after the book comes out. I hope you can understand the push
I've got right now for a final editing to make the content of the book as great
as possible. Since video podcasts take an extra long amount of time to
produce, they are temporarily on hold. You can expect the next one in May
sometime.
Remember, all of your Pronuncian subscriptions and purchases allow us to
continue to create these podcasts as well as offer all the free online lessons
and practice. We really do rely on you, our listeners and users, to keep
Pronuncian running. I don't just say that. It is true. We need your help. If you
don't want to make a purchase, we appreciate even a $5 donation more than
you can imagine.
As always, if you have any questions about this, or any other English
pronunciation topic, you can post them on the forums at
www.pronuncian.com/forums, or you can email me at
podcast@pronuncian.com. Don't forget to check out the website for
transcripts for this show as well as more information about English pitch
words and the ways we use them in the United States.

I hope you've enjoyed this show. I know it does get complicated, but don't
give up. You can learn to distinguish the difference between all these pitch
words! 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.

#58: Statements Pitch Boundaries: Rising and Falling

Pitch boundaries organize conversations, and give important emotional clues

about the speaker.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 58th
episode.
For the last three weeks, I talked about pitch words and how to interpret
them. Today I'm going to continue talking about pitch, but I'm going to shift to
talking about pitch boundaries. Remember, all this content is also available in
my new book, Rhythm and Intonation of American English, as well as in our
online lessons at Pronuncian.com.
The book comes out May 15, and you can pre-buy it now for a discounted
price. Download the ebook and audio files directly onto your computer for
$32, or have the physical book and CD audio sent to you for $42 + shipping.
The ebook and physical book are both available from any country that PayPal
accepts currency from.
Now, let's get back to pitch. First, I need to explain how a pitch boundary is
different from a pitch word. A pitch word is an individual word that a speaker
chooses to set apart by raising or lowering the pitch of that word's stressed
syllable. Pitch boundaries happen at the end of intonation units and are really
about keeping conversations going. Pitch boundaries are not dependent on
stressed syllables the way pitch words are. Pitch boundaries mostly occur on
the last syllable of the last word of an intonation unit.
Pitch boundaries have an organizational purpose and an emotional purpose.
Regarding organizing a conversation, pitch boundaries are the way speakers
tell their listener that they are finished speaking, and expect someone else to
take a turn. This is done with questions as well as statements.
When it comes to emotion, pitch boundaries express things like confidence
and assertiveness, or uncertainty.
Let me give you a couple of examples of pitch boundaries, so you understand
what I'm talking about.
In the following statement
Jane likes coffee.
the pitch word is the word coffee. The stressed syllable of that word, the first
syllable, is at a higher pitch than the rest of the sentence. The pitch boundary

is the last syllable of the sentence, the "ee" sound of the word coffee. I'll say
the sentence again.
Jane likes coffee.
I said that sentence with a falling pitch boundary, and my listener could tell
that it was a statement, and that I was sure of myself. I could have had a
rising pitch boundary on the final syllable of the word coffee, which would
sound like
Jane likes coffee?
If I did that, my sentence would no longer be interpreted as a statement, it
would now be interpreted as a question.
That part of it is not so tricky, and I would bet that most people capable of
listening to this podcast are already perfectly aware of this happening in
English. The use of pitch boundaries that is difficult for non-native speakers
and ESL students is how to use a rising pitch without signaling a question.
I'm going to make the sentence we've been using into a longer sentence.
Jane likes coffee, but I prefer tea.
That sentence had two intonation units, two different thoughts, two chunks of
words divided by a pause. Listen to the different pitch boundaries of each
part.
Jane likes coffee, but I prefer tea.
The first half, Jane likes coffee, ended in a rising pitch boundary
Jane likes coffee
and the second half, but I prefer tea, ended in a falling pitch boundary.
That sentence
Jane likes coffee, but I prefer tea.
uses a rising pitch during a statement correctly. It is used to tell the listener
that I am not done speaking yet by rising on the word coffee. I don't raise the
pitch as far as I would if I were asking a question. After I the falling pitch
boundary on the word tea, then the listener knows I am done talking, and
someone new is now free to talk.
I am not going to get into the use of rising pitch for questions today, other
than the quick example I gave at the beginning of this podcast. Today I want
you non-native speakers out there to start to pay attention to your own use of
rising pitch boundaries on statements, especially if you aren't using it to ask a

question or to tell the listener that you are going to continue talking about
the topic in the first part of your statement.
Non-native speakers who use rising pitch boundaries too often sound less
fluent. Unfortunately, many of my students are guilty of this. When rising
pitch boundaries are overused, the speaker (native or non-native) is thought
to be showing non-commitment or non-assertiveness. Let me give you an
example of this.
Jane likes coffee, but I prefer tea. Mike likes juice, so we should buy all three.
That sentence, if it occurred alone, without another sentence right next to it
that went on with more rising pitch boundaries, would be okay. But if I
continued speaking like that, with an overuse of rising pitch boundaries, I
would sound very uncertain of myself. If you are a non-native speaker, you
will sound uncertain of your speaking abilities, which is not what you want if
you are trying to convince someone else to trust you. You want to sound
confident and certain. You want to use more falling than rising pitch
boundaries on your statements. I'm not saying to never use a rising pitch
boundary on a statement, they do have an important purpose; just don't
overuse them.
If you want more information on this topic, go to Pronuncian.com to see the
lessons on the topic of rising and falling pitch boundaries for spoken
statements. If you are a Pronuncian subscriber, you also have access to the
additional listening exercise and quiz on this topic. That exercise and quiz will
also be in the new text, "Rhythm and Intonation of American English."
Remember, you can pre-purchase that text now for a discounted price. Your
Pronuncian subscriptions and purchases are what keep this podcast coming to
you every week.
As always, visit Pronuncain.com for the transcript for this podcast episode as
well as links from it to the related lessons. You can post any questions you
have on this, or any other English topic, on our forums at
www.pronuncian.com/forums. And you can email me at
podcast@pronuncian.com to let me know of any content you would like me to
talk about during these podcasts.
Thanks for listening everyone.
This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where
the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#59: Rising and Falling Yes/no Questions

Yes/no questions do NOT always use a rising pitch boundary.

