How Do you Pronounce This Word?

How do you pronounce a word??

What should you do?

What is important to know and what is less important?

Here are a few things I would think about.

1. What are the sounds involved and in what sequence do they appear?

This may seem obvious but the letters and combination of letters involved is important. You already have a good repertoire of English words with similar patterns but it can be important to intentionally consider them.

For example, I know the individual sounds that G, O, U, H but in the context of the words TOUGH and HUGO, they contribute to different sounds.

Sometimes certain sound combinations are hard because they don’t exist in your repertoire. For example, 3 consonants in a row can be hard for some speakers. English has them. STRength, STRong, STRaight, SPRing, SCReam, SPHinx are examples. And even if these 3 consonants only actually make 2 sounds (e.g. Sphinx has 3 consonants but makes a S-F- sound), it can be a jarring and confusingly challenging situation for English learners.

2. How many syllables? What are the syllables and which one is stressed?

With multiple syllables, words have a stressed and an unstressed syllable. With 3+ syllables, stressed syllables can be the primary and secondary stress. Knowing where the primary stress is indicates where you should focus your pronunciation efforts. It can help you understand how to work through a word and can shape your pronunciation.

For example, compare the UK and US pronunciation of the word ALUMINIUM.

3. Is the word a noun, verb, adjective, pronoun? Or is it multiple?

Knowing the category of the word can give you an idea about its pronunciation. If it is a grammar word or a noun or verb can impact how you pronounce the word. Many times, a single spelling of a word can have multiple pronunciations based on its use. These are called homographs (from the Greek: ὁμός, homós, "same" and γράφω, gráphō, "write").

Address (verb) - How should I address you?

Address (noun) - What’s your address?

Other times, a single spelling of a word can have multiple meanings but the same pronunciation. These are called homonyms.

Bear (verb) - I must bear this burden?

Bear (noun) - Ahh! it’s a brown bear!

4. Phonetic Spelling and Audio Samples

Hearing a word and reading its phonetic spelling is important for figuring out its pronunciation. They share information on how others pronounce the word, whether there are ‘strong’ or ‘weak’ versions of the pronunciation, and whether there are regional differences between pronunciations - like when comparing a US or North American pronunciation to a UK pronunciation.

There’s no point learning the UK pronunciation if you are otherwise following and using a US pronunciation for the rest of your English communication. And vice versa.

If you can, check a few sites for different pronunciations of the word to increase your sample size. Forvo.com, Dictionary.com, Google’s own dictionary pronunciation, Cambridge Dictionary are a few example sites to check out. Not to mention with AI generated voices, you can hear

5. Learning the Word in Isolation Versus in Connected Speech

When you learn to pronounce a word in isolation or by itself, you are pronouncing it in its strongest, clearest, and stressed form.

The word OR by itself in a General American accent has a clear O and a clear R sound.

But in a sentence of phrase, the word OR acts as a function word - a grammar word. We don’t stress grammar words in a majority of cases unless we are emphasizing the OR.

We shorten it, make the vowel a little more lazy or central and actually visually represent the word as shortened too!

We do this often in speech but don’t explicitly explain it visually. But they exist.

When you think of M&Ms, you don’t hear the D sound in AND

When you think of Trick ‘r treat, you don’t hear the O in OR. You hear a ER sound.

Learning the word in isolation can often be the proper way to pronounce the word but may not reflect the realistic or common way that people pronounce it.

6. Practice aloud

Practicing in your head is fine but it pays to say it aloud. It pays to get comfortable and confident with hearing yourself say the word. Practice it slowly, intentionally, and get comfortable with the mouth shapes. Make sure you can replicate it or make note of important features that can help you in the future. If you want to be able to say it aloud to other people and feel confident doing so, you have to feel confident speaking it aloud at normal volume. Whispering it under your breath, practicing it in your head, and all the rest are useful baby-steps, but somewhere along your progress, you need to practice aloud.