# Pronunciation: American English pronunciation rules



## VenusEnvy

_I have posted this question in two forums: this one, and that of Spanish-English. I hope to reach English learners in the Spanish forum, and native help here._

I have been looking for days for rules on pronunciation for American English, and am coming up empty. I have found pronunciation guides, that follow the alphabet, and go something like this:
A apple, cat

But, I seem to remember more concrete rules when I was in school. I remember rules such as, "When two vowels go walking, the first does the talking", the sound of "th" and "ch", etc. Does anyone know of any good resources for these rules? I know this is a bit difficult because it seems that there are more exceptions than rules, but they must be out there somewhere!

If you were to teach pronunciation to a non-native speaker, how would you do it, or what would you use? I'd appreciate any suggestions/recourses whatsoever.

Thanks in advance, people!


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## suspensefullife

I would suggest something like "hooked on phonics" to start.  I went to grade school in the late 60's and early 70's and that is how I was taught to read.  You might also look for grammer books from that time period.  Many of those sayings " i before e except after c and when they say "a" as in neighbor and weigh."  were used to teach grammer and spelling then.


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## *Cowgirl*

Try Saxon Phonics. There are tons of rules like the walking vowels. 

Sorry, I don't remember any though, I did it when I was in 2nd grade.


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## wdragon

Hi,

Try Pronunciation Patterns at  http://www.PronunciationPatterns.com or http://www.download.com/Pronunciation-Patterns-Professional-Edition-/3640-2279_4-10448473.html.
It has all the phonics rules and it is a great tool to improve English pronunciation because it groups 4,000 words by patterns.

Dragon,


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## Mikeyp028

"A" by itself sounds like that,A. With AE, it still sounds like A. Anytime a word has an A in it, it sounds like (AH) like in (AH)pple. A four letter word or name like Kate, the A sounds like (AE). Like in your example apple, if the double p was not there, it would be (AE-PULL). It all deals with amounts of lettering and such. It takes a while with the vowels, but "English is the language of literature."


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## thyself84

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to learn american english, and I've heard somewhere that you americans pronounce the sounds /ʌ/ and /ə/ exactly the same. Another point is that you don't differenciate /ɒ/ and /ɑ/. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance for your help!

PD: I already know that there are many dialects in the US. I just wanna know how do you speak these sounds in general.


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## Outsider

Here's a start.


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## thyself84

Well, I was wanting a "first hand" answer. Like: look guy i'm from America and you are correct or not on the topic.

Thanks.


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## maxiogee

I think the kindest thing to tell you is that there is no single pronunciation similarity of _anything_ across a country as vast as the USA.
Even here in Ireland there can be a huge difference in the way people who live just 50 miles apart pronounce certain vowel sounds.


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## Outsider

Well, there is the general Americal dialect. It encompasses most of the country's population...


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## virtdave

Maybe if you gave some word pairs with suggested phonetic pronounciation using the phonemes in which you are interested, we could give opinions as to whether  Americans really make the distinctions in which you are interested.


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## panjandrum

thyself84 said:
			
		

> ... I'm trying to learn american english, and I've heard somewhere that you americans pronounce the sounds /ʌ/ and /ə/ exactly the same. Another point is that you don't differentiate /ɒ/ and /ɑ/. Is that correct?
> Thanks in advance for your help!
> PD: I already know that there are many dialects in the US. I just want to know how do you speak these sounds in general.


Am I the only one who can see no difference between the different symbols presented above? I see four identical examples of /ʌ/ solidus-square-solidus.


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## nmuscatine

I also see four identical squares.


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## Jana337

You might need to change the encoding in your browser. I see 4 different symbols.

Jana


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## Kelly B

I see four different symbols, but I do not know what sounds they represent.


