Same word, different pronunciation in English

[deɪ.t̬ə] or [dɑt̬·ə]?

[ruːt] or [raʊt]?

[ɑːf.ən] or [ɑːf.tən]?

Hey everyone, it's Hadar.

We are all very familiar with videos correcting certain pronunciations

or telling you how a certain pronunciation is not correct.

However, there are some cases where someone might say, "Oh,

this is not how you say it".

Whereas you can get back to them and say, "Actually, it is".

Because there are certain words that have two valid, acceptable pronunciations.

And today we're going to talk about 10 words that have two

different pronunciations that you might see people fighting over.

Now, the different pronunciations could be pronounced when it's a native speaker

and a non native speaker, when it's an American speaker versus a British speaker.

Or even when it's two different people from the US or the UK with two different

pronunciations, and that is because this is what they heard growing up.

So today we're going to talk about 10 controversial pronunciations.

Let's go.

All right, so let's start with this word.

How would you pronounce it?

The first pronunciation is Adult.

Adult.

The stress is on the first syllable - Adult.

The second pronunciation is aDULT, stress is on the second syllable.

Adult - aDULT.

How would you say this word?

The first pronunciation is EN-velope.

EN-velope.

The second is AA, AA, AA as in father, AAN-velope.

E as in red, AA as in father.

EN-velope.

AAN-velope.

Now, what about this one?

This word for sure creates a lot of debate online.

So, there are actually two legit pronunciations.

"GIF or DJIF?"

The first one is [gif], with a hard [g] sound, gif.

And the other one is [djif].

[gif] and [djif], both are acceptable.

I use the pronunciation [gif].

'That's such a great GIF'.

'We need to add a GIF here'.

This word has also two pronunciations in certain cases.

When it's a noun, for example, 'Can you give me your address?' then you can

either say 'ADDress' with the stress on the first syllable and an 'A as in

cat' sound - ADDress, or you can put the stress on the second syllable - addRESS.

'What's your addRESS?' or 'What's your ADDress?' Both are correct.

However, when you use this word as a verb – "I'm going to address

this issue" – you can only use one pronunciation, and that is addRESS,

stress is on the second syllable.

"I need to addRESS the problem".

addRESS.

So, when it's the noun - ADDress or addRESS.

And when it's the verb - just addRESS.

Now, this word, I have seen a lot of videos online about the

pronunciation of this word, so let's get it straight once and for all.

You can either pronounce it as DEI-duh, with the 'EI as in day' - DEI-duh.

And I am using the general American pronunciation, so you'll notice that my

T sounds a little bit like a D: DEI-duh.

In British English, you'll hear something closer to DEI-tuh, with a soft T.

Or DA-duh, with 'A as in cat'.

DEI-duh - DA-duh.

Both are correct.

Now, how would you pronounce this word?

This word is pronounced either with a tense 'uw as in food' - [ruwt],

'Let's take this route'; or [raut], 'Let's take this route'.

[ruwt] - [raut].

Both are correct.

Now, how would you pronounce this word?

You can either pronounce it as [ai-th'r] – long 'ai as in

my' – [ai-th'r]; or as [ee-th'r].

Either one: [ai-th'r] - [ee-th'r].

And the same thing with this word: [nee-th'r] or [nai-th'r].

[ee-th'r], [ai-th'r], [nee-th'r], [nai-th'r].

Now, this is one of my favorite things to eat.

By the way, when I was a kid, I remember picking those nuts up from the floor and

kinda like peeling them and eating them.

That's like such a...

such a sweet childhood memory.

But anyway, how do you pronounce it?

You can either pronounce it as PEE-kan, where the stress is on

the first syllable - PEE-kan; or pi-KAAN: pi - short I, pi, unstressed

– KAAN, with an 'AA as in father'.

PEE-kan - 'A as in cat'.

pi-KAAN.

PEE-kan - pi-KAAN.

Choose whatever is easier for you.

All right, what about this one?

How would you say it?

LEE-j'r – LE-j'r, both are correct.

LEE-j'r – LE-j'r.

LEE-j'r or LE-j'r.

Now the last word for today is this.

How would you pronounce it?

AA-f'n or AAF-t'n?

So obviously, if it's on this list, then both pronunciations are correct.

In fact, in Old English, the T was always pronounced - AAF-t'n.

And we see it because we have similar words, maybe older words

like 'oftentimes' or 'oft'.

And then the T was always pronounced.

However, at some point, whenever there was the 'TEN' spelling pattern,

the pronunciation has changed.

And that was the case for many spelling patterns, this is why the spelling is

not consistent with the pronunciation.

But the 'TEN' pattern changed, and the T was no longer pronounced.

And we see it in words like 'soften' and 'fasten', 'fasten your seatbelts'.

We don't pronounce the T here.

However, at some point in the word 'often', the T started to come back

– AAF-t'n, and the T is actually pronounced.

Something that we don't see in 'fasten' or 'listen', right?

We don't say lisTen and we don't say fasTen.

However, we have seen that the T started to come back.

At some point, it started becoming a valid and acceptable pronunciation, and now

you'll hear both – AA-f'n and AAF-t'n.

And sometimes the same speaker might say the two different

pronunciations, depending on the focus and emphasis they put on this word.

Okay?

So, you can often pronounce it as AA-f'n, and you can often pronounce it as AAF-t'n.

It is up to you, my friend.

All right, that's it.

I hope you enjoyed this episode.

If you enjoyed it, please consider sharing and subscribing, and

commenting if you have other words that you think might be controversial,

so let us know in the comments.

And that's it.

Have a beautiful day and I'll see you next week in the next video.

Bye.