English A StressTimed Language American Pronunciation
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to go over why some words sound
different when they’re said on their own than
they do when they’re said as part of a sentence,
like ‘for’, ‘fer’.
A lot of people think, when they’re studying
a language and they’re new to it, that they
need to pronounce each word fully and clearly
in order to be well-understood. But in English
that’s actually not the case. English is a
stress-timed language. That means some syllables
will be longer, and some will be shorter.
Many languages, however, are syllable-timed,
which means each syllable has the same length.
Examples of syllable-timed languages: French,
Spanish, Cantonese. So, when an American hears
a sentence of English, with each syllable
having the same length, it takes just a little
bit longer to get the meaning. This is because
we are used to stressed syllables, syllables
that will pop out of the line because they’re
longer and they have more shape. Our ears,
our brains, go straight to those words. Those
are the content words. When all syllables
are the same length, then there’s no way for
the ear to know which words are the most important.
So this is why stress is so important in American
English. It’s a stress-timed language. When
you give us nice shape in your stressed syllables,
you’re giving us the meaning of the sentence.
This means that other syllables need to be
unstressed — flatter, quicker — so that
the stressed syllables are what the ear goes
to. This is why it’s so important to reduce
function words that can reduce in American
English. When those function words are part
of a whole, part of a sentence, they are pronounced
differently. Let’s look at some examples.
—-. Do you know what I’m saying? A native
speaker might not either. But, in the context
of a sentence, “I’m going to the store,” a
native speaker would know exactly what I was
saying. I’m going to the store. I’m going
to the store. When ‘to the’ is pronounced
—- (reduced and linked), ‘going’ and ‘store’
become the obvious words in that sentence.
I’m going to the store.
What about —-? Can you understand what I’m
saying? A native speaker might not either.
But, in the sentence fragment “Because of
my job,” “Because of my job,” a native speaker
would know exactly what I was saying. Because
of my job. Because of my job. ‘Because’ and
‘of’ are so unstressed, so reduced and low
in pitch, that the word ‘job’ is able to really
jump out of the sentence. Because of my job.
This is really of primary importance in American
English pronunciation. As you’re working on
pronunciation, keep in mind this idea of a
word being part of a whole.
The word ‘for’: part of a word becomes fer,
fer, fer you, fer me, fer dinner. Practice
it this way. Drill it over and over. Other
words that can reduce: ‘and’ can become ‘n’.
‘Them’ can become ‘thum’ or ‘em’. ‘At’ can
become ‘ut’. ‘To’ can become ‘tuh’ or ‘duh’.
‘Can’ can become ‘kun’, ‘kun’. ‘Are’ can become
‘er’, ‘er’. ‘Was’ can become ‘wuz’, ‘wuz’.
‘That’ can become ‘thut’, ‘thut’. ‘Your’ can
become ‘yer’, ‘yer’. ‘At the’ can become ‘ut
the’, ‘ut the’. And so on. So keep an eye
out for this as you’re studying pronunciation
and listening to native speakers.
That’s it, and thanks so much
for using Rachel’s English.
I’m excited to announce that I’m running another
online course, so do check out my website
for details. You’ll find on there all sorts
of information about the course, who should
take the course, and requirements. I really
hope you’ll check it out and consider signing
up. I’ve had a blast with my first online
course, and I’m looking forward to getting
to know you.
Don’t stop there. Have fun with my real-life
English videos. Or get more comfortable with
the IPA in this play list. Learn about the
online courses I offer, or check out my latest
video.