What Makes American English Sound American Studying English American English Pronunciation

Today we’re continuing studying English with the Friends Christmas episode where Rachel quits her job.

Now, last week on our video she quit her job.

This week she’s just had a job interview and she’s talking about it.

We’re going to use this scene to study American English pronunciation

and figure out what makes American English sound American.

Here’s the scene we’ll study today.

Hey. How’d the interview go?

Ugh. I blew it. I wouldn’t have even hired me.

Oh. Come here, sweetie. Listen. You’re going to go on, like, a thousand interviews before you get a job.

That’s not how that was supposed to come out.

It’s just the worst Christmas ever.

You know what, Rach, maybe you should just, you know, stay here at the coffee house.

I can’t. It’s too late. Terry already hired that girl over there.

Look at her, she’s even got waitress experience. Ugh.

And now the analysis.

Hey. How’d the interview go?

Chandler starts out up down shape of stress hey, hey, uh, uh. Hey. How’d the interview go?

Hey. How’d the interview go?

His H is not very clear or loud here hey, hey, hey.

Hey. How’d the interview go?

How’d the interview go?

The stressed syllable of interview is the most stressed syllable in that whole thought group,

how’d the and the first two words lead up to that peak. How’d the interview go,

and the last three syllables come away from that peak.

Now, are you noticing how that T is pronounced? Interview, it’s totally dropped.

It’s fairly common to drop the T when it comes after N like an interview, internet, international.

How’d the interview go?

The apostrophe D here is the word did.

We can also do would, how’d you do that, how would you do that but in this case it’s did, how’d, how’d, how’d.

Just a D sound at the end: how’d the.

Now, we don’t release the D. We have the OW, diphthong OW and D voiced TH. How’d the–

So the D is subtle. The tongue is in position, the vocal chords make the noise but then

the transition goes quickly into the voiced TH, how the, how the–

and Chandler does say the E as in she vowel for the word the instead of the.

That’s because the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong and that is the rule.

If the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong the final sound of this word is the E as in she vowel

however I have noticed Americans don’t follow that rule very closely.

But Chandler does here, the interview.

How’d the interview go?

Ugh. I blew it.

Ugh. Ugh. Just a sound of exasperation ugh but even that has an up-down shape ugh.

Ugh.

Ugh. I blew it.

I is really hard to hear almost imperceptible; I blew it.

I know it’s there grammatically, but we really barely hear it.

Blew, I blew it, blew is the stressed syllable there.

I blew it.

I blew it, blew it. She does release a true T here and the two words link together very smoothly.

If you blow something that means you do a poor job at it.

You can blow an interview, you can blow a test, you can blow a project, you can blow a first impression.

Ugh. I blew it. It did not go well.

I blew it.

I blew it. I wouldn’t have even hired me.

Okay. In her next sentence what are our most stressed words?

I wouldn’t have even hired me.

I has a lot of stress there. That’s a little unusual.

I wouldn’t have even hired me. High and a little bit on me too.

So, usually we don’t stress I but for the meaning in this sentence, she is.

I wouldn’t have even hired me.

Let’s listen to just those three words wouldn’t have even.

…wouldn’t have even

Wouldn’t have even, wouldn’t have even, wouldn’t have even, wouldn’t have even.

A little bit hard to tell that’s wouldn’t have even if you hear just that.

So, wouldn’t have becomes wouldn’t have, wouldn’t have, wouldn’t have, wouldn’t have.

…wouldn’t have

…wouldn’t have even.

Wouldn’t have even becomes wouldn' have even.

So, the T. I listened to it a bunch of times to decide. Did I think it was totally dropped or did I think it’s a little bit of a stop T?

I think you could do either. You could do a really light stop T, or you could just drop it: wouldn' have–

Wouldn' have even, wouldn' have even, wouldn' have even.

The H is dropped, the word have is reduced to SCHWA V wouldn' ‘ave even,

wouldn’ ‘ave even, wouldn’ ‘ave even, wouldn’ ‘ave even, wouldn’ ‘‘ave even.

