How to Pronounce the Word OR: American English

145,606 views ・ 2012-01-11

Rachel's English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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In this American English pronunciation video, we're going to discuss how to pronounce the
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little word 'or'.
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The word 'or' is written in IPA with the 'aw'
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as in 'law' sound followed by the R consonant sound. But I find actually, the vowel sound
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is more closed than that--- o, o, o, or, or. However, this word will generally be unstressed
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in a sentence. It is a conjunction. That is a function word. And function words will
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normally be unstressed. In this case, it will be pronounced er, er. Very short, very low
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in pitch, the schwa-R sound: er, er, er. Let's look at some examples. He'll come at
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6 or 6:30, 6 or, er, er, 6 or, 6 or 6:30. Now, the thing to note, when you reduce a
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word, you must link it to the words that come around. You don't want to say 6---or---6:30.
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Six-er, six-er. 6 or 6:30. Very connected, very smooth. He'll come at 6 or 6:30.
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Do you want to leave now, or wait a while? Er-wait, er-wait. Did you notice? I did put
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a gap before the word 'or'. That's ok. Just make sure that it links to either the word
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before or the word after. Do you want to leave now, or wait a while? I don't eat beef or
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chicken. Beef-er, beef-er, beef or chicken, beef or chicken. I don't eat beef or chicken.
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Come here, or you'll be sorry! Er-you'll, er-you'll, or you'll be sorry. Come here,
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or you'll be sorry. Reduction and linking are important concepts
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in American English. Saying 'or' this way will help to smooth out your language, and
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will help you to be understood.
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That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.
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