How do Americans Speak so Fast? | English Conversation

881,442 views ・ 2021-12-14

Rachel's English


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How and why do Americans speak so quickly? And if you’re studying English, how do you
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keep up? Today, we’re studying English with TV, the
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series, ‘Friends’. It’s a scene from their New Year’s Eve Party and we’re going
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to talk about all the tricks of spoken English that make up the music of English. The linking
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between words, the stress and the melody. You’ll understand how Americans speak so
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fast, you’ll improve your listening skills, and you’ll be able to sound more natural
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speaking English. Here’s the scene: Monica and Chandler are dating and Joey is the only
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one that knows. This scene is about a minute long and we’re going to study everything
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about the pronunciation. Here’s the full scene.
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What’s the matter? We wanted to kiss at midnight, but nobody else
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is going to, so, you know. Alright. I’ll take care of it.
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Oh no. Joey!
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Huh muh muh muh... Thirty-three, Thirty-two, Thirty-one
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Ross, Ross listen, who you kissing at midnight huh? Rachel or Phoebe?
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What? Well, you got to kiss someone. Can’t kiss
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your sister. Oh who’s going to kiss my sister?
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Chandler. Oh man really?
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Dude, dude who would you rather kiss your sister, me or Chandler?
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That's a good point. Yeah.
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Well, since I have that whole history with Rachel, I guess Phoebe.
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Okay, great! Right.
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Phoebs! Phoebs! Listen, Ross wants to kiss you at midnight.
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It's so obvious. Why doesn't he just ask. Rach, Rach, listen, I’m going to kiss you at midnight.
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What? Well, everyone’s got to kiss someone, can’t
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kiss Ross, you got the history. So?
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So, who would you rather have kissing you, me or Chandler? Oh, good point.
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Yeah. Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!
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Happy New Year. Happy New Year.
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Did you catch how ‘or’ was pronounced ‘ur’? There are lots of changes like that
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in spoken English. Here’s the full analysis. What’s the matter?
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So this first sentence isn’t too clear, is it? What’s the matter? What’s the matter?
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What’s the said really quickly and everything leads up to the stressed syllable ‘ma’,
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What’s the matter? And then comes down. So, very connected, very smooth, a little bit
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breathy, ‘What’s the’ becomes ‘What’s the’. What’s the,What’s the. Barely
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a W sound at all. And this is a actually a word that can be shortened to ts. What’s,
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it’s, that’s and let’s are all sometimes shortened to just the ts sound. Ts’the matter?
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What’s the matter?
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And he’s kind of doing that here, maybe
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a little bit of schwa. What’s the matter? Huh,huh,huh. What’s the matter? But it’s very
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unclear isn’t it? Definitely not “what’s” fully pronounced.
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The word ‘the’, this is unstressed word that begins with the voiced th just like this
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that, these, those, those kind of all be pronounced with different kind of th. So, rather than
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the tongue tip coming through the teeth, the tongue tip presses the backs of the teeth,
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uhuhuh, and then pulls away, very quickly to make that schwa. The word ‘the’ is
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this: the, the ,the, the. Said so quickly, low in pitch, low in volume, not too clear
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because it’s unstressed. Then our stressed syllable with the æ vowel, ma, ma, has that
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change of direction, the pitch goes up then down and then a flap t into the schwa sharp
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r sound, (flap) on the way down. Ahu. All one connected, utterance, it can actually just
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feel like one word. No brakes, with the one stressed syllable ma.
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What’s the matter?
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We wanted to kiss at midnight.
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So we have a couple of stressed syllables there that are a little bit longer. Ahuhauhhau, and that’s
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the way how American English works. We have stressed syllables, they usually have a curve
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up and curve down. We wanted to kiss at midnight. So, three of those and the rest of the syllables
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are a little bit lower in pitch, volume, now here he sort of whispering a little bit, he’s
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not saying it to the whole room, he only wants Joey to hear because the relationship is secret.
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We wanted to kiss at midnight.
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We wanted to kiss. We wanted. Do you hear
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wanted, wanted. That t is dropped. That’s the most common pronunciation of that word.
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So, the ed ending here makes ih as in sit d when nt is followed by a vowel, it’s really
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common to drop that t. The word ‘wanted’, almost every time you hear an American say
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that, they will not say the T. Even if it’s in a business meeting, even if it’s an important
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speech, even in those formal cases, we don’t usually say wanted. We almost always say wan-id, wan-id.