…wouldn’t have even

These kinds of simplifications are key in American English.

They provide contrast to the stressed syllables the stressed words like the word hired.

…wouldn’t have even hired me.

The ed ending in hired is a D sound because the sound before was voiced it was the R consonant,

hired me. So, we have the R sound, the D sound and the M sound.

The D is very subtle. I actually don’t think I really hear it.

I feel like it’s more dropped hired me, hired me hired me.

…hired me

If anything, it’s just a very subtle D sound in the vocal chords

just like up here the D sound before the voiced TH. So, it’s not a clear D.

It’s not hired me but it’s hired me, hired me.

If anything, it’s just d, d, d a very quick subtle D sound not released.

Just the vocal cords vibrating with the tongue in the position.

…hired me.

…hired me.
Oh.

Oh. Oh. His voice sort of has a nasal quality to it here I’m just noticing.

Oh, oh, a little bit of sympathy, oh.

Oh.

Oh. Come here, sweetie.

What is our stress in this three word thought group?

Come here, sweetie.

Come here, sweetie. Come here becomes c’mere, c’mere, c’mere.

The word come reduced. I would write that K SCHWA M

and actually M takes over the SCHWA. It’s a syllabic consonant so it’s really just like KM, k’m here, k’m here.

The H is dropped, come ‘ere, come ‘ere, come ‘ere, come ‘ere, sweetie, come ‘ere sweetie.

Come here, sweetie

Come here, sweetie.

And stress on that k’m ‘ere sweetie.

Sweetie with a flap T because the T comes between two vowels sweetie,

k’m ‘ere sweetie, k’m ‘ere sweetie. So, it’s not come here it’s k’m ‘ere.

That’s a very common way to pronounce those two words together, k’m ‘ere, k’m ‘ere sweetie.

Come here, sweetie.

Come here, sweetie. Listen.

Listen.

First syllable stress we have that up-down shape

listen and the second syllable just comes
in on the way down.

The T in listen is silent.

That’s just the pronunciation, it’s not
something Americans do,

it’s the actual official pronunciation.

Up here the actual official
pronunciation of here is

with the H but every once in a while we
drop it like in this phrase

but in this word it’s just not ever
pronounced, listen.

Listen.

Listen. You’re going to go on, like…

Okay. So, he puts a little break here.

So, in this thought group

what do you hear as being the
most stressed syllable.

You’re going to go on like…

You’re going to go on like.

You’re going go- I hear go, the verb as the most stressed.

You are going to becomes you’re gonna,
you’re gonna, you’re gonna.

You are you’re becomes yer, yer, yer.

Just a Y sound and a R sound.
You don’t need to try to make the SCHWA.

R is also a syllabic consonant, it
overpowers the SCHWA yer, yer, yer.

Going to becomes gonna so you are going to is

you’re gonna, you’re gonna,
you’re gonna, you’re gonna

You’re going to…

You’re gonna go, you’re gonna go.

You’re going to go….

You’re going to go…

You’re going to go on like…

On and like just falling in pitch away from
the peak of stress at go.

Go on like, go on like.

…go on like…

…go on like a thousand interviews
before you get a job.

Okay and in this next thought group what
is the most stressed syllable?

…a thousand interviews before you get a job.

… a thousand interviews before you get a job.

A thousand. I think thou has the most stress.

A thousand

interviews before, a little bit of
stress here as well,

before you get a job,
but I think the most stress is on thousand.

So, that word begins with an unvoiced TH.

You do need to bring your tongue tip through the teeth for that a thousand.

…a thousand…

And the letter A here just a SCHWA.

A thousand, oops I just realized

there’s a typo here isn’t there?

There’s an A in that word a thousand.

…a thousand…

…a thousand interviews…

Interviews, interviews, again he drops the T it’s a very normal and natural pronunciation interviews.

