How to Say LITERALLY American English Conversation
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to learn how to
pronounce the word ‘literally.’
This video is being made while I’m on vacation,
hence the weird wood background
and the bad lighting.
But the benefit is we get to hear lots
of different people pronounce this word.
It’s literally a hard word to pronounce.
First let’s go over the pronunciation.
This is a four syllable word with
stress on the first syllable,
DA-da-da-da, li-ter-a-lly, li-ter-a-lly.
You may find that some people
even stress the L a little bit,
holding it out a little longer,
Li-terally, to emphasize the word.
To make the L you can bring the tongue
tip up to the roof of the mouth, ll.
I’ve noticed I often bring the
tongue tip through the teeth, ll.
It looks like the TH but you can
still make the L sound, li-, li-.
Then we have the IH vowel, so the tongue tip will
push here lightly behind the bottom front teeth
and the jaw will drop a little bit, li-, li-.
Next we have a T, but it comes between
two vowel sounds, so it’s a Flap T,
Li-ter-a-lly. Li-t-t-t-t-t-t.
That means the tongue just flaps,
it bounces against the roof of the mouth,
we don’t stop the air flow. It sounds a lot like
the D in American English between two vowels.
It sounds like the R in languages
like Arabic, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Li-ter, li-ter, li-ter, just a
quick bounce of the tongue tip.
Next we have the schwa-R syllable,
-er-, -er-, -er-.
You don’t need to try to make a separate schwa
sound, you can just go into the R sound.
So after your tongue tip bounces
against the roof of the mouth
you pull it back and up a little bit for the
R sound. Tongue tip shouldn’t be touching anything.
Li-ter-, and you should be able to hold out
that sound, li-ter, li-ter, li-ter-a-lly.
Next we have a schwa syllable.
It’s very fast and you don’t really need to
think about making a special schwa sound.
Li-ter-a-lly, li-ter-a-lly.
Just think of making a little emphasis
for another syllable there, li-ter-a-.
So your tongue tip will come back down before
it goes into position for the L, li-ter-a-lly.
Li-ter-al-, and you can see for the second L here,
again, I’m bringing my tongue tip through my teeth.
It’s a little bit more of a simple movement
because it doesn’t have to go up so far.
Li-ter-a-lly, li-ter-a-lly.
Then the tongue tip ends up down here
again for the EE as in SHE vowel.
Li-ter-a-lly, li-ter-a-lly.
Let’s listen to some friends
and family say this word.
Literally.
Literally.
Literally, there were no doughnuts left.
Literally.
Literally.
Literally.
Literally. Literally.
Literally. Literally.
Literally. Literally.
Literally. Literally.
Literally. Literally.
Literally. Literally.
I hope this video has helped you understand
how to say the word ‘literally.’
If there’s a word you’d like to learn how
to pronounce, put it in the comments below,
and don’t forget to ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ this video.
That’s it and thanks so much
for using Rachel’s English.
Go one more time, literally,
Literally.