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We wanted to kiss
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We wanted to kiss.I love when you hear that on a loop, how you really start to hear the
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rhythm. Tadadadada. Tadadadada. Tadadadada. So those unstressed syllables probably, you’re
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not making them short enough. That’s the main thing I work with on my students when
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it comes to rhythm, shortening up unstressed syllables. We wanted to, nid to, nid to, nid
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to. So id said really quickly then the word to reduces, it's a very quick true T and then
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schwa. We wanted to.To, to. We wanted to kiss. Uhuhuh.
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We wanted to kiss
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We wanted to kiss at midnight.
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At midnight. How was the word ‘at’ pronounced?
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I don’t hear at, do you? At. That’s the vowel in that word fully pronounced. But I
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don’t hear a, I hear schwa and then a really quick stop of air at midnight. That’s the
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stop T, at,at,at. So the word at, how do we make it faster? Change to vowel, make that
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a stop T, at,at. It really does need to be that fast. At midnight, at midnight.
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At midnight
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Notice the d in midnight is not released,
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it’s not mid, midnight, but midnight, mid-night. So, the d very fast, the vocal cords vibrate
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but it’s not released. Midnight.
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Midnight.
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And again a stop T. So, the T pronunciation is usually a stop t if it comes at the end
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of a thought group or if it’s followed by a word that begins with a consonant.
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Midnight
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But nobody else is going to–
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But nobody else is going to. But nobody else. So we have a little bit of stress, a little
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bit of that up down melody on no and then a lot more on else but nobody else is going to
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But nobody else is going to–
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Going to, going also stressed, this one goes down and up. Usually they go up and down but
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sometimes, down and up. Going to.
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Going to–
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Little lift there, but nobody, do you notice that? Another stop t, next word begins with
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a consonant. But nobody else. Okay, we need to talk about the dark L here. An L is a dark
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L if it comes after the vowel or diphthong. So this is a one syllable word, the main sound
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here, the vowel is the eh as is bed. So the L comes after that vowel so it’s a dark
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L. And for dark L, especially when the sound is a consonant, we don’t lift the tongue
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tip. So that’s just made at the back of the tongue, uhl, el, uhl. Tongue tip is down.
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If you lift your tongue tip here, else, else, else. It’s an extra movement you don’t
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need. It's probably going to get in the way of making the dark sound. L, uhl,uhl, L, else.
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See if you can challenge yourself to make that without lifting your tongue tip.
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You might need to slow it down, really think about it, L, uhl,uhl. That dark sound is made
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at that back of the tongue pressing down and back a little bit L, else.
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But nobody else–
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But nobody else is going to,
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Nobody else is going to. Now here the word to, not reduced, that is the full u vowel,
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here it was reduced. We usually don’t reduce the word it if it’s the last word in a thought
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group and there is a little lift here so I would say that’s why this word is not reduced.
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going to,
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So, you know.
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So, so, again a little down up stress so, you know.
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So, you know.
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You know, you know, sort of a questioning
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intonation. Do you understand what I’m talking about you know the word you, reduced. It’s
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not you know, but it’s jə, jə, said so quickly, not a u vowel but a schwa. You know,
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you know.
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Alright.
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Alright. Alright, again, down up stress, alright. When we do this, it can signal a couple of different things.
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It can signal a question, it can also signal that there’s more to say. So he says ‘alright’,
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then he follows it with ‘I’ll take care of it.’ So, intonation going up on our right
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to show, okay I understand, I’m going to say more, I’m going to solve that problem for you.
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Alright.
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Now the L in ‘Alright’ can be dropped. Alright, alright. I think that’s what he’s
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doing here, you can think of it as in aw as in law vowel, alright, alright and stop t.
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You don’t hear t. a true t release, that’s because it’s the end of a thought group.
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Alright.
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I’ll take care of it.
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I’ll take care of it. I’ll take care. So all of those words are either leading up
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to or going away from the peak of stress on the word care. And notice his pitch is going
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down here. He’s done. He doesn’t have more to say, so statement intonation. The
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words I will in contraction often sound like the word all. And that’s what’s happening here.
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I’ll take care of it.
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And again we don’t hear a t, a true t release, I’ll take care of it, it, it ,it, it. Quiet
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abrupt stop.
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I’ll take care of it.
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Notice how everything links together really smoothly, there are no breaks. Here we have
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take care, a word ending in a k sound, a word beginning with a k sound they just link one
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k sound. Take care, take care, I’ll take care of it. Now the word care written in IPA
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would be, let’s bring this over here. Would be k consonant, eh as in bed, schwa r, and
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the r, well it takes over the schwa first of all, so you don’t need to think of making
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an extra schwa sound. And the schwa r sound, the r sound can change some vowels eh is one
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of them. So a pure eh would be eh, bed, k, care, care, care, are, are. That’s not how
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we say it, we say caaa, So the jaw drops less, caa-aa. It’s a little bit more of the beginning
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of the ei diphthong, care rather than care. So less jaw drop, modified vowel there. Care
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of it. The ending r links right into the schwa for of and the ending v of of links right
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into the e vowel of it so everything very smooth. Care of it I’ll take care of it.
