Explore Maine American English Pronunciation
In this American English pronunciation video,
you’re going to learn a little bit about one
of America’s 50 States. Can you guess which
state this is? A rocky coast, and very cold
Atlantic water! Also, beautiful pines.
This is Maine. Maine is at the very top of
the east coast of the United States. Its pronunciation
is quite straight forward. The M consonant,
the AY as in SAY diphthong, do drop your jaw
for the first sound of that diphthong … and
a final N, Maine. Some of my students who
are Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin speakers,
among others, have difficulty with an ending
N. The tongue should be relaxed and flat,
very forward, with the tip lifted so the the
front part is at the roof of the mouth. Maine,
Maine.
I spent six days this summer at Acadia National
Park on Mount Desert Island, just off the
coast. While camping in Acadia, we enjoyed
exploring the coast and some beautiful hikes.
So foggy!
Looks like someone left their lobster cage.
Makes me want to have lobster for dinner.
Did you notice? Both ‘lobster’ and ‘foggy’
are spelled with the letter O, and they’re
making the AH as in FATHER sound. Look at how much
my jaw drops for those sounds. Foggy, lobster.
Another word with the O that has the AH as
in FATHER vowel, rock. And, dog.
That was not planned. I don’t even know whose
dog that is.
Another word where the letter O spells the
AH as in FATHER vowel is ‘moss’. And I’m noticing,
moss is all over the place here on the coast
of Maine, I guess because it’s so damp. But
this is an example of moss.
I’m spending most of my time here on the coast
of Maine. The capital of Maine is Augusta,
and that’s inland. Let’s take a second to
look at the word ‘inland’. It looks like it
should be in-land. But actually, there’s a
schwa in that second syllable. It’s unstressed,
and in this particular case, we do reduce
the vowel. Inland, inland. This is just like
island, island, where again, we have a schwa
in that second, unstressed syllable. Also
notice, the S is silent in that word. Island,
inland. Now, let’s take a look at the pronunciation
of ‘Augusta’.
Augusta. This is a three-syllable word with
stress on the middle syllable. da-DA-da. The
first syllable, unstressed, can be either
the AW as in LAW vowel, or the schwa. The
second, stressed syllable, begins with the
G consonant, has the UH as in BUTTER vowel,
Augu-, and the ST consonant cluster followed
by the schwa, -sta, -sta. Augusta, Augusta.
You can’t come to Maine without trying its
seafood, like this New England Clam Chowder.
Very good.
Or this lobster roll, where lobster meat is
mixed in with other ingredients to make a
salad and served on a roll. Maine is also
known for its blueberries, so don’t miss blueberry
pie if you visit.
I loved Maine and its slippery coast. Have
you ever been to Maine? If so, tell me about
it in the comments section, or better yet,
practice speaking and record a video, and
upload it as a video response to this video
on YouTube.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.