How to Pronounce UNITED STATES American English
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to go over
how to pronounce ‘United States’.
This week’s Word of the Week is actually two
words: ‘United States’. ‘United’. It’s a three-syllable
word with stress on the middle syllable. United.
So, it begins with the EW as in FEW diphthong.
Then we have the N consonant sound, so the
tongue will lift and touch here: un-. Then
we have the AI as in BUY diphthong: uni-,
uni-. Make sure you drop your jaw enough for
that first sound: uni-, uni-ted. So here we’re
going to have a Flap T because it comes between
two vowel sounds (the AI diphthong and the
schwa). -ted, -ted, -ted. So the tongue tip
will go to the roof of the mouth, -te-, pull
down and go right back up: -ted, -ted. United.
United.
States. This begins with the ST consonant
cluster, ss, ss, ss. So, the tongue tip is
down, the teeth are closed, states, states.
The front part of the tongue can reach up
and touch the roof of the mouth here, rather than
bringing the tip up. It’s a short cut with
the ST cluster. Tongue tip down, front part
to the roof of the mouth. St-, st-, st-, states,
states. Then we have the AY as in SAY diphthong,
so the jaw does need to drop a good bit for
that, sta-, sta-. And finally, the TS consonant
cluster, -ts, -ts, states. United States.
I’m from the United States.
That’s it, your Word of the Week. Try it
out yourself. Make up a sentence with the
word, record it, and post it as a video response
to this video on YouTube. I can’t wait to
watch it.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English.