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I’ll take care of it.
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Okay, then Chandler starts making some sounds
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like, Uh, nonono, and Monica says Joey! High intonation, going even higher up down for that peak
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of stress on that stressed syllable Jo, Joey! Joey!
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Uh, no. Joey!
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Huh muh muh muh…
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Huh muh muh muh, okay, they don’t want him to go tell people that Chandler and Monica
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want to kiss, Joey’s the only one that knows that they are in a relationship. So, Joey’s
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going to solve the problem in a different way.
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Uh, no. Joey! Huh muh muh muh…
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Thirty-three, thirty-two, thirty-one! Ross listen.
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Okay, so Ross is counting down starting in the thirties, of course it’s crazy, we, most
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people don’t start counting down until ten. But notice, when we have a compound number
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like this , Thirty-three, stress is on the last one. thirty-two, thirty-one! So no matter
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how long your number is, Eight thousand nine hundred and twenty two, the stress is always on
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the last digit. Another thing to notice here is the t in the word thirty is a flap t. That’s
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because if I write it out, we have unvoiced th, then we have the ur as in bird vowel r
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combination, a t and the e vowel. So, the t is a flap t if it comes between two vowel
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sounds or if it comes after an r before a vowel or diphthong like here. So, all of these
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are not thirty but thirdy, thirdy, [flap]. A flap of the tongue. That will help smooth
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that out, that will sound a little both natural, thirty, thirty. We also want to make sure
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that we’re doing a little bit of stress on the first syllable there so that the second
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syllable feels unstressed. Thirty, dada. Thirty-one. So a little bit of stress on thir, no stress
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on ty and then the most stress on three, two and one.
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Thirty-three, thirty-two, thirty-one! Ross listen.
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Ross listen, Ross listen. So two stressed syllables there. Ross. Listen. The name and
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also the first syllable of listen, that t is silent, it’s not that he’s dropping
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the t, it’s just that in that word the official full pronunciation doesn’t have a t. Listen.
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Ross listen.
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Who you kissing at midnight?
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Who you kissing at midnight? Who you, so he drops the word are which makes
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the sentence more grammatically correct. That’s okay,that happens sometimes. Who you kissing,
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so he’s stressing you. Its the peak of stress for this sentence. Because he’s saying everybody’s
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going to kiss somebody, who are you kissing?
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Who you kissing at midnight?
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Who you kissing at midnight? A little bit of stress on the way down on ki, kissing
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at midnight, also mid. The ing ending gets changed to just the n ending, so the ending
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vowel there, ih as in sit, n unstressed, kissing, kissing. Who you kissing at, so we have two
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unstressed syllables in a row, the unstressed syllable of kissing the second syllable, also
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the word at which you all know already reduces, the ah vowel changes to the schwa and we have
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a stop t, stop t because the next word begins with a consonant. Kissing at, kissing at,
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kissing at midnight.
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kissing at midnight?
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And again, stop t there because it’s the end of his thought group, he puts a little
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break, also again notice the d just like before, not released, midnight, but midnight, at mid-night, midnight.
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Midnight huh?
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I didn’t write it in but he says huh? And that intonation goes up. Questioning.
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Midnight huh?
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Rachel or Pheobe?
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Then he asks another question, Rachel or Phoebe? But it’s not a yes no question so it goes
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down in pitch at the end. Rachel or Phoebe. Now , the stressed syllable Ra, a little bit
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higher than for Phoe, Phoebe because it’s closer to the beginning of the sentence. That’s
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often what happens. Our peaks of stress tend to be higher towards the beginning of a sentence
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than towards the end.
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Rachel or Pheobe?
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So, Rachel or Pheobe? Two unstressed syllables here and then one unstressed syllable at the end.
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Rachel or Pheobe?
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The word ‘or’ reduced, schwa r, it’s not or, it’s ur. Rachel-ur, Rachel-ur. Now
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or absorbs the schwa like I said before, you don’t make a separate schwa sound, it’s
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just ur,ur,ur, ur. A little unstressed r sound, low in pitch, ur. Rachel or, Rachel or.
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Rachel or
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So the L in Rachel, also a dark L but here
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it is followed by a vowel or diphthong, so you can lift your tongue, Rachel or, [flap]
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to separate the feeling of those two syllables but still make a dark sound. Rachel, uhl,uhl,uhl.