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 59th
episode.
Last week I talked about pitch boundaries and the proper way of using a rising
pitch on a statement. I want to emphasize again that there is a right way, and
a wrong way, of using a rising pitch boundary on a statement. Use a rising
pitch boundary when you are not finished speaking, and the next thing you say
is directly related what you just said. Overusing rising pitch boundaries makes
you sound less confident, and that is true for native and non-native speakers.
Today I'm going to talk about how to use a falling pitch boundary on a yes/no
question. Most students were told to use a rising final pitch on yes/no
questions and have never been told that there is also a purpose for a falling
pitch.
A yes/no question, in case you're not familiar with the terminology, is a
question that is formed by inverting the subject and auxiliary verb and can be
answered with "yes," "no," or any version of "I don't know." These questions
can have a rising pitch, or a falling pitch, and it all depends on context.
First, let's talk about the more common rising pitch. A rising pitch is used
when the person asking the question really does not know the answer. If the
question is not part of an ongoing conversation, the pitch will probably rise
higher than if the question relates to what is already being talked about.
So, if you walk into a co-workers office and want to know if that person would
like to go to lunch with you, you might say,
D'you wanna go to lunch?
The pitch was rising at the end of the word lunch because the speaker does
not yet know the answer.
Here's another example. You need to get across town quickly, but you don't
own a car. So, you call your friend and ask,
Can I borrow your car this afternoon?
You really didn't know what the answer would be when you asked the
question.
Now, let's talk about falling pitch boundaries on yes/no questions. Let's say
you see an acquaintance walking toward you on the street. You stop to say

hello, and ask her if anything is new in her life. She hold up her left hand and
shows you a shiny new engagement ring. You say,
Did you get engaged?
The answer to that question is most likely, "yes." There would be little other
reason to show you the ring on her finger. So the question,
Did you get engaged?
is only asking for confirmation of something you probably already know. It is
not the same kind of question as we first looked at.
Here's another example. You go into a nice restaurant and the server asks if
you would like anything to drink. You ask,
Could I have a glass of red wine?
The answer is most likely going to be, "yes," assuming it is the kind of
restaurant that serves wine.
Both of these questions, "Did you get engaged" and "Could I have a glass of
wine" could have also been expressed as statements, "You got engaged," or "I'd
like a glass of wine, please."
There is one other purpose for a falling pitch boundary on a yes/o question,
and that is when the question is acting like a suggestion. In the United States,
Mother's Day is this Sunday. It is the day we are supposed to be extra nice to
our mothers. We take them to lunch, and frequently give flowers. If you know
that your brother has probably forgotten about Mother's Day, you could say to
him,
Did you order Mom's flowers, yet.
Given the context of the question, and the fact that you were assuming the
answer was, "no," that question was serving as a recommendation, or a
suggestion, or, some could say it is a warning question.
I'd like you to repeat these questions after me. I'm going to say all of the
questions I used as examples during this show. Ready?
D'you wanna go to lunch?
Can I borrow your car this afternoon?
Did you get engaged?
Could I have a glass of red wine?
Did you order Mom's flowers, yet.
This information is all in my new book, "Rhythm and Intonation of American
English." This book goes far beyond the typical level of detail of rhythm and
intonation. It is an intermediate to advanced level book, and I think anyone

interested in understanding American English intonation would find it quite

helpful. The book comes out on May 15, but if you order it before then, you
will receive a discount. The ebook is $32US right now, and the physical book is
$42 plus shipping. You can order from any country that PayPal accepts, which
is more of them. Plus, you can feel good about yourself for purchasing
something from Pronuncian, because your orders are what keep this podcast
coming to you, for free, every single week for 59 weeks now!
As always, visit Pronuncain.com for the transcript for this podcast episode as
well as links from it to the related lessons. You can post any questions you
have on this, or any other English topic, on our forums at
www.pronuncian.com/forums. There is a current question on the forums
about Chinese pinyin that I promised I'd try to get some more answers for by
mentioning it on this show. If you know anything about Chinese pinyin, go to
the sounds forum and click "t sound and double vowel sound."
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.

#60: Tag Questions aren't always questions

Pitch boundaries are the clue to knowing what someone is really asking when
they ask a tag question.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 60th
episode.
For the first time in over a year, I missed publishing a podcast last week, and I
apologize for that. I had a lot of work to do to get my new book, Rhythm and
Intonation of American English finished, including all the final audio
recording. It is now complete, and if you pre-ordered an ebook, you should
have already received your email for the download link. If you ordered a
physical copy, you'll probably be seeing it in the mail this week if you live in
the United States, and probably next week if you live outside the United
States. If you want to order your copy of the book, you can do it at
Pronuncian.com. If you want to start learning immediately, order the ebook,
and you can download it within seconds of placing you order. Remember, you
do not need to live in the United States to order either the physical book or
ebook. Both choices come with over a hundred audio files to help you
understand the content.
That's enough promotion; let's get on to today's topic of tag questions. Tag
questions are those weird questions that someone creates when they make a
statement, and then add a two or three word question onto it. Here are a few
examples:
Van Gogh was a French painter, wasn't he?
Henry and Holly didn't get married yet, did they?
You didn't see him at the party, did you?
Grammatically, one part of the sentence contains a negative and the other
doesn't. For example, the question
Van Gogh was a French painter, wasn't he?
uses the affirmative, he was a French painter, in the first part of the
sentence, and the question part, wasn't he, uses a negative (wasn't).
In the example
Henry and Holly didn't get married yet, did they?
the first part of the sentence uses a negative, didn't get married, and the
question part uses the affirmative, did they.
Tag questions are punctuated with a question mark, but sometimes they
aren't actually meant as questions. Sometimes the speaker is confirming

