How to Pronounce UNITED STATES - American English

116,911 views ・ 2013-06-26

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 go over
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how to pronounce 'United States'.
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This week's Word of the Week is actually two words: 'United States'. 'United'. It's a three-syllable
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word with stress on the middle syllable. United. So, it begins with the EW as in FEW diphthong.
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Then we have the N consonant sound, so the tongue will lift and touch here: un-. Then
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we have the AI as in BUY diphthong: uni-, uni-. Make sure you drop your jaw enough for
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that first sound: uni-, uni-ted. So here we're going to have a Flap T because it comes between
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two vowel sounds (the AI diphthong and the schwa). -ted, -ted, -ted. So the tongue tip
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will go to the roof of the mouth, -te-, pull down and go right back up: -ted, -ted. United.
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United.
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States. This begins with the ST consonant cluster, ss, ss, ss. So, the tongue tip is
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down, the teeth are closed, states, states. The front part of the tongue can reach up
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and touch the roof of the mouth here, rather than bringing the tip up. It's a short cut with
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the ST cluster. Tongue tip down, front part to the roof of the mouth. St-, st-, st-, states,
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states. Then we have the AY as in SAY diphthong, so the jaw does need to drop a good bit for
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that, sta-, sta-. And finally, the TS consonant cluster, -ts, -ts, states. United States.
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I'm from the United States.
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That's it, your Word of the Week. Try it out yourself. Make up a sentence with the
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word, record it, and post it as a video response to this video on YouTube. I can't wait to
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watch it.
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That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.
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