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That unstressed syllable should just be that dark sound. Rachel, Rachel or, Rachel or,
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Rachel or Phoebe.
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Rachel or Pheobe?
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What?
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What? What? What? Question intonation, he’s
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like wait we’re kissing people? What? Stop t because it’s the end of a thought group.
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What? Well, you’ve got to kiss someone.
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Well, you’ve got to kiss someone. Well, you’ve got to kiss someone. All of that
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going up towards kiss. Well, you’ve got to kiss someone. And then falling away from
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it. The word ‘well’ very unclear.
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Well, you’ve got to kiss someone.
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Well, well, well. I would just write that w schwa, well. And then it’s linked on to
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the next word well, well, well. Well you you’ve got to kiss, well you you’ve got to kiss.
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Well you you’ve got to kiss–
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You got to, all going up in intonation, the v sound here for you have, dropped, you got to,
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actually is it you or ya?
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Well you you’ve got to kiss–
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Definitely ya, ya. That reduction makes it so that he can say it more quickly, it’s
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unstressed, we’re just trying to get to that peak of stress, got to reduces to gotta
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and notice that is a flap t in there. Gotta, [flap] gotta.
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Well you you’ve got to kiss–
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So you have got to becomes you gotta, you gotta.
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Simplifying that let’s us say it more quickly and you may wonder why would
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we want to say that quickly becomes less clear. That’s because in American English, clarity
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comes from contrast. So we don’t want every syllable to be clear, that’s not how English
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works. English is a stress timed language which means the clarity comes from contrast.
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Some very clear syllables, some less clear syllables. That whole thing, that whole idea
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is what makes English clear to native listeners.
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Well you you’ve got to kiss–
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So learning these reductions and these simplifications will help you sound a little bit more natural
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speaking English. It will help you be understood more easily. I know it sounds crazy, speak
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less clear in some places to be better understood, yet it’s true.
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Well, you you’ve got to kiss–
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You’ve gotta kiss. Here we have ending s
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beginning s, those words linked together with one sound, the s, just like before when we had
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the k sound linking. You’ve got to kiss someone.
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You’ve got to kiss someone–
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Can’t kiss your sister. Two stressed syllables
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there. Can’t kiss your sister. Can’t, can’t. There are couple different ways to
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pronounce the n apostrophe t contraction here. It’s with a little lift, a little bit of
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that stop feeling.Can’t kiss, can’t kiss. Can’t kiss your sister.
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Can’t kiss your sister.
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Your. not fully pronounced, reduced. Just like
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you up here reduced to ya. Your down here is reducing to yer, said quickly.
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your sister.
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Well, who’s going to kiss my sister?
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Who's going to kiss my sister? Again well, said very unclear, said very quickly, who’s
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23:27
going to kiss my sister. Okay here sis is the peak of stress. We also have some stress
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on who. So these question words, who, what, when, where, why, how, those all tend to be
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stressed when we’re asking a question. If it’s part of a sentence then it tends to
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be unstressed, a statement. For example, I don’t know .going to be there. That’s
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a statement. We’re not asking a question. I don’t know who’s. Who’s will be unstressed
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there. Here, we’re asking a question so that question word will be stressed.
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Who's going to kiss my sister?
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Again the word well, said unclearly, unstressed.
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Going to becomes gonna. Who’s a really weak ending z linking in together. Who’s gonna,
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who’s gonna kiss my sister.
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Who's going to kiss my sister?
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Going to kiss my all said quickly and we want that to be fast so we have a little
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bit of contrast with our stressed syllables that have that pitch change, they’re a little
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louder, a little longer. Listen to this sentence three times.
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Who's going to kiss my sister?
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If you’re going to match that phase, you
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really need to make sure you’re simplifying your unstressed words. Gonna kiss my, gonna
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kiss my, gonna kiss my, gonna kiss my. You can do it.
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Who's going to kiss my sister?
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Chandler.
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Chandler. Chandler. Chandler. One stressed syllable and the second stressed syllable
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just falling away from it. Chandler. And he drops the d sound there. Chandler.
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Chandler.
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Ow, man, really?
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Ow, man, two clear up down shapes of stress, it’s because he slowed it down a little
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bit. Ow, man, really? And then that’s a yes not question, the intonation is going up.
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Ow, man, really?
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25:56
The word man, make sure you’re not saying man. That’s how it looks in the dictionary.
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If you look it up you’ll see m, a as in bat n, but whenever a is followed by n, it
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changes a little bit. Ma uh, so make sure you get an uh vowel in there, sort of like
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uh as in butter. Not man but man, ae, ae, ae, man..
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Ow, man,
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Ow, man, really?