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## Outsider

For the benefit of those who cannot read the phonetic alphabet symbols, I have rewritten thyself84's post.



			
				thyself84 said:
			
		

> Hi everyone!
> 
> I'm trying to learn american english, and I've heard somewhere that you americans pronounce the sounds /1/ and /2/ exactly the same. Another point is that you don't differenciate /3/ and /4/. Is that correct?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help!
> 
> PD: I already know that there are many dialects in the US. I just wanna know how do you speak these sounds in general.


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## cuchuflete

thyself84 said:
			
		

> Hi everyone!
> 
> I'm trying to learn American English, and I've heard somewhere that you Americans pronounce the sounds /ʌ/ and /ə/ exactly the same. Another point is that you don't differentiate /ɒ/ and /ɑ/. Is that correct?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help!
> 
> PD: I already know that there are many dialects in the US. I just wanna *want to *know how do you speak these sounds in general.



Greetings Thyself,
Welcome to the forums...As English is not your native language, you may not be aware of the differences between standard and spoken colloquial usage. We try to use the former here.  From our rules:


> Except as a topic of discussion, chatspeak and SMS style are not acceptable. Members must do their best to write using standard language forms.



Whatever you may learn about pronunciation in the U.S., it will be incorrect for millions of native speakers.  Outsider is
enamored of the idea of General American, but within the geography that supposedly uses it, there are considerable variations in pronunciation.

I suggest you pick a number of word pairs which you think have the same sound, and present them here.  Then the native speakers can tell you if the words have the same, or distinct pronunciations of whatever vowels or consonants are of interest to you.  I suspect you will be surprised by the range of answers.


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## thyself84

virtdave said:
			
		

> Maybe if you gave some word pairs with suggested phonetic pronounciation using the phonemes in which you are interested, we could give opinions as to whether Americans really make the distinctions in which you are interested.


Ok, here we go. According to Ms. Barron's American Accent Training book, there are "rules" like I mentioned above: /ɒ/ = /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ = /ə/.
For example, if we follow the rule /ɒ/ = /ɑ/, we get that the "a" of ball (/bɒl/) must be pronunced like the "o" of cop (/kɑp/) (the phonetic transcription is taken from Eva Easton's Authentic American Pronunciation). That sounds extremely odd to me, that's why i'm wondering about it.


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## cuchuflete

thyself84 said:
			
		

> Ok, here we go. According to Ms. Barron's American Accent Training book, there are "rules" like I mentioned above: /ɒ/ = /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ = /ə/.
> For example, if we follow the rule /ɒ/ = /ɑ/, we get that the "a" of ball (/bɒl/) must be pronunced like the "o" of cop (/kɑp/) (the phonetic transcription is taken from Eva Easton's Authentic American Pronunciation). That sounds extremely odd to me, that's why i'm wondering about it.



For starters, you may wish to give an example of each of the phonetic symbols as used in common words.  Not all members of this forum know the phonetic symbols.  And, of course, whatever examples you present will be pronounced differently by different AE speakers 

Ball and cop do not rhyme for me. Below are some words with the same vowel sounds---for me only.  Others will certainly hear things differently.

Ball, Gaul, Paul, pall, awl
Cop, crop, shop, stop


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## thyself84

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Welcome to the forums...As English is not your native language, you may not be aware of the differences between standard and spoken colloquial usage. We try to use the former here.


 Thanks cuchuflete. I will do my best.


My question would be: the vocallic sound in this two rows are the same to you? To me are not indeed, but as I stated before there are books that do. It's puzzling me.

/ɑ/  cop  hot  clock  stop  Bob  bomb balm                                          

/ɒ/ caught motto lawn long song


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## cuchuflete

These do not sound alike to me.

These sound alike to me.

cop                                     caught
 hot                                     motto
 clock                                 lawn
 stop                                    long
 Bob                                      song
 bomb balm  (not identical, but very close)


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## cuchuflete

All the ones in the left hand column, and motto, have the same vowel sound for me:  ah

All the others, except balm, have a vowel sound that rhymes with awe.

Balm is special.  I pronounce the "l" as well as the "m".  This has a slight effect on the vowel pronunciation.