something. While context can help you know if someone is asking a question
or making a confirmation, the speaker will also use a different pitch
boundary. I started talking about pitch boundaries in Episode 58, and again in
Episode 59. Pitch boundaries occur at the end of intonation units. Many
sentences only have one intonation unit, so the pitch boundary happens at the
end of the sentence.
If I truly don't know if Van Gogh was a French painter, I would use a rising
pitch boundary. Listen closely.
Van Gogh was a French painter, wasn't he?
If I wanted to confirm that Van Gogh was a French painter, I would use a
falling pitch boundary.
Van Gogh was a French painter, wasn't he?
So why do we use tag questions and their odd sentence structure? Well, it can
be a way to lead people toward a specific answer, or suggest what you think
the answer should be. A good friend of mine graduated from law school
yesterday, and this got me thinking about Anne Wennerstroms' excellent book
about English discourse called The Music of Everyday Speech.
In that book Ms. Wennerstrom specifically highlights why an attorney uses tag
questions when questioning a witness during a trial. Wennerstrom so perfectly
states, "... the effect of the tag is to turn the statement into a question
whose answer is inherently suggested." If an attorney asks a question like
You didn't see him at the party, did you?
It is technically a question. The falling pitch boundary tells the jury that the
attorney asking the question already presumes to know the answer. Doing this
can direct, or manipulate, all of the listeners of the conversation, including a
jury, not just the people who are speaking.
Americans use tag questions all the time, not just in a courtroom. Many times
they are truly meant as a question. I'll use a rising pitch boundary on the next
example.
Henry and Holly didn't get married yet, did they?
With the statement portion of the question, Henry and Holly didn't get
married yet, I tell the listener that I knew at some point that they were
planning on getting married, and the rising pitch boundary lets the listener
know that I really don't know if that event has happened yet or not.
Okay, are you ready to practice? I'm going to say all three of the example
sentences I used earlier, first with a rising pitch boundary, then with a falling
pitch boundary. I'll leave time for you to repeat after me. Ready?

(rising) Van Gogh was a French painter, wasn't he?

(falling) Van Gogh was a French painter, wasn't he?
(rising) You didn't see him at the party, did you?
(falling) You didn't see him at the party, did you?
(rising) Henry and Holly didn't get married yet, did they?
(falling) Henry and Holly didn't get married yet, did they?
How'd you do? The goal is to be able to do it, and be able to understand what
someone else means when they do it.
Of course, this information is available, with more audio examples, in my
book, Rhythm and Intonation of American English, which you can purchase
from Pronuncian.com. You can also get to podcast transcripts, free lessons,
and the forums from Pronuncian. If you haven't been there yet, go check it
out!
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.

#61: American t sound as a quick d sound

When do American substitute a quick d sound for a t sound, and does it sound
like an r sound?
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 61st episode.
Ah, it feels good to be finished with version 1 of Rhythm and Intonation. It
feels nice that everything is slowly getting back to normal around Seattle
Learning Academy.
I'm really excited about today's show about the t sound being replaced by a d
sound by native speakers in the United States. I've been waiting and waiting
to talk about the strange things the t sound does, but it was pretty far down
the list of episodes I thought were important. I'm deciding to do it now
because there have been two recent forum posts about this topic, and both of
the topics were started by Brazilians. However, this issue is important for lots
of languages, not just Portuguese. This issue was first brought to my attention
when I was teaching a corporate class earlier this year and two Spanish
speakers came up to me on a break and asked my why they were both hearing
an r sound in the middle of the word water. "An r sound?" I asked. "Yes," they
answered. "In the middle of the word?" "Yes," they answered. This seemed
very strange to me, so I asked them what their native language was, and they
both said it was Spanish. I asked them to say the word, which they both
pronounced "water." I asked them if they here an r sound when they say the
word, and they both said, "no". Then I pronounced the word "water" two
different acceptable ways, and asked them which way they heard an r sound.
I had my answer as to why they were hearing an r sound in the middle of the
word water, and it all has to do with what linguists call an alveolar tap, and
what I call a "quick d sound".
If you've been listening to these podcasts for a while, and have heard the
podcasts about the r sound, I warned you all of tapping your r's. (tapped r
sound). That tapped r sound is the same sound Americans make when we
substitute a quick d sound for the t sound, and is a common sound in both
Spanish and Portuguese, as well as numerous other languages. Since most nonnative speakers don't substitute the quick d sound for the t sound, your r
sound and t sound are perceived as very different sounds, which they are.
Now, that was a long story about why Spanish and Portuguese speakers are
hearing an r sound when they think they should be hearing a t sound or a d
sound. Today I want to teach you about when Americans use a quick d
sound in place of a t sound. And I have a forum post about the r issue that I
hope you'll go to and tell me if you do or don't hear an r sound when I say a
quick d sound. I'm still curious about it, and I just think it's pretty neat.

So, when do Americans substitute a quick d sound for the t sound. This is the
beginning of some somewhat complicated formulas I'm going to give you. The
quick d sound isn't the only thing we say instead of the t sound, we have two
other options as well, which I'm going to get to in the next few weeks.
For today, when do Americans substitute a quick d sound for a t sound?
Americans substitute a d sound for a t sound (are you ready?) when the t
sound follows a vowel or an r sound, and comes before a vowel, r sound,
schwa+r, or l sound. Think about it like this, vowels, r's and l's will mess up a t
sound. Here, I'll repeat the rule again. Americans substitute a d sound for a t
sound when the t sound follows a vowel or an r sound, and comes before a
vowel, r sound, schwa+r, or l sound.
Let's look at our example of the word water. The t in the middle of that word
is following an aw sound, and comes before a schwa+r, so American will
substitute a quick d sound for the t sound. I'll say the word with a proper t
sound, then with a quick d sound.
water (t)
water (d)
I'll say them both again.
proper t sound: water
quick d sound: water
Notice that I said a "proper t sound". The dictionary shows a t sound for this
word, and it is absolutely okay to continue to say a t sound in that word.
However, it is not the way most native-English speaking Americans will say it.
In fact, Americans who always say a proper t sound will sound a little odd to
other native speakers. Only when the word is being stressed for emphasis, is it
more likely that the t sound will be said properly.
Listen to a few more words that are generally pronounced with a quick d
sound in place of a t sound.
turtle
bottom
native
battery
artificial
Here's another thing about this rule. It isn't just when the t is in the middle of
a word that it can change to a d sound. Marcelo, when he first mentioned
the r sound issue in the forums, gave three great examples of the same thing
happening when the t is the last sound of a word. He gave the examples:
"it_is" "without_it", and "that_again". All of those t's fall between vowels
because the next word in the examples begins with a vowel sound. This will

