English: A Stress-Timed Language - American Pronunciation

In this American English pronunciation video, we're going to go over why some words sound

different when they're said on their own than they do when they're said as part of a sentence,

like 'for', 'fer'.

A lot of people think, when they're studying a language and they're new to it, that they

need to pronounce each word fully and clearly in order to be well-understood. But in English

that's actually not the case. English is a stress-timed language. That means some syllables

will be longer, and some will be shorter. Many languages, however, are syllable-timed,

which means each syllable has the same length. Examples of syllable-timed languages: French,

Spanish, Cantonese. So, when an American hears a sentence of English, with each syllable

having the same length, it takes just a little bit longer to get the meaning. This is because

we are used to stressed syllables, syllables that will pop out of the line because they're

longer and they have more shape. Our ears, our brains, go straight to those words. Those

are the content words. When all syllables are the same length, then there's no way for

the ear to know which words are the most important.

So this is why stress is so important in American English. It's a stress-timed language. When

you give us nice shape in your stressed syllables, you're giving us the meaning of the sentence.

This means that other syllables need to be unstressed --- flatter, quicker --- so that

the stressed syllables are what the ear goes to. This is why it's so important to reduce

function words that can reduce in American English. When those function words are part

of a whole, part of a sentence, they are pronounced differently. Let's look at some examples.

----. Do you know what I'm saying? A native speaker might not either. But, in the context

of a sentence, "I'm going to the store," a native speaker would know exactly what I was

saying. I'm going to the store. I'm going to the store. When 'to the' is pronounced

---- (reduced and linked), 'going' and 'store' become the obvious words in that sentence.

I'm going to the store.

What about ----? Can you understand what I'm saying? A native speaker might not either.

But, in the sentence fragment "Because of my job," "Because of my job," a native speaker

would know exactly what I was saying. Because of my job. Because of my job. 'Because' and

'of' are so unstressed, so reduced and low in pitch, that the word 'job' is able to really

jump out of the sentence. Because of my job.

This is really of primary importance in American English pronunciation. As you're working on

pronunciation, keep in mind this idea of a word being part of a whole.

The word 'for': part of a word becomes fer, fer, fer you, fer me, fer dinner. Practice

it this way. Drill it over and over. Other words that can reduce: 'and' can become 'n'.

'Them' can become 'thum' or 'em'. 'At' can become 'ut'. 'To' can become 'tuh' or 'duh'.

'Can' can become 'kun', 'kun'. 'Are' can become 'er', 'er'. 'Was' can become 'wuz', 'wuz'.

'That' can become 'thut', 'thut'. 'Your' can become 'yer', 'yer'. 'At the' can become 'ut

the', 'ut the'. And so on. So keep an eye out for this as you're studying pronunciation

and listening to native speakers.

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

I'm excited to announce that I'm running another online course, so do check out my website

for details. You'll find on there all sorts of information about the course, who should

take the course, and requirements. I really hope you'll check it out and consider signing

up. I've had a blast with my first online course, and I'm looking forward to getting

to know you.

Don't stop there. Have fun with my real-life English videos. Or get more comfortable with

the IPA in this play list. Learn about the online courses I offer, or check out my latest

video.