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## duder

thyself84 said:
			
		

> Thanks cuchuflete. I will do my best.
> 
> 
> My question would be: the vocallic sound in this two rows are the same to you? To me are not indeed, but as I stated before there are books that do. It's puzzling me.
> 
> /ɑ/  cop  hot  clock  stop  Bob  bomb balm
> 
> /ɒ/ caught motto lawn long song



Hi,

I pronounce _motto_ with the same vowel sound as the words in the top row, but otherwise the two rows are different.


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## thyself84

Thanks a lot! You know, to learn English pronunciation it's a madness for spanish-speakers.


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## GenJen54

You might also look into changing or reformatting the phonetics software you use, or give more "simple" examples, such as: 

How do you pronounce the "o" in cop?...or the "a" in apple? 

Not only do some members not understand phoenetic symbols (I'm a bit rusty, personally), but as others have noted in their previous posts, all I see when you type the symbols is a square box in between two slashes. I cannot see the actual symbols at all, so have no clue as to what they are. 

I agree with your latest statement. English pronunciation is difficult to learn, especially because there are very few "standards," and unlike Spanish or other languages, it is not always "intuitive" from an orthographic standpoint. Good luck.


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## panjandrum

Please forgive my sigh of relief at the sudden realisation that this thread is about AMERICAN English Pronunciation.
May your discussions and deliberations produce fruitful results, and may your investigations never get as far as Irish English Pronunciation


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## cuchuflete

Western ISO-8859-1  is the character encoding I'm using in Firefox.  The symbols display as intended.


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## *Cowgirl*

Whoa guys. The a in apple sounds like the a in cat, not like the doctors office where they tell you to go ahhhhhhhhh.


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## leonore

Hi there,

Interesting, really! For me, the "n" sound in "lawn", "song", "long", affects the vowel and "absorbs" it in a way - while the "t" sound in "caught" opens it.


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## Hakro

Hi all,

So far you have discussed about vowels that generally change more easily, for example in dialects in every language. The consonants keep their sound better, but I have found that in American pronunciation usually _t_ (and even double _tt_) between two vowels is pronounced like _d_. American _better _sounds to me like _bedder._

I once mentioned this to a fellow Finn who had lived in the US many years an he said "No, that's not true". But other Finns agree with me that there's a clear difference in pronouncing _t_ in English or in American.

What do you think of this, native speakers, and others, too?


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## thyself84

Hakro said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> 
> So far you have discussed about vowels that generally change more easily, for example in dialects in every language. The consonants keep their sound better, but I have found that in American pronunciation usually _t_ (and even double _tt_) between two vowels is pronounced like _d_. American _better _sounds to me like _bedder._
> 
> I once mentioned this to a fellow Finn who had lived in the US many years an he said "No, that's not true". But other Finns agree with me that there's a clear difference in pronouncing _t_ in English or in American.
> 
> What do you think of this, native speakers, and others, too?



I think you are completely right. Maybe your friend has not very good ear .


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## grumpus

Hakro said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> 
> So far you have discussed about vowels that generally change more easily, for example in dialects in every language. The consonants keep their sound better, but I have found that in American pronunciation usually _t_ (and even double _tt_) between two vowels is pronounced like _d_. American _better _sounds to me like _bedder._
> 
> I once mentioned this to a fellow Finn who had lived in the US many years an he said "No, that's not true". But other Finns agree with me that there's a clear difference in pronouncing _t_ in English or in American.
> 
> What do you think of this, native speakers, and others, too?




Hi Hakro et al, 
I think what you say is generally true.  Better is universally Be"dd'er in the U.S.
I think in England, particularly, the pronunciation depends a bit on class and social context -- working and lower classes or informal interactions may result in the be"dd"er pronunciation.    Be"tt"er to the American ear sounds British or very stilted, no one here regardless of social class would say be"tt"er unless mimicking British speech (losing the r also)

also
Ball, Gaul, Paul, pall, awl
Cop, crop, shop, stop

The vowel alone (before you get to the l or the p) is the same to me.  But in their totally, including ending consonants, the vowels do sound different.  It's as if they have to change given there phonetic environment.