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Du, dude. Du, dude. Du, dude. Du, dude. You know maybe
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he said dude twice but I wrote it just the first two sounds because it would connect
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26:41
with one d anyway wouldn’t it. Du, dude, dude, dude.
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Du, dude.
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Who would you rather have kiss your sister,
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me or Chandler? Who would you rather have, who. Okay a question,
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starting with a question word that’s going to have some stress. Who would you rather have.
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26:59
Who would you rather have kiss your sister,
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Who would you rather have kiss your sister. So, some stress on kiss. Kiss your sister
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and some stress on sis. Would you rather have, all said really quickly, simplified.
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Who would you rather have
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Who would you rather have.
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27:26
Do you hear that J sound? Would you, ju. Let’s talk about that. The l in would, always silent. When
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27:34
we have a word that ends in a d followed by you or your, sometimes, maybe half the time,
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native speakers will combine that to a j sound which we would write in IPA like this: dʒ
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27:49
and that’s what he does here. Combines the d and the y, would you, would you, would you
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jujuju to get that j sound.
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would you rather have would you rather have kiss your sister, me
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or Chandler?
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me or Chandler? Me, going up in pitch, listing two options often in a list. Every option
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28:10
will go up in pitch until the last one. Me or Chandler? And then this one goes down.
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Me or Chandler?
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The word or again reduced. It’s not or, it’s just ar r sound. ər, ər, ər Chandler.
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Again dropped d here. Chandler. So it’s pretty common to drop the d after an n. N,
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Chandler. I can see saying the d after introducing yourself and trying to be really clear but
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if you’re talking with friends and they all already know your name, they’re probably
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going to make that shortcut, Chandler.
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Me or Chandler?
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That’s a good point.
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That’s a good point. So good point. Everything going up towards that peak of stress. Ts a good point. We have
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29:04
one stressed word and it doesn’t end with t, a release but it’s point, point. A bit
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29:13
of a nasally stop there for the nt. Now remember at the beginning how I said what’s, it’s,
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29:20
that’s and let’s can all be reduced to just the ts sound, that’s what’s happening
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here. That just becomes just ts and links on to the next word tsa,tsa,tsa, tsa good point, tsa good point.
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That’s a good point.
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Everything linking together smoothly, the ending d not released, just vibrated in the
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29:45
vocal cords then right into the p.
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29:48
That’s a good point.
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29:53
Uh, well,
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Uh, well, Uh, well, Well being used a lot isn’t it? Sort of a filler thinking word.
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More fully pronounced here. Uh, well.
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30:06
Uh, well,
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30:09
Since I have that whole history with Rachel,
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30:12
Since I have that whole history with Rachel, Since I have the whole, a little bit stress
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30:18
on since. Since I have that whole, then everything is going down until history with Rachel. Two more stressed syllables.
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30:29
Since I have that whole history with Rachel,
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30:36
Now, notice the word history. This is one of those words like camera, family that can
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30:45
be pronounced as three syllables but is usually pronounced as two. So history. How does Ross pronounce that?
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History
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30:58
History, history, history. Two syllables. So his, ending in an s, the first syllable
339
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31:08
then try, tr cluster. Now a tr cluster often gets change into a chr, that’s the most
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31:16
common pronunciation. Chry, chry, history, history. So history becomes history.
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31:25
History–
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31:29
Since I have that whole, that whole, that stop t, not released. Whole. I also want to
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talk about this L, dark L, don’t lift your tongue tip. You probably learned, you lift
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31:44
your tongue tip for the L. Not the dark L. A lot of our Ls are dark Ls. Whole, whole.
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So we have the o diphthong here but when it’s followed by a dark L, it’s not pure, it’s
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31:56
not whole, whole but it’s whole. So the dark L mixes with that diphthong a little
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32:04
bit. It’s really just one sound, not two, not o but uhl, so lips round but the tongue
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32:11
shifts back a little bit, presses down in the back, whole, whole, whole history.
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32:18
whole history
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32:21
whole history with Rachel, I guess Phoebe.
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32:23
Rachel, I guess Phoebe. Rachel, uhl,uhl, uhl. Again, a quick dark L, it’s unstressed,
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32:31
don’t want to hold it out or make too much of it, uhl, uhl, uhl very fast.
353
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32:38
Rachel,
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32:40
Rachel, I guess Phoebe.
355
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32:42
I guess Phoebe. Uhu. smoothly going up towards our peak of stress. The stressed syllable
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32:50
of Phoe, name, pronounced Phoebe. First syllable stress, F consonant, E vowel, second syllable,
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33:02
b consonant, e vowel. Phoebe. But it’s important to notice in American English we don’t have
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33:08
jumps or breaks within a thought. The pitch is always changing smoothly. I guess Phoebe.