cause the t sound to shift to a quick d sound, even when it spans across
words.
I have students in Seattle who have lived here from as little as a few weeks to
as long as many decades. I will mention that this is a subtle aspect of English
that seems like people who live here longer do pick up intuitively. But
everyone mentions that the quick d sound substitution caused trouble with
listening comprehension when they first moved here. During these podcasts, I
try to not speak in an overly formal fashion because I want you to hear more
natural speech, and I intentionally say the t sound as the majority of other
speakers do.
Unfortunately, every rule of English has an exception, and the t as d rule has
one as well. If the t is the first sound of a stressed syllable, it will remain a t
sound. I've seen a lot of pronunciation material that says that a double t in
the middle of a word will be pronounced as a d sound. Well, it isn't true if the
double t begins a stressed syllable. An example it the word attach. The
stressed syllable is the "tach" part of the word, so the t sound stays as a t
sound, attach. I wouldn't say addach. Can you hear the difference? Attach,
addach.
Here are some more words that seem as if they may have the t pronounced as
a quick d sound, but don't, because the t is the first sound of a stressed
syllable. Listen carefully to hear the t sound in the following words.
determine
italic
interpret
attendance
Oh, this episode had a lot of explanations and a lot of rules. Here is the rule
again for when the letter t will get pronounced as a quick d sound: Americans
substitute a d sound for a t sound when the t sound follows a vowel or an r
sound, and comes before a vowel, r sound, schwa+r, or l sound.
Let's practice. Repeat these words after me. All of them have the t replaced
by a quick d sound.
turtle
bottom
native
battery
artificial
Now, please go to the forums and let me know what language you speak, and
tell me if you hear an r sound in these words or not. A lot of languages have
an alveolar tap, and so I wonder how many of you hear it as an r sound.

This information is available in both my first and second book, since it

happens within words, as well as with linked words. Your purchase of either of
those books supports production of this podcast, and is greatly appreciated.
Subscribers also have additional listening practice for this and the other t
sound substitutions, which I will get to in the coming weeks.
Next week will hopefully be the return of the video podcasts! Yay! Like I said,
I'm happy the book is finished, and I can get back to my regular schedule
again.
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.

#62: American English pronunciation and spelling of the long o sound

Hi everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's 62nd American

English Pronunciation Podcast, and our fifth video podcast. My name is Mandy.
The show today is about the long o spelling and pronunciation. This podcast is
part of video lesson 4, which will cover long o, short o, and the aw sound. I'm
breaking the lesson up into three parts so each podcast doesn't get so long!
The o spelling causes so many pronuncian problems and creates so much
confusion because that letter can be used to spell all three of those sounds:
thelong o, short o, and aw sound. I'll explain it in each podcast separately.
Video lesson 4 isn't published on Pronuncian yet, so if you're a subscriber,
don't be surprised to not see it if you go to the video section of the website.
I'm hoping to get it up by the time I release the next video podcast, hopefully
in about 2 weeks.
So, here you go. The spelling and pronunciation of the long o (with a little bit
of short o mixed in).
The long o sounds like (long o). If you listen very carefully to the
pronunciation of this sound, you will hear a very brief w sound at the end of
it.
(long o), (long o)
The long o is a two-sound vowel. To create this sound, begin with your tongue
low in the back of your mouth. Then the tongue rises at the same time as the
lips close into the same position as a w sound. Listen to the sound again.
(long o), (long o)
My lips need to move into a small circle, like a w sound, for this sound to be
said completely. The opening, then closing of the lips is a more defining
nature of this sound than the tongue movement inside the mouth.
(long o), (long o)
Let's look at the word hope, with a long o sound. Hope, h-o-p-e. The word
hope demonstrates one of the standard long vowel spelling rules: the vowelconsonant-e rule.
The vowel-consonant-e rule says that when a single vowel is followed by a
single consonant, and then the letter e, the first vowel is said as a long vowel.
The letter e in the vowel-consonant-e rule is silent.
Our key word for long o is home, h-o-m-e, the o is said as a long o, and the e
is silent, home. I do not say home-uh. I don't need to make any sound at all

for the e at the end of the word. The only job of that e is to make sure I know
that the o is long.
Here are some more examples of the vowel-consonant-e rule for the long
ospelling.
broke, b-r-o-k-e, the o is said as a long o, and the e is silent
joke, j-o-k-e, the o is said as a long o, and the e is silent
stone, s-t-o-n-e, the o is said as a long o, and the e is silent
Remember, the vowel-consonant-e rule works for all the long vowel sounds,
although it is rarely used for the long e sound.
The second long o spelling is the -oa- spelling, as in the word boat, b-o-a-t.
Here are some more examples of words with the long o sound because of the oa- spelling:
coat, c-o-a-t
toast, t-o-a-s-t
road, r-o-a-d
float, f-l-o-a-t
oath, o-a-t-h
The third common spelling for the long o sound is the ow spelling, as in the
word snow, s-n-o-w. The ow spelling can also be pronounced with the ow
sound, which sounds like (ow sound), as in the word cow, so be careful with
it. The ow sound will be studied in a later lesson.
Let's look at some words that that have the long o sound and are spelled as
ow:
low, l-o-w
row, r-o-w
show, s-h-o-w
slow, s-l-o-w
glow, g-l-o-w
A fourth spelling for the long o sound is with the letter o. Most commonly, this
is used when the long o sound is the final sound of a word, such as in the
words, go and no. When o is alone in the middle of a word, it can have three
different pronunciations, long o, short o, and aw sound, so be careful with
the pronunciation of this spelling.
Let's look at some words that that have the long o sound and are spelled as o.
First we'll look at it at the end of the word, then in the middle of the word.
go, g-o
no, n-o
hello h-e-l-l-o
most, m-o-s-t

both, b-o-t-h
post, p-o-s-t
Let's review the four most common spellings for the long o sound.
o-consonant-e: home
oa: boat
ow: snow
o: most
All of those vowel spellings sound exactly the same, long o (long o).
There you go everyone. Remember to visit Pronuncain.com to see the
transcripts to this show, as well as access our forums where you can post your
questions about this or any other aspect of English. To have access to the full
video lesson, when it comes out, go to www.pronuncian.com/join.
Thanks for listening.
Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#63: When Americans omit the t sound

When do Americans omit the t sound?