…interviews…

It’s so weird I have never noticed this about Ross before and yes I’ve seen this show

but his R in interviews and before is a little weak

which is a little bit of a New York accent
interviews before.

…interviews before…

…interviews before you get a job.

I definitely recommend you stick with a
standard American accent

which does have a bit of a stronger R sound in those words interviews before you get a job.

…interviews before you get a job.

… interviews before you get a job.

Before you get a job, before you get a job.

You can really feel that stress before you
get a job, da-da-da-da-da-da.

It starts to feel like a music a little bit when you study the stress before you get a job.

You get a, all lower in pitch flatter.

Again, the letter A is just a quick SCHWA
linking the words together.

The T in get is a flap T.
It comes between two vowels,

it links those words together, you get a job.

…you get a job.

That’s not how that was supposed to come out.

So, of course what he meant was it takes
a lot of tries to actually get a job.

What it sounded like was she’s
not going to interview

very well and is going to have to do it a
thousand times before she gets a job.

So, that’s what he meant when he said that’s not how that was supposed to come out.

We say that if we say something and the meaning didn’t quite come across right.

That’s not how that was supposed to come out.

That’s not how that was, that’s not how that was supposed to come out.

Come out, a phrasal verb.

That’s not how that was supposed to come out.

That’s not how that was…
So, we have a full A vowel in that’s

both times it doesn’t reduce that’s not how that was.

We have a stop T in this word that.

That was, that was, that was.

It’s not released, that would be that was, that was over pronounced. We don’t release our T’s very often.

This is a stop T because the next word
begins with a consonant.

The word was is not pronounced

was, that’s stressed.

It was pronounced waz, waz.

That’s unstressed that waz, that waz.

That’s not how that was supposed to come out.

Supposed to,

these two words go together pretty frequently, and we don’t say supposed to, we say spose to, spose to.

…supposed…

…supposed to come out.

Listen to just supposed to come.

…supposed to come…

Supposed to come, supposed to come,
supposed to come.

So, we lose the first syllable, we lose the vowel and it’s really just an SP, spo, spo

then we have the O as a no diphthong and the stressed syllable spose to, to

then we have S, a true T or a flap T. Honestly

his T sounds weak to me

so I wouldn’t write it as a true T, spose to, spose to.

I would say that was more of a flap T D sound sposed to, sposed to, sposed to and then a SCHWA.

SO, supposed to, three syllables becomes
two sposed to, sposed to.

…supposed…

…supposed to come out.

And a stop T at the end of out because it’s
at the end of a thought group.

…was supposed to come out.

This is just the worst Christmas ever.

So, Phoebe

she’s not feeling good about Christmas I wrote this is but I actually think it’s,

it’s, it’s just the, it’s hard to hear, people
are laughing and it’s not very stressed

but really I think I’m just hearing an S sound or a TS sound

which means it’s would have been it instead of this is, it’s just, it’s just, just, just, just.

It’s just the worst…

It’s just the worst, t, t, t, t.
Just a quick TS sound.

We do reduce the word it’s this way.

We also reduce the word let’s this way, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go

and we reduce the word that’s this way,
that’s okay for example.

That’s okay can become ’s okay, So, we have a few words also what is, what

that can reduce to just the TS sound.

It’s just the worst.

It’s just the worst…

It’s just the worst Christmas ever.

What is the stress of this phrase? We know it’s is not stressed because it’s reduced, it’s low in pitch

and it’s kind of hard to hear

but what are the stressed syllables, the ones that are the clearest, the easiest to hear?

It’s just the worst Christmas ever.

Worst and ev’ have the most stress.

Now let’s look at our Ts.
We have a bunch that are dropped.

When a T is part of an ending cluster like the ST cluster and the next word begins with a consonant

like it does here with the, that T is dropped, jus’ the and that’s what she does take a listen.

It’s just the worst Christmas ever.

Then even in the stressed word worst it’s dropped because the next word begins with a consonant.

So, in both of those cases even though the word just

and the word worst even though those
words do have a T sound

the T was dropped because in this case the T came between two consonants.