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1988220
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33:16
Uhuhuh, continuous sound .
360
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33:19
I guess Phoebe.
361
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33:23
Okay, great.
362
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33:24
Okay, great. Okay, second syllable stress, okay, great. Both have that up down shape
363
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33:30
of stress and we end with a stop t not a released t.
364
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33:36
Okay, great.
365
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3975
33:40
Phoebes, Phoebes,
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33:42
Phoebes. Okay, her nickname Phoebes. One syllable, Phoebes, Phoebes. Both stressed.
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33:49
Phebes, uhuh, up down shape
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33:51
Phoebes, Phoebes,
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33:57
Listen.
370
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33:58
Listen, listen. Again, up down shape, no t in that word.
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34:03
Listen.
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34:07
Ross
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34:08
Ross, making that a little bit longer, really stressing it, Ross.
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34:13
Ross
375
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34:17
Ross Wants to kiss you
376
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34:18
Wants to kiss you, wants to kiss you. A little bit of that up down shape on kiss. Want to,
377
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8020
34:26
less important, less clear. Ross wants to.
378
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34:31
Ross wants to kiss you.
379
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34:37
The word to reduced, a very light true t, then the schwa, wants to, wants to, wants
380
2077109
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34:44
to, wants to. Let me make that schwa a little clear. Wants to, wants to.
381
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34:52
wants to
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2447
34:54
wants to kiss you at midnight.
383
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34:56
Kiss you at midnight. Kiss you at, so you and then at, a valley coming down from the
384
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7841
35:04
peak of stress on kiss. Kiss you at midnight. And then another peak of stress on midnight
385
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35:12
and then again a stop t.
386
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2200
35:15
kiss you at midnight.
387
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35:20
The word at, again not at but at. So the a vowel changes to a schwa and the true t changes
388
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8781
35:28
to a stop t. So both of those sounds change from what you may have learned. You may have
389
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35:33
learned this word is pronounced at. In fact much of the time it’s at or a flap t if
390
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6880
35:40
the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong. Here, next word begins with a consonant, so
391
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35:44
that’s a stop t. At midnight.
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35:47
At midnight.
393
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35:51
It maybe overwhelming seeing these changes in American English but there is not an infinite
394
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35:58
number. There is a finite of reductions that we do, and the T pronunciations, they are
395
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36:04
a little bit crazy but there are rules. So the more you study, this kind of conversation,
396
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6339
36:10
the more you pick up on these things that are natural in American English. The more
397
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36:15
you learn, the more you can practice it and the more you can hear it and start noticing
398
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4041
36:19
and your listening comprehension improves.
399
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36:21
At midnight.
400
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36:25
It’s so obvious.
401
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1840
36:27
It’s so obvious. Again, another place where it’s, that’s, what’s, let’s. We don’t
402
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36:32
hear that vowel. It’s really just so obvious. TS and of course those words link with a single s.
403
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8166
36:40
So obvious.
404
2200745
5030
36:45
So obvious. So obvious. Linking together smoothly, peak of stress, obvious on our first syllable
405
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9625
36:55
there which is stressed.
406
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1719
36:57
So obvious.
407
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4506
37:01
Why doesn’t he just ask?
408
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1714
37:03
Why doesn’t he just ask? So again a question, so the question word stressed. Why doesn’t
409
2223339
8101
37:11
he just ask? Now we have a couple of things here happening with our pronunciation. Let’s
410
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37:18
look first at the n apostrophe t contraction. I said before we have a couple of different
411
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5079
37:23
pronunciations for that, how is it pronounced.
412
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2891
37:26
Why doesn’t he just ask?
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37:32
Why doesn’t he, doesn’t he, I would say that t is totally dropped and the h is also
414
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7025
37:39
totally dropped. So the word he, him, his, it’s pretty common also her to drop the
415
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7071
37:46
h in those unstressed words. So here, the word he is just the e vowel. N apostrophe
416
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5630
37:52
t contraction, it’s pretty common to drop that t if the next word is a vowel. So we’ve
417
2272020
6079
37:58
dropped the h. That means he is just a vowel, so it makes sense to drop that t and link
418
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5630
38:03
together smoothly with the n, doesn’t he, doesn’t he, doesn’t he.
419
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4560
38:08
Why doesn’t he
420
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1320
38:09
Why doesn’t he just ask?
421
2289609
2480
38:12
Why doesn’t he just ask? Just, very light true t, just ask, just ask and a peak of stress
422
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9831
38:21
on a vowel.
423
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38:25
just ask? Rach, Rach,
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3629
38:29
Rach, Rach, again just like Phoebs, Phoebs. Rach, Rach, up down shape of stress.
