The Secret ‘Subconscious’ Pronunciation Rule Native English Speakers ALWAYS Use

- Hello lovely students

and welcome back to English with Lucy.

I have such an interesting pronunciation video for you.

Honestly, I'm going to teach you something

that you didn't even know was a thing.

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Let's get started with the pronunciation lesson.

Okay, so when I worked in a pub

it was a hard job keeping out the riff-raff.

Riff-raff is slang for undesirable people,

and be careful using it.

It could be offensive if you call someone riff-raff.

Now, could you say raff-riff?

No, you definitely can't.

It's riff-raff and I bet you are thinking why?

Well, it's all to do with the law

of ablaut reduplication, an excessively complex term

for something fairly simple, and it's not about,

it's not ablout or ablout, it's ablaut reduplication.

This is basically the pronunciation rule that states

that duplicating word combinations start

with the high vowels before low ones.

As native speakers, we do this automatically

without even realising it, but if you were to

ask a native speaker why they do it, they say

because it just sounds right.

Well, there's actually a rule.

Okay, so it's about high vowel sounds and low vowel sounds.

What's a high vowel sound?

Take riff-raff, for example.

We reduplicate the word changing only the vowel sound.

Now the position of the tongue for the I

in riff is higher than the ah in raff.

I, ah, I, ah, the tongue is higher.

So that's why we say riff-raff, not raff-riff.

That was really hard to do.

The vowel sounds I and E are high vowels,

so in ablaut reduplication, words with the letters, EE

and I come before words with the letters, A, E, O, and U.

You might still be thinking, why?

Why does English have to be so complicated?

Or simply put the high vowel, low vowel pattern

just sounds nice so we don't zag zig, we zigzag.

We don't have a mash mish, we have a mish mash.

A mash mish just sounds so deeply, deeply wrong.

A zigzag is this, by the way, like that.

A bit like how a drunk person walks.

For example, Tony couldn't walk straight,

he zigzagged all the way home.

A mishmash, and my mom uses this term all the time.

A mishmash is a mixture

of things that don't go together at all.

Like my dinner last night was a mishmash

of what I found in the fridge.

I had curry with a fruit salad and a glass of milk.

We've all had a mishmash for dinner.

So would you like to see a collection

of these playful expressions?

They are really nice phrases, words and phrases

that will allow you to sound really native when you speak.

Firstly, some onomatopoeias follow

the ablaut reduplication rule.

These are words which sound very similar to the noise

they describe, onomatopoeia, onomatopoeia.

I remember having to spell that

in a spelling test at school and naturally I failed.

We have tick-tock,

which is the sound of a clock ticking away.

We have clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop.

That's the sound of a horse's hooves on a hard surface.

Isn't it funny how in different languages

we have different terms for onomatopoeias.

Please let me know if you have different onomatopoeias

in your language describing the same sound.

We also have ding-dong, the sound

of a doorbell ringing or at least some doorbells.

I used to have a doorbell that sounded

like a nuclear alarm and I'm not exaggerating.

We have pitter-patter, pitter-patter

the sound of quick light steps or rain falling steadily.

I can hear the pitter-patter of rain.

And we also have ee-aw.

I never thought I would sit here

on this channel saying ee-aw,

but this is a sound that a donkey makes.

That's why the donkey in Winnie the Pooh is called Eeyore.

Next we have some two-part adjectives that have

the high low pattern too, like teeny tiny.

Ah, I love this one, teeny tiny, E I, E I, teeny tiny.

This means very small, as in their baby was teeny tiny.

By the way, you can just say teeny or tiny

but teeny tiny is so much more fun.

We also have wishy-washy, and this is not about washing.

It means being a bit vague and not sure about what you want.

Like Sarah should stop being wishy-washy

and make a decision.

We can't separate these, by the way.

We can't say wishy or washy.

It's wishy-washy and that's that.

We also have ship shape or in ship shape.

This is used to describe very well organised events

or places, and this is

from a long expression, ship shape and Bristol fashion.

No one really says that anymore.

We just say ship shape, for example,

let's get this place looking ship shape.

We can also say in ship shape or in ship shape condition.

We can't separate ship and shape

and still retain the same meaning.

It has to be ship shape.

Now interestingly, brands have even joined in.

They've got in on the act.

We have Kit Kat, Kit Kat.

This is a popular wafer chocolate bar

enjoyed in Great Britain and many other countries.

We also have TikTok,

the social media platform that needs no introduction.

We have a UK, as far as I'm aware, mobile brand

mobile network that I think has appeared

in some other countries, Giffgaff, Giffgaff.

But by far the nouns are where most

of the high low combinations lie.

Take a look.

We have hip-hop, hip-hop, the music genre.

You never want to see me dancing to hip-hop music.

It is so embarrassing.

We also have flip-flop, the classic beach footwear.

We have see-saw, a fun piece

of equipment in children's playgrounds.

Ping-pong, I played a lot of that when I went to Thailand.

We also have a sing-song, which is a group singing session.

We often say we have a sing-song.

Michael brought his guitar and we had a sing-song.

We also have chit-chat, this is really common.

This is known as small talk.

Beth and Juan have a chit-chat on the commute.

A great one is knick-knack, spelt with Ks

and this is a small object

like a souvenir or an ornament or something handmade.

My grandma has so many knick-knacks.

We also have jimjams,

and this is a really cute way of saying pyjamas.

I love putting on my jimjams and having an early night.

Okay, you guys are tip-top.

That was fun.

I really enjoyed this lesson.

It's a nice little insight

into why we say things in such strange ways in English.

Don't forget to download the PDF that goes with this lesson.

There is a quiz so you can use it to test your knowledge.

All you've got to do is click

on the link in the description box.

Don't forget to visit my website EnglishwithLucy.com.

I've got a fantastic pronunciation tool you can use.

You can also find all of my courses there

so you can become one of my students.

I will see you soon in another lesson.

Yeah, I think this is worth putting on the internet,

business at the top party at the bottom.

Flames.

Don't dilly-dally.

I won't do it.

(upbeat music)