Round Your Lips Just a Little: The Tiny Movement That Separates “Sh” from “S”
Why “S” and “Sh” Feel So Similar The sounds /s/ (“s”) and /ʃ/ (“sh”) are actually pretty closely related. Both are produced by…
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The Hidden Buzz in English: Learning the /ʒ/ Sound in “Measure”
There is a less-common sound in American English that isn’t spelled consistently, rarely gets attention in pronunciation textbooks, and is often replaced with…
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Why Americans Smooth the /aʊr/ Sound in “Power” Into One Flowing Syllable
Yesterday, we looked at why words with the /aɪr/ sound, like fire, make up one syllable instead of two. Now let’s take a…
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The Two-Syllable Trap: Why Americans Say Fire and Hire as One Syllable
If you look up the pronunciation of the word fire in a dictionary, you may be surprised to discover that it’s officially one…
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The Hidden Rule Behind Gonna, Wanna, and Gotta: Why Reduced Forms Are Real English, Not Lazy English
Why Americans Don’t Say “Going To” in Casual Conversation One of the defining features of English is that it gives extra time and…
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The Vowel That Falls Downhill: Mastering the /aʊ/ in How, Now, and Loud
One of the most dynamic sounds in American English is the stressed vowel sound in how, now, house, and about. Although many non-native…
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Why News Anchors Sound Different From Everyone Else, And Why You Should Copy Them
If you’ve ever switched on a national American news broadcast, you may have noticed that the anchors all seem to sound remarkably similar,…
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The American T That Is Cut Short: Why Button, Mountain, and Important Sound Different
Have you ever noticed that the middle T sound in button, mountain, or important sounds different in American English? The letter is still…
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The Disappearing Vowel in American English: Why “Thought” and “Lot” Now Sound Exactly the Same
American English dictionaries show that thought contains the vowel /ɔ/ while lot contains /ɑ/. They’re presented as two separate sounds, and for some…
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Coarticulation: Why Practicing Individual Sounds Isn’t Enough
Here’s something that’s a bit frustrating about English: you can pronounce every sound correctly in isolation and still sound unnatural in conversation. This…
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