425
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38:38
Rach, Rach, Listen.
426
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3470
38:41
Listen. Again, up down shape of stress. So Rach, that’s one syllable. Listen, that’s
427
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7200
38:48
two syllables but it’s still the same feel. The unstressed syllable comes in as we fall
428
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38:54
away in the peak of stress. Rach, Rach, listen uhuhuh. So same feeling even though we have
429
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9551
39:04
an unstressed syllable here. And again the T in listen never pronounced.
430
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4919
39:09
Rach, Rach, listen. I’m going to kiss you at midnight.
431
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39:15
Now let’s listen to this next phrase several times. I want you to listen. Do you hear a
432
2355630
5810
39:21
g in going?
433
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2481
39:23
I’m going to kiss you at midnight.
434
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39:27
I’m going to kiss you at midnight. So he’s stressing the two people, me and you and he
435
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6801
39:34
does a lot of reductions. You probably know that going to but when the word I’m comes
436
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10580
39:45
before sometimes reduce it, we reduce it even more. So it can become, I’munna, I’munna,
437
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39:52
I’munna. The m just links into the word and we drop the g. So I am goI’m going to
438
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7210
40:00
ing to becomes I’mmuna, I’munna, I’munna. Or we can even drop the I diphthong and just
439
2400029
5720
40:05
say munna, munna, munna. We do have a video on that so you can look up Rachel’s English.
440
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40:15
But here he doesn’t drop the I diphthong so instead of I am going to, he says I’munna,
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40:22
I’munna, I’munna,I’munna, I’munna. No g sound.
442
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40:30
I’m going to
443
2430910
2757
40:33
I’m going to kiss you at midnight.
444
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40:34
I’m going to kiss you at midnight. Kiss you. So rather than stressing kiss, he’s
445
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40:40
stressing you because again, he’s working out all of th people so it’s the people
446
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40:45
that are stressed, I, you. How do you think at midnight is going to be pronounced?
447
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40:52
I’m going to kiss you at midnight.
448
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40:57
at midnight. You guessed it, schwa, a stop t. Ət,ət,ət midnight and then stress on
449
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41:07
the first syllable, stop t at the end. ət midnight.
450
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41:11
at midnight. What?
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41:14
What? What? She didn’t know she was kissing anyone. Upward intonation, a light release
452
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41:22
of the true t. What?
453
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41:24
What? Well, everyone’s got to kiss someone.
454
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41:28
Well, everyone’s got to kiss someone. Again, well hardly pronounced, wu, could have right
455
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41:35
that w schwa wu.
456
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41:37
Well
457
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41:41
Well, everyone’s got to kiss someone.
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2526
41:43
Everyone's got to kiss someone. So the first syllable of everyone is stressed and he makes
459
2503609
5630
41:49
it go down up. Everyone's got to kiss someone. And our peak of stress is on the e vowel for
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9840
41:59
the word kiss. Everyone’s got to. The weak ending z linking right into the g sound, everything
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7652
42:06
very smooth, got to becomes gotta, Flap t, everyone’s gotta kiss someone and again
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12049
42:18
kiss and someone link together with a single s.
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3554
42:22
Well, everyone’s got to kiss someone.
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5010
42:27
Can’t kiss Ross.
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1046
42:28
Can’t kiss Ross. Can’t kiss. Do you hear that little lift, that little break that between
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5990
42:34
can’t and kiss? That’s the stop t, can’t kiss, can’t kiss, can’t kiss Ross.
467
2554380
6089
42:40
can’t kiss Ross.
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3570
42:44
Can’t and kiss going up towards our peak of stress on Ross. Ross, so up down shape
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2564039
8401
42:52
and a little bit up at the end to show there’s more to say about that. There’s more to
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6399
42:58
say about why you can’t kiss Ross. It’s because of the history.
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4301
43:03
can’t kiss Ross.
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3851
43:06
You got the history.
473
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1088
43:08
You got the history. I left our the word ‘the’, didn’t I? You got the history. Biggest peak
474
2588079
9371
43:17
of stress on the ih vowel there. Now let’s listen, does he say history, three syllables
475
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6109
43:23
or does he say history, two syllables.
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3101
43:26
You got the history. History, history. I would again say two syllables just like Ross. History.
477
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10459
43:37
So again, we really don’t say the schwa there, we don’t really say that middle syllable.
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5140
43:42
History.
479
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1490
43:43
History.
480
2623749
1490
43:45
So? S consonant, O diphthong, going up, questioning intonation. Why does that matter?
481
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11161
43:56
So? So, who would you rather have kissing you?