The Incredibles clip

listen now
INTERVIEWER: So, Mr. Incredible...do you have a secret identity?
MR. INCREDIBLE: Every superhero has a secret identity. I don't know a single
one who doesn't. Who wants the pressure of being super all the time?
ELASTIGIRL: Of course I have a secret identity. Can you see me in this at the
supermarket? Come on. Who'd wanna go shopping as Elastigirl, y'know what I
mean?
FROZONE: Superladies, they're always trying to tell you their secret identity.
Think it'll strengthen the relationship or something like that.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 63rd
episode.
Two weeks ago I talked about when North Americans say a quick d sound in
place of a t sound, as in the word little. I want to emphasize again that
dictionaries usually don't show this alternative pronunciation, and I want to
make sure you know it is an alternative, and not necessary to learn to do.
Because it isn't absolutely necessary, few textbooks teach about it. But it will
help you sound more casual. Let's repeat the rules for the t as a quick d
sound.
Americans substitute a d sound for a t sound when the t follows a vowel or
an r sound, and comes before a vowel, r sound, schwa+r, or l sound. Think
about it like this, vowels, r's and l's will mess up a t sound.
Common examples are:
little
water
meeting
Today I'm going to tell you about when the t sound gets completely omitted,
like when the word printer is said as printer. There are a few things that
make this harder to notice and hear. First, when a t sound is the final sound
of a word, it gets linked into the sound that follows it, which makes it hard to
hear. Go to episode 52, linking from the -ed ending if you'd like a review of

that concept. Secondly, when t is the final sound of a word and not getting
linked to another sound, it is not fully aspirated, meaning we don't have as big
of a puff of air when we release the stop, so it is harder to hear. But all of
that is not what I'm talking about today. I'm not talking about making the
sound smaller by linking it or not aspirating it, I'm talking about not saying it
as all, especially in the middle of a word.
Americans do this to differing amounts. It really is a personal preference. But
I very rarely hear a person who says all of their t sounds.
Remember how vowels, r's and l's mess up the t and can make it into a d
sound? Well, if an n sound comes before the t, and the t is then followed by
any of those sounds, the t sound might not be said at all. The place my
students are usually able to notice this first are in the
words winter and printer. Now, I intentionally said the t's that time.
I'll say both of those words with a t sound, and without, so you can hear the
difference.
winter (t)
winter (no t)
printer (t)
printer (no t)
Remember, the rule is that the t needs to follow an n, and come before a
vowel, r sound or l sound. Here are some more examples. I'll say them all
both ways, because if I only say it without the t sound, you may not even
recognize the word without context. I'll leave time for you to repeat after me.
center
wanted
percentage
identity
It is that final word, identity, that I am doing this podcast for. It isn't that the
word idenity is all that important, it isn't really that high frequency of a word,
but I'm doing it so I can play a little audio clip from Disney-Pixar's movie, The
Incredibles. I have never, ever, found an audio clip that so perfectly
demonstrates my point in so little time.
This is the opening scene from The Incredibles. Three superheroes are being
interviewed, and all are asked if they have a secret identity. As in, do they
disguise themselves when they are performing superhero work? Four different
characters: an interviewer, Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Frozone all have the
opportunity to say that phrase "secret identity" within about 30 seconds.
Let's look closely at that phrase. First, the word "secret" ends in a t sound, in
the phrase secret identity, it is followed by the long i sound because it links

to the word "identity" Because the t of secret is then surrounded by vowels, it

changes to a quick d sound. Listen closely.
secret identity
Did you hear it?
secret identity
Now let's look at the word identity. There are two t's in that word, if I
pronounce them both, it would sound like identity. But few people would say
it that way. They would not say the first t at all because it is between an n
and a vowel sound. The second t is between vowel sounds, and so it turns into
a quick d sound.
I'll first say the phrase with all the t's as perfect t's, then as they are normally
said
secret identity
secret identity
In the clip I'm going to play, you'll hear three of the four characters say the
phrase in the altered t sounds. Only one character doesn't do it the same, and
even that character only says one of the three t's as a perfect t sound.
Listen closely, and don't worry, I'm going to play the clip twice.
INTERVIEWER: So, Mr. Incredible...do you have a secret identity?
MR. INCREDIBLE: Every superhero has a secret identity. I don't know a single
one who doesn't. Who wants the pressure of being super all the time?
ELASTIGIRL: Of course I have a secret identity. Can you see me in this at the
supermarket? Come on. Who'd wanna go shopping as Elastigirl, y'know what I
mean?
FROZONE: Superladies, they're always trying to tell you their secret identity.
Think it'll strengthen the relationship or something like that.
Did you hear it? Could you hear which character said the phrase differently
than the other three? It was Frozone, the last speaker, He said "secret
identity". I could only speculate why he altered two of the t's and kept the
third as a perfect t, so I'm not going to say why he did that. Here's the clip
again:
INTERVIEWER: So, Mr. Incredible...do you have a secret identity?
MR. INCREDIBLE: Every superhero has a secret identity. I don't know a single
one who doesn't. Who wants the pressure of being super all the time?
ELASTIGIRL: Of course I have a secret identity. Can you see me in this at the
supermarket? Come on. Who'd wanna go shopping as Elastigirl, y'know what I
mean?

FROZONE: Superladies, they're always trying to tell you their secret identity.
Think it'll strengthen the relationship or something like that.
I want you to hear the difference and be able to understand native speakers
when they don't use perfect t's, and, only if you want to, learn to alter your
t's as well. I'll play the clip one more time at the very end of the show, as well
as put the audio up along on with the transcripts for this show, so you can
listen again and again and again while you learn to hear these sounds.
Also, this is a really weird thing, but few Americans know they omit t's. If I
went up to ten people and asked them to say the word "printer" they would
say "printer" with a perfect t sound, probably all ten would say it as "printer."
However, if I asked them another question, one where I expected the word
"printer" to be in their answer, but not the focus of their answer, almost every
one of them would say "printer". Believe me, I've done it. I've tried this with a
lot of different words. It is my strange way of learning more about English
while having fun with it.
Next week I'm planning to publish the next video podcast, and then, the
following week, do a podcast about when t turns into a glottal stop. A glottal
stop is the sound in the middle of uh-oh, or the first sound of a cough. A
glottal stop is kind of a non-sound sound.
The transcripts for this show also include the transcripts for the scene we just
listened to. So, if you're not sure what they were saying, just go to
Pronuncian.com. There are also free lessons on Pronuncian.com to help you
understand this material even better. And this content is in both my first and
second book, since it deals with individual sounds as well as linked sounds.
You can learn more while helping support this site by visiting
www.pronuncian.com and buying something, or by subscribing! We rely on
your purchases and subscriptions to keep the podcast coming every week, and
we certainly appreciate the support.
I also want to thank the people who posted on the forums about the t as d
sound. I truly appreciate the dialog that has been happening there. The
forums are free and there for everyone's use, so go check them out 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.