Grumpus


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## nmuscatine

I was born and raised in California, and I definitely agree with grumpus. For me, in the majority of cases, the most natural-sounding way to pronounce "t" is like "d." For example:
water -> wadder
little -> liddle
matter -> madder
write = right -> ride
British -> Briddish

In some cases, like when the "t" is at the end of the word, it is pronounced somewhere in between a "t" and a "d."  It is a very soft consonant and is almost not pronounced at all. For example:
"bit" sounds very similar to "bid" (but not exactly the same)
and they both sound sort of like "bih" with a hard stop at the end.  
Sorry, I don't know the official linguistic terminology for these sounds.

The letter "t" at the beginning of a word is generally prounced as "t." 


On the subject of vowels, Californians tend to lump together different categories of vowels together.
For example:
caught = cot
walk = wok
naught = not


Many unstressed/unimportant vowels just get pronouced "uh" (by "uh" I mean the vowel sound in "but" or "cut"). For example 
pronounce -> pruhnounce
capital -> capituhl
totally -> totuhlly
depend -> duhpend
informal -> informuhl


"For" gets pronounced like the word "fur" ususally. 

Another thing: "wh"
My mom is from the East Coast, and is, of course, from an older generation.  She distinctly pronounces the "wh" in words like "which" or "what."  It's hard for me to explain exactly how the "h" comes through, but when she speaks, is it easy to hear the difference between "wh" and "w." On the other hand, for me:
which = witch
whale = wail
why = y
etc.

I'm sure that there are many other aspects of the American (and/or Californian) accent that I have never even noticed, since I have never lived outside of California. I find this fascinating and I'd be interested in hearing other people's impressions, particularly people not from the U.S. or from other regions of the U.S. or from older generations (I am 21 years old). 

Thanks.


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## cuchuflete

For those who believe that there is one 'standard', please have a look at this:   No standard!


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## grumpus

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> For those who believe that there is one 'standard', please have a look at this:   No standard!



Hi Cuchuflete,
yes, definitely.  But a small "test" of "standardness" would be to ask who has and who doesn't.  Obviously, a dumb question, but it's very revealing.  Americans would say I don't have an "accent", because my version or nmuscatine's  of English is standard "American".  Again, it's nonsense, but I feel comfortable if you took a poll that's the answer you'd get.

saludos,
Grumpus


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## cuchuflete

Hi Grumpus...
The San Diego accent is easy to identify, even if it doesn't exist!

cheers,
Cuchu


PS-we took a poll a couple of years ago. More people selected the wrong answer than the argueably less wrong answers...the wrong answer has a guy named Dick working for him. Dick shoots lawyers by accident. So much for polls.


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## la reine victoria

> Originally posted by *Grumpus*
> Hi Hakro et al,
> I think what you say is generally true. Better is universally Be"dd'er in the U.S.
> I think in England, particularly, the pronunciation depends a bit on class and social context -- working and lower classes or informal interactions may result in the be"dd"er pronunciation. Be"tt"er to the American ear sounds British or very stilted, no one here regardless of social class would say be"tt"er unless mimicking British speech (losing the r also)


 

I trust I am not stilted by always sounding my 't-s' correctly.  I would never say 'be-"dd"-er.  How would my US forer@s distinguish between a betting shop (if you have such things) and a bedding shop?