Now, in the word Christmas the T also comes between two consonants and it’s also dropped

although, I guess I shouldn’t say it’s dropped because dropped means that it’s normally there

and it’s actually not normally there. There is no T sound in Christmas even though there is a letter T

because it comes between two consonants.
Chrismas, Chrismas.

So, we have just the worst Christmas but all with a no T’s. Jus’ the wors’ Chrismas ever.

It’s just the worst Christmas ever.

You know what, Rach, maybe you should just…You know what, Rach… You know what, Rach…

Know, definitely the most stressed word of that three word thought group.

You know what, Rach…

The word you, I actually think that that was reduced. I think not the OO vowel, but I think it was actually

reduced to the SCHWA yu, yu, yu know, yu know what.

That’s a pretty common reduction for the word too.

Yu know, Yu know what.

You know what…

You know what, Rach, maybe you should just…

And all of those words linked together really smoothly,

you know what.

Stop T, end of the thought group.

Rach, again up-down shape. It’s a stressed syllable.

You know what, Rach…

You know what, Rach, maybe you should just…

Maybe you should just and then the thought group ends here. There’s a little pause.

Let’s look at these four words.

Maybe you should just…

Maybe you should just, stress on may and just.

Maybe you should just…

You should just.

Okay. We have a couple reductions here. The word should is pronounced sh,

just SH and a SCHWA said quickly linking
right into the next sound

which is the J sound of just.

So, the L is always silent, but the D was
also dropped there.

I’ve noticed we do this sometimes when
the next word begins with a consonant

you should just, you should just, you should just.

Then we also have a dropped T. Now, why?

Before we dropped the T in just because it linked into a word that began with a constant.

Here it doesn’t but it’s just such a habit to
not pronounce the T in just

that we don’t do it sometimes
even when we pause.

Maybe you should jus’.

It simply ends in an S sound.

Maybe you should just…

Maybe you should just, you know…

You know, what’s the stress there

…you know…

You know, it’s definitely on no the word you again is reduced

just like it was up here in the phrase you know what,

you know, you know.

…you know…

…you know, stay here at the coffee house.

And in the rest of this sentence in this thought group what are the most stressed syllables?

…stay here at the coffee house.

… stay here at the coffee house.

I’m getting stay, a little bit on here, stay here at the coffee house.

So, four words that are a little bit longer.

In the word coffee the stressed word it’s only the stressed syllable that has that length.

The unstressed syllable will still be very short but at and the are not fully pronounced like that.

They are lower in pitch at the, at the, at
the, flat and the word at reduces,

the vowel changes to the SCHWA, the T is a stop T at the, at the, at the, here at the, here at the.

…stay here at the…

stay here at the coffee house.
I can’t.

Her voice is really breathy here.

She’s a little bit I don’t know if desperate is the right word exasperated but she’s just

she’s frustrated and that’s what’s
coming out in her voice.

That’s what this extra breathiness is doing.

I can’t.

I can’t, stress on the word can’t. She does
do a True T release.

We often don’t do that so she’s really stressing it by making that a True T.

I can’t.

I can’t. It’s too late.

It’s too late.

Too and late both stressed and again she
does a True T release here

where we would often make that a stop T because it’s at the end of a sentence.

So, by making these all True Ts she’s showing her desperation, her frustration.

The T in the word too is always a True T.

It’s too late.

Terry already hired that girl over there.

What’s our stress in this sentence?

Terry already hired that girl over there.

Terry, the name, the stressed syllable of Terry.

Terry already hired that girl over there.

Those are the most stressed syllables.

Also, the word Terry also has a True T.

We’re actually getting some True T practice here because it begins a stressed syllable,

Terry already hired.

Terry already hired…

Terry already hired, Terry already hired,
already, already, already.

She’s not making an L sound in the word already and that’s pretty common.

I don’t do that either.

Already, already, already, already,
just a really quick vowel

and then the stressed syllable already,
already, already.