#64: American English pronunciation and spelling of the short o sound

Hi everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's 64th American

English Pronunciation Podcast, and our sixth video podcast. My name is
Mandy.
The show today is about the short o spelling and pronunciation. This podcast
is part of video lesson 4, which covers the long o, short o, and the aw sound.
I'm breaking the lesson up into three parts so the podcasts don't get so long!
The o spelling causes so many pronuncian problems and creates so much
confusion because that letter can be used to spell all three of those sounds:
thelong o, short o, and aw sound. I'll explain it in each podcast separately.
Video lesson 4, in its entirety, has been published to Pronuncian, along with a
quiz to see how well you really understand the o spelling and to test if can
hear the difference between these sounds. A long o/short o quiz has also been
added. Video lessons and quizzes are only available to subscribers, so as soon
as this show is finished, go to www.pronuncian.com/join and support this
podcast by subscribing.
Here's another excerpt from video lesson 4.
The key word for the short o is top. Can you hear the short o sound (short o)
in top?
To create the short o sound, your tongue is low toward the back of your
mouth. The tip of your tongue should be in the low inside your mouth, and the
jaw opens. In fact, the jaw opens more for this vowel sound than any other.
Your lips should be round, but relaxed during this sound. Your lips will move a
little, because the jaw opened, but they do not need to be tense. Listen to
the sound again.
(short o, short o)
The short o sound also has only one rule to remember, the consonant-vowelconsonant, or CVC rule. This rule is true for all short vowel sounds, so it is
important to know. The CVC rule says that when a single vowel is between
two consonants, it is said as a short vowel sound. This rule is also true if the
word begins with a single vowel, followed by a consonant. Don't forget, if the
second consonant is followed by an e, the vowel-consonant-e rule takes over!
In the case with the letter o, you also need to remember that there are two
other possible pronunciations besides the short o; it can also sound like a long
o, or the aw sound.
To create the short o sound, your tongue is low toward the back of your
mouth. The tip of your tongue should be in the low inside your mouth, and the
jaw opens. In fact, the jaw opens more for this vowel sound than any other.

Your lips should be round, but relaxed during this sound. Your lips will move a
little, because the jaw opened, but they do not need to be tense. Listen to
the sound again.
(short o, short o)
Listen for the short o sound (short o) in each of these words. All of these
words follow the CVC rule.
on, o-n
box, b-o-x
rock, r-o-c-k
drop, d-r-o-p
stomp, s-t-o-m-p
Repeat these long o/short o minimal pairs after me.
own on
robe rob
coat cot
goat got
note not
soak sock
hope hop
cope cop
folks fox
poke pock
There you go. Remember to visit Pronuncain.com to see the transcripts to this
show, as well as access our forums where you can post your questions about
this or any other aspect of English. The forums have been busy lately, and I've
been answering questions as quickly as I can. If you're an English teacher,
please add your comments and solutions as well. I would love to learn from
you!
To have access to the full video lesson, and the quizzes that go with it, go to
www.pronuncian.com/join. If you're not sure you're saying these sounds
correctly, you can also purchase a Skype assessment from pronuncian. Check
out the products page for more information.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#65: The glottal stop in place of the t sound

What is the glottal stop, and when do we use it?

Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American
English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 65th
episode.
I apologize that this podcast is late. Sadly, my grandmother passed away last
week, and I traveled to Wisconsin to see my family. Grandma Dorothy, her
lovely smile and big laugh will be greatly missed by all.
Before I start talking about the t sound today, I want to mention a couple of
other things. First, if you haven't been to the forums yet, you should go and
check them out. They are free to join and you can post any question about
pronunciation or English in general. You can also leave comments and
suggestions there. A lot of interesting questions have been asked in the past
few weeks. Go ahead and take a look!
Also, I'm looking for iTunes reviews again. Nobody cares if you make a
grammar error in a review; people just want to know what you think. If you
are too shy to write a review, you can now just click the stars and give your
opinion that way. It's really a nice way to help me out and show your support
for this podcast. Next time you open iTunes to download all your new
podcasts, go to this show's page and offer your opinion.
Now, on to the letter t.
Let's explore the third kind of trouble this seemingly simple letter creates.
We've already talked about the t being pronounced as a d sound when it
follows a vowel or an r sound and comes before a vowel, r sound, or l sound.
Then we explored how the t is usually not pronounced at all when the t comes
between an n sound and a vowel, r sound or l sound. This happens in the
word identity. Go to episodes 61 and 63 for more information about those t
sound rules.
Vowels, the r sound, l sound, and n sound are not finished causing us to adjust
the t sound yet, though. And now we can add the m sound to the mix of
troublemakers as well. Welcome to the glottal stop. The glottal stop is the
sound in the middle of the word uh-uh. It is kind of a non-sound sound. I can't
create a glottal stop by itself; it needs sounds around it or it doesn't sound
like anything at all. Listen to uh-oh. Uh-oh. Do you hear that stop in the
middle? Uh-oh.
A glottal stop occurs when the vocal folds are briefly closed. This can be a
very difficult action to force because the vocal folds are way down in our
throats. It is also really difficult to feel a glottal stop when it happens. When I
teach the glottal stop in class, I work up to creating words.

Say the word oh-oh. Can you do it? Uh-oh.