LRV


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## grumpus

la reine victoria said:
			
		

> I trust I am not stilted by always sounding my 't-s' correctly.  I would never say 'be-"dd"-er.  How would my US forer@s distinguish between a betting shop (if you have such things) and a bedding shop?
> 
> LRV



Hi LRV,
of course, you would be expected to say be"tt"er, I wouldn't.  I would get my a@@ kicked
if I talked like that (ha ha).   There is a difference in AE between "betting" and "bedding", I don't know how to transcibe it phonetically.

saludos,
Grumpus


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## nmuscatine

I agree with Grumpus, there is a difference between "betting" and "bedding." I think that "betting" sounds a lot like what you (i.e. the British) would think "bedding" should sound like, but "bedding" sounds like it even more so. That probably didn't make much sense. What I mean is that the "dd" sound is more pronounced in "bedding," whereas it is lighter in "betting." 

Another confusion that I have actually come across in real life is the difference between "fifteen" and "fifty" (or "sixteen" and "sixty," etc.). To non-Americans, does it seem impossible to mix up these two words? For whatever reason, in "fifteen" the "t" sound is usually prounced as a "t," but in "fifty" it is pronounced as a "d." It gets confusing when I hear people pronounce "fifty" with the "t" because I associate that sound with "fifteen." It just seems like they're saying "fifteen" and not emphasising the "n" at the end very much. This misunderstanding has happened to me several times, but always when dealing with English-learners who emphasize the "t" in "fifty" way more than I am used to hearing.


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## la reine victoria

grumpus said:
			
		

> Hi LRV,
> of course, you would be expected to say be"tt"er, I wouldn't. I would get my a@@ kicked
> if I talked like that (ha ha). There is a difference in AE between "betting" and "bedding", I don't know how to transcibe it phonetically.
> 
> saludos,
> Grumpus


 
Hi Grumpus,

Do you use the phrase 'wetting the baby's head' in the US?  It's that wonderful time (for men) when the father of a newborn, and his friends, have an excuse to spend about a week in the pub celebrating.

Would you pronounce this as 'we"dd"ing the baby's head' = marrying it!  


LRV


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## rsweet

thyself84 said:
			
		

> Thanks cuchuflete. I will do my best.
> 
> 
> My question would be: the vocallic sound in this two rows are the same to you? To me are not indeed, but as I stated before there are books that do. It's puzzling me.
> 
> /?/  cop  hot  clock  stop  Bob  bomb balm
> 
> /?/ caught motto lawn long song



I'm a native Californian and would pronounce the vowel in "cop," "hot," "clock," "Bob," and "stop" the same. I'd pronounce "bomb," and "balm" with a slightly more open vowel sound.

I'd pronounce "caught," differently from the rest in the second example (the jaw is opened an dropped more).

But these nuances would not make much difference in your being understood and might not even be heard over the accent of a non-native speaker of English. Context and/or a bit of extra explanation easily takes care of any misunderstandings with these nuances in pronunciation (words like "pin" and "pen" or "cot" and "caught.")


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## grumpus

la reine victoria said:
			
		

> Hi Grumpus,
> 
> Do you use the phrase 'wetting the baby's head' in the US?  It's that wonderful time (for men) when the father of a newborn, and his friends, have an excuse to spend about a week in the pub celebrating.
> 
> Would you pronounce this as 'we"dd"ing the baby's head' = marrying it!
> 
> 
> LRV



Hi LRV and nmuscatine,

Well, actually it doesn't horrify me to say we"dd"ing the baby's head.  Perhaps, because there is no room for confusion -- you can't "wed"  the baby's head, only ''wet" it.  
But again, there is a difference to my ears between "wedding" and "wetting", only a slight one though.  (The "dd" is more "voiced" and the "tt" is more "voiceless")

On the fifty/fifteen, yes, I agree with nmuscatine.  The fif"ty"  is more "d-like" than fif"tee"n

Grumpus


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## maxiogee

la reine victoria said:
			
		

> Hi Grumpus,
> 
> Do you use the phrase 'wetting the baby's head' in the US?  It's that wonderful time (for men) when the father of a newborn, and his friends, have an excuse to spend about a week in the pub celebrating.
> 
> Would you pronounce this as 'we"dd"ing the baby's head' = marrying it!
> 
> 
> LRV



In Ireland those rituals are always held in mid-week - on a wedden's day!


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