Terry already…

That’s an all as in AH vowel already, already, already, already, already hired that girl.

Again, the D sound not released just a quick vibration in the vocal cords before going on to the next sound.

Hired that girl, Stop T in that because the next word begins with a consonant.

Terry already hired that girl…

Now, I know girl can be one of the trickiest words. It’s got the R vowel GU R and then a Dark L, gurl.

One thing that can help is to use the stress to your advantage, use the up-down shape

gurl and use that fall down in the pitch for your Dark L gurl, gurl, gurl over there.

…girl over there.

You do need to make sure you’re making
a dark sound

otherwise it won’t sound right.
It’s not a light L,

it’s a dark L because the L comes at the end of the syllable girl.

When I make that sound I don’t lift my
tongue tip at all, girl.

Now, you will lift it quickly before the O
diphthong to differentiate

girl over, over,

girl over but you want the dark sound before you lift your tongue tip otherwise it sounds like

girl and that’s not quite American girl, girl over there.

…girl over there.

If you’re a Spanish speaker make sure you’re making a V and not a B,

Vvvvv

you can see some of your teeth when you make that sound.

If your lips are closed then it’s a B. Try to work on a separate V sound over there.

…girl over there.

And she laughs a little bit as she says there, there.

…there.

Look at her.

What’s our stress in this
three word thought group.

Look at her.

Look at her. Very obvious first word stress,

look at her and then the unstressed words just come in on the way down for the pitch, look at her.

Now, this is a light L because it comes at the beginning of the syllable or in this case the word

so you will lift your tongue tip, look at her.

The word at what do you notice about the pronunciation.

Look at her.

It’s not AH at but it’s look at her. It almost sounds like the word it which has the /I/ as in sit vowel.

It’s the SCHWA look at her and I think that the SCHWA and the IH as in sit vowel sound pretty much the same

when the IH is unstressed and they’re said quickly, look at her and there is a stop T there, look at her.

Look at her.

That double O in look is the same vowel
as in push or sugar.

Don’t let the double-O fool you it’s not OO,
it’s U luk, luk at her.

Look at her.

Look at her. She’s even got waitress experience.

What’s the stress of this last sentence.

She’s even got waitress experience.

She’s even got, little stress on even she’s even got waitress experience.

I would say most of the stress is on that
first syllable of waitress.

She’s even got waitress experience.

The apostrophe s in she’s is a Z sound
that links right into the next vowel,

which is the E vowel she’s even, even, even. She’s even got, try that. She’s even got…

She’s even got…

She’s even got waitress experience.

A stop T at the end of got because the next sound is a consonant waitress experience.

…waitress experience.

Waitress, we have a TR cluster and it’s common for that to become CHR and that’s exactly what happens here,

waichress experience.

…waitress experience.

Experience, a four syllable word with stress on the second syllable ex-pe-rience, ex-pe-rience.

When you have a longer word that feels tricky focus on the stress that can help a lot with the pronunciation.

It can help you figure out where to
simplify experience, experience.

…experience.

…experience. Ugh.

Ugh.

Even that expression has an up-down
shape, the shape of stress, ugh.

Ugh.

Let’s listen to the whole conversation one more time.

Hey. How’d the interview go?

Ugh. I blew it.

I wouldn’t have even hired me.

Oh. Come here, sweetie. Listen.

You’re going to go on, like, a thousand
interviews before you get a job.

That’s not how that was supposed to come out.

It’s just the worst Christmas ever.

You know what, Rach, maybe you should just, you know, stay here at the coffee house.

I can’t. It’s too late.

Terry already hired that girl over there.

Look at her, she’s even got waitress experience. Ugh.

If you love Learning English with TV we do have a whole playlist for that check it out

and if you love this kind of full pronunciation analysis I do a lot of it in my Academy.

My Academy is where I help students train and really reach their accent, their pronunciation goals.

It’s Rachel’s English Academy.

There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee
so don’t be afraid to try it

also don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I make a new video every Tuesday.

That’s it guys and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.