Now try replacing the oh with an n sound. It will sound like uh-n. Can you do
that? uh-n.
Now add a b sound to the beginning of the word. Button. Can you do
that? Button.
That is how we say the word button, b-u-t-t-o-n. Now, I want to also note
that I am not adding any vowel between the glottal stop and the n sound,
even though there is an o spelled there. That is called a syllabic n, and I'm not
going to get into it today, although there was a question about it on the
forums if you want to know more.
A few of my students can learn the glottal stop almost immediately, and they
find they can apply it whenever they want. Most of my students, however,
need to practice quite a bit with an activity like we just did before they can
do it. A very few of my students come to me already using a glottal stop like
we commonly do in the United States, and most of those people never knew
they were doing it. I haven't noticed any patterns between languages that
naturally do this, ones that learn it easily, and ones that have a very hard
time. It seems to be very individualistic.
Lets do the activity again.
Say uh-oh.
Replace the oh with an n sound, uh-n
Now add a b to the beginning, button.
Now you've got the word button. Button.
The glottal stop is also the sound I am saying in the word partner, gotten,
and written. The glottal stop will happen when the t comes after a vowel or r
sound, and before an n sound or an m sound.
I have to admit, If you learn in the same way as I do, just hearing all of these
details in a podcast is not really all that helpful. I need to see it in order to
remember which sounds cause a d sound, omission of the t sound, or a glottal
stop. If you are the same way, go to the transcripts for this page and click the
link to the t sound rules. There are very simple diagrams to help you see the
difference between all of these circumstances. If you are a subscriber, you
can link to the exercises and have additional audio practice.
Unfortunately, most dictionaries still do not show the glottal stop in their
phonetic transcriptions. I actually find this quite surprising, because the audio
on the Merriam Webster site clearly uses the glottal stop in my example words

above. The transcription, that's the place where they show you how to
pronounce the word, still shows a t sound, however. I've linked to these words
from the transcripts as well, so you can hear someone other than me
demonstrate the glottal stop.
Let me repeat the rules for the glottal stop again, then we'll practice a bit.
The glottal stop occurs in place of a t soundwhen the t follows a vowel or r
sound and comes before an n sound or m sound.
Repeat these examples after me.
button
partner
written
treatment
forgotten
So how important is the glottal stop for pronunciation? I'd say it depends on
where you live and how you are using English. If you live in North America, I
think it's a good idea to give this a lot of practice. I say that because this is
the t sound substitution that is the most used, and it would sound severely
odd to hear a native speaker always say a t sound in place of the glottal stop.
Omission of the t sound or substituting a d sound is much more about personal
preference, but the glottal stop isn't. Sorry.
If you live anywhere else that uses English as a native language, you need to
listen to see if the dialect around you does this. Americans and British, for
instance, have completely different rules surrounding the t sound.
If you only use English for international business meetings and many of the
other speakers are also non-native speakers, this can be a pretty low priority
for you. You want to assess the level of English of the others you are speaking
to and decide if it is appropriate for you or not.
Let's go back and practice those words one more time.
button
partner
written
treatment
forgotten
If you are now saying to yourself, wow, why has nobody told me this before!?!
Please, go to iTunes and leave a nice review or star rating for me and the
support staff at Pronuncian. We really appreciate it.
This content is in both the first and second pronunciation book, and
Pronuncain subscribers get additional audio practice for these rules. You can

financially support the site and get more practice by going to Pronuncian's
products page and purchasing a book or signing up for a subscription.
You can also go to the forums 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.

#66: Syllabic n's and nasal plosions in American English

Two new vocab words for two different interesting concepts in pronunciation
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-VowelConsonant 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 then 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.

#67: American English pronunciation and spelling of the aw sound

Hi everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's 67th American

English Pronunciation Podcast, and our seventh video podcast. My name is
Mandy.
The show today is the third of the series taken from video lesson 4, which
covers the long o, short o, and the aw sound. Today, I'm going to tell you
about the aw sound. If you would like to see these all as one single lesson,
become a Pronuncian subscriber and you have access to all of the video
lessons and their associated quizzes.
The aw sound is quite similar to the short o sound, which was the topic of the
previous video podcast.
The aw sound can be difficult for some people to learn to say and hear. It
sounds like (aw sound). The aw sound is created with the lips open and
rounded. The jaw opens, the middle area and tip of the tongue are pushed
low, and the back of the tongue is raised and pushed back.
I want you to see the difference of the outside of my mouth between the aw
sound and the short o sound. Here is the aw sound (aw sound), and here is
theshort o sound (short o). (aw sound, short o).
There is something called the cot/caught merger, which is the actual loss of
the aw sound in certain dialects of American English. Those dialects typically
only use the short o sound. It is up to you if you want to learn these as
separate and distinct sounds, or not. I am neutral on the matter. I say them as
separate sounds, but I recognize that some people do not.
I promised Chai, a Forum user from Malaysia, that I would specifically
demonstrate a minimal pair between these sounds, the words caller c-a-l-l-er, and collar c-o-l-l-a-r. C-a-l-l-e-r is said (by most) with an aw sound. Caller.
C-o-l-l-a-r is said (by most) with a short o sound. Collar. I'll say them again in
the same order. C-a-l-l-e-r, aw sound, collar, short o sound.
caller
collar
caller
collar
Notice that my lips move more, and become more tense for the aw
soundword.
caller
collar
Now, let's watch the video, which gets into more detail, and also gives more
examples as well as commons aw sound spellings.

The sound is the aw sound. It sounds like this: (aw sound). The name aw
soundis used because that is one of this sound's common spellings, as in the
words lawand dawn. I also noted this sound when I talked about the o
spelling. The o spelling can sound like a long o, as in the word most, or
a short o as in the word top. It can also sound like an aw sound, as in the
word dog.
This sound can be difficult for some people to learn to say and hear. It sounds
like (aw sound).
The aw sound is created with the lips open and rounded. The jaw opens, the
middle area and tip of the tongue are pushed low, and the back of the tongue
is raised and pushed back.
The difference between this sound and the short o is in the lips. The aw
soundhas tense lips. The lips get pulled into an open circle. The lips may even
stick out some. The lips do not close into a small circle like the long o,
however. The lips are open, round, and tense.
Listen closely, and repeat after me.
(aw sound, aw sound)
The aw sound has 4 common spellings, which only adds to its confusion. As
noted in the name, it can be spelled as aw. It can also be spelled with an o,
and with the letters au. Sometimes, the au can also have a -gh- added to it,
making it augh.
Listen for the aw sound (aw sound) in each of the following words. All of
these words are spelled with a-w:
law, l-a-w
draw, d-r-a-w
jaw, j-a-w
yawn, y-a-w-n
crawl, c-r-a-w-l
Now listen for the same sound (aw sound) in these words, which are all
spelled with the letter o:
off, o-f-f
boss, b-o-s-s
cost, c-o-s-t
soft, s-o-f-t
lost, l-o-s-t
Here are examples of words with the aw sound being spelled with the
lettersau and augh:
fault, f-a-u-l-t
haunt, h-a-u-n-t

