JJ sound in 'Could You?' -- American English Pronunciation

77,434 views ・ 2012-01-26

Rachel's English


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

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Do you hear a J sound in this phrase? "Could you? Could you?" There's no J sound written,
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but that does happen sometimes in American English pronunciation. In this video, we'll
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look at why.
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I've had several people ask me about when the word 'you' follows a T or a D
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sound. First, let's look at some examples. Could you, could you. Could you be there?
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Want you, want you. I want you to come. Do you notice the JJ sound in 'could you', or
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the CH sound in 'want you'? The JJ and CH sounds that you're hearing are coming in because
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of the mouth position. The shape of these sounds -- JJ, CH -- is similar to the 'oo'
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as in 'boo' sound. So what's happening is the lips are beginning to move for the oo
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vowel sound, even as they're making the T and the D consonants. And these things blending
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together make more of a JJ or CH sound. Let's look at some more examples. What would you
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do? [3x] It doesn't have to be pronounced this way. Could you? Could you? Where you
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make a separate D and Y sound: totally appropriate, and you will hear that. However, in more casual
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conversation, the JJ and CH sound does tend to come into play. Let's look at some more
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examples. I want to know what you thought. I want to know what you -- I want to know
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what you thought. Would you hand me that? Would you, would you. Would you hand me that?
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I hope this helps to clear up what many of my students hear and find confusing.
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That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.
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