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6149
44:02
So?So? Also going up, he has more to say, he’s going to answer that, so? Now look
483
2642549
6401
44:08
here we have a question word and a question mark so this is a question not a statement.
484
2648950
7780
44:16
We know this word who. This is probably one of our stressed syllables, let’s listen.
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5150
44:21
So, who would you rather have kissing you?
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5182
44:27
Who would you rather have kissing you? Who would you rather have kissing you? Definitely
487
2667062
4187
44:31
we have some of our length there. Would you rather have, all said quickly. Again would
488
2671249
9761
44:41
you, we have an ending d, the word you. Now before when we heard that, we got a j sound,
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2681010
7559
44:48
let’s see if we hear that again.
490
2688569
2285
44:50
Who would you rather have kissing you?
491
2690854
5049
44:55
Who would you rather have, Who would you rather have, would you rather have, would you rather
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3126
44:59
have, would you rather have. I do hear a light j sound connecting those two words, now all
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6901
45:05
four of these words are said really quickly, would you rather have, would you rather have,
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2705930
3789
45:09
would you rather have. But I do hear that J, do you?
495
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2263
45:11
Who would you rather have
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2711982
3847
45:15
Who would you rather have kissing you? Me or Chandler?
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2715829
2289
45:18
Me or Chandler? Me, me, going up in pitch. Me or Chandler. Chan, our peak of stress on
498
2718118
12012
45:30
that a vowel again . No d, Chanler. And again, or is reduced. Or, or ,or Chandler. Me or
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11709
45:41
Chandler?
500
2741839
1410
45:43
Me or Chandler?
501
2743249
3910
45:47
Everything links together smoothly, some words said really fast, some words reduced but some
502
2747159
7491
45:54
words stressed that longer stressed syllable and most importantly, that shape of stress,
503
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6750
46:01
a change in intonation either a scoop up or a scoop down. That’s the character of American English.
504
2761400
8022
46:09
Me or Chandler?
505
2769422
3645
46:13
Oh, good point.
506
2773067
1019
46:14
Oh, good point. Oh,oh, same pattern as the stressed syllable, pitch goes up and then
507
2774086
9614
46:23
down, oh.
508
2783700
1334
46:25
Oh,
509
2785034
3018
46:28
Oh, good point.
510
2788052
849
46:28
Good point, good point, good point. Good, going up towards our peak of stress, point,
511
2788901
7529
46:36
and then a change of direction, good point. The d, not released, quick vibration of the
512
2796430
6129
46:42
vocal cords but then linking right into the p and a stop at the end. Not point but point.
513
2802559
7861
46:50
Point.
514
2810420
1409
46:51
good point.
515
2811829
2793
46:54
Yeah.
516
2814622
621
46:55
Yeah.Yeah. Kind of quiet but still that up down shape of stress.
517
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5816
47:01
Yeah.
518
2821059
3719
47:04
Three, two, one,
519
2824778
2331
47:07
Three, okay so now people are really counting down. Three, three, up down shape of intonation,
520
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10271
47:17
three, two, one.
521
2837380
2921
47:20
Three, two, one,
522
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9699
47:30
Happy New Year!
523
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2893
47:32
Happy New Year! Stress on ha and new. Happy New Year! And year just sort of comes in as
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9537
47:42
the pitch goes down.
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1815
47:44
Happy New Year!
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11721
47:58
Happy New Year.
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2000
48:00
Happy New Year. So they’re all falling that same intonation, Happy New Year. Happy New
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48:08
Year. So if you’re somewhere this New Year’s Eve and you’re at a party and people are
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4641
48:13
speaking English, Happy New Year, have that up down shape of stress. Happy New Year and
530
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9630
48:22
of course, you want to speed it up a little bit, Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Uhuh.
531
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48:29
Happy New Year.
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48:30
Happy New Year.
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48:32
And Happy New Year to you. Now let’s listen to that whole conversation one more time while
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48:38
you look up the marked up text. Notice what you hear.
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49:38
I just love this kind of video. Come back in two weeks for another analysis video from
536
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49:43
this same episode of Friends. I also have tons of other videos like this, check out
537
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5549
49:49
my playlist, Learn American Pronunciation through English Conversation on my channel
538
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5500
49:54
to see many more. I also have over a hundred and fifty lessons just like this, pronunciation
539
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5511
50:00
analysis that you can’t find on Youtube with audio to train with in my online school,
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6369
50:06
Rachel’s English Academy, check it out and join. I love to have you as my student, you
541
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50:11
will be transformed. I make new videos on the English language every week. Be sure to
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5359
50:17
subscribe with notifications on here on Youtube or Facebook to stay up to date with the latest
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50:23
lessons. I love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
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