cause, c-a-u-s-e
taught, t-a-u-g-h-t
caught, c-a-u-g-h-t
Now let's practice some minimal sets for these three sounds, the long o, short
o, and aw sound.
There you go. Remember to visit Pronuncain.com to see the transcripts to this
show, as well as access our forums where you can post your questions about
this or any other aspect of English. The forums have been busy lately,
including another forum post besides the caller/collar post, that touches on
the cot/caught merger. I'll link to those posts from the transcripts for this
show. If you're an English teacher, please add your comments and solutions as
well. I would love to learn from you and have more teachers involved on
Pronuncian.
To have access to the full video lesson, and the quizzes that go with it, go to
www.pronuncian.com/join. If you're not sure you're saying these sounds
correctly, you can also purchase a Skype assessment from pronuncian. Check
out the products page for more information.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.
Bye-bye.

#68: Review of voiced and unvoiced th sounds in American English

How you place your tongue during these sounds can make it easier to
transition to and from them.
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 ad 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 ort 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.

#69: Numbers, Teens versus Tens in American English

Syllable stress and alternative t sounds are used to differentiate these sounds
more than the n sound 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 similarsounding 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.

#70: American English pronunciation and spelling of the long u and oo sound

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American

English Pronunciation podcast. My Name is Mandy, and this is our 70th
podcast, and our 8th video podcast.
The show today is taken from video lesson 5, and is about the difference
between the long u sound, which sounds like (long u) and the oo sound, which
sounds like (oo sound). Although pronouncing these vowel sounds causes less
trouble than some other vowels, the very similar spellings of these two sounds
does make it difficult to know which one to say.
Are you ever uncertain if the word is pronounced as distribute or (distriboot),
or refute or (refoot). Maybe you never even noticed a difference between
these sounds! This show will help you out.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, the only difference in the pronunciation of
these sounds is the addition of a y sound to the long u sound. Yes, the long
usound is a y sound plus an oo sound. Most dictionaries will show the long u as
these two separate sounds, so it's good to know about.
Watch the episode to learn more.
Listen to the difference, long u, oo sound (long u, oo sound, long u, oo
sound).
The oo sound is created with the back of the tongue very high, almost like a g
sound, but the back of the tongue and the top of the mouth do not actually
touch. At the same time as the tongue is high, the lips are made into a small,
tight circle. The sound is (oo sound, oo sound).
The long u is a two-sound vowel. It begins like a y sound, with relaxed lips,
and the tip of the tongue very high to the tooth ridge. Then, the lips
transition into the oo sound, with the lips moving onto a small, tight circle, at
the same time as the back of the tongue rises high. Essentially, the long
u sound, which sounds like (long u) is a y sound, plus an oo sound. (long
u, long u)
Let's look at some examples of words with these sounds.
In the word cute, c-u-t-e, the spelling is u-consonant-e, and the sound is
a long u, just as we'd expect by that spelling due to the vowel-consonante rule. Listen to the word again. Cute. That vowel sounds like (long u), just
like the letter name. Remember; we call it a long vowel because it sounds
like the letter name.
Now let's look at the word rule, r-u-l-e. That spelling is also a u-consonant-e,
but it is not pronounced as a long u. The vowel sound in the word rule is

theoo sound, (oo sound), rule. Compare the vowel sound in rule to the vowel
sound in soon. They are both the oo sound.
There are a total of three spellings that can be pronounced as either the long
usound, or the oo sound: the
u-consonant-e spelling
ue spelling
ew spelling
I'm going to first show you the some examples of words with each of those
spellings, then help you learn the patterns that can help you determine
whether a word will be pronounced as a long u or the oo sound.
First, here are a few more examples of each sound being spelled u-consonante.
This first set of words is all pronounced with a long u sound.
huge
pure
cure
amuse
dispute
The following words are pronounced with an oo sound.
rude
nude
include
chute
Here are examples of words spelled ue and pronounced as a long u sound.
fuel
argue
rescue
And the following words are also spelled ue, but are pronounced as an oo
sound.
true
clue
sue
Here are examples of words spelled ew and pronounced as a long u sound.
few
view
skew
And the following words are also spelled ew, but are pronounced as an oo
sound

new
chew
drew
Although both of these sounds share all three of these spellings, there is a
pattern that can be learned to help determine which sound is going to be
used, and it mainly relies on the consonant before the long u or oo sound.
There are far fewer consonant sounds that will cause the long u, so we will
focus on learning those 6 sounds. All other consonants besides those six are
more likely to cause an oo sound.
Here is a list of the six consonant sounds that cause a long u pronunciation
b sound, abuse
k sound, cute
f sound, few
h sound, huge
m sound, mute
p sound, pure
Students can choose to memorize these six sounds, or they can memorize
individual words as they learn them.
Finally, let's talk about the oo spelling and the oo sound. It is interesting to
note that this spelling does not apply to the long u sound. Therefore, no
matter which consonant sound comes before the oo spelling, it will not be
pronounced as a long u.
Here are examples of words spelled oo and pronounced as the oo sound
soon
moon
tooth
food
school
Although the oo spelling is not used for the long u sound, it does still have one
other possible pronunciation, the u as in put sound (u as in put).
Two examples of the oo spelling being pronounced as the u as in put sound
and not the oo sound are good and look. Listen to hear that the vowel sound
in the word put (u sound) is the same as the vowel sound in the
words good and look.Put, good, look. Compare the vowel sound in the
word good with the oo sound in the word soon. Good,, soon. Notice that those
are different sounds.Good, soon. The u as in put sound will be covered in a
later video lesson.
For now, remember that if you see an oo spelling, it does have two possible
pronunciations.

The entire lesson continues to tell you some non-phonetic words, those are
words that don't use a common spelling, and offer extra practice with these
sounds. If you would like to see the entire lesson, and all of the others, go to
www.pronuncian.com/join and subscribe to pronuncian. Along with all the
video lessons, you get all of our additional listening and speaking practice,
and access to a growing list of quizzes!
You can read the transcripts for this show online, for free, at
www.pronuncian.com. You can also visit the forums and post any questions
you have about English pronunciation, or anything English at all.
Thanks for listening everyone. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy
digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.