Syllable Dropping in Speaking
2023-03-11
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1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about syllable dropping in American English pronunciation.
2Hi, VOA Learning English,
3I'm Herbert from Germany.
4Throughout my whole life speaking English, I did not realize that some vowels in words are "swallowed," like in the words "vegetable," "family" and "difference."
5Could you give a lecture on this topic?
6Thanks a lot,
7Herbert
8Hi Herbert,
9This is an interesting question! Or is it interesting?
10Now you have us thinking! We do not "swallow" the vowels.
11That would be a little strange, but it creates a great image!
12So, why does it happen in English?
13First, let's talk about syllables and vowels.
14A syllable is part of a word that contains one vowel sound.
15For example, "cat" is a one-syllable word that contains one vowel sound.
16And "swallow", with two vowel sounds, has two syllables -swa(l) and -lo.
17Stress and unstressed vowels
18Every word in English has one stressed syllable.
19This is called word stress.
20The stressed syllable is longer, louder and clearer than the other syllables.
21The unstressed syllables then become shorter, softer, and less clear.
22Now, let's look at the word "family" with its three vowels of a, i and y.
23The stress is on the first syllable -fam. Over time the vowel i relaxes so much that we dropped the whole syllable and turned it into -fam-ly.
24We say some of these words so often that we skip over the less important, unstressed vowels.
25As you said, "vegetable" becomes vej-tə-bəl and "difference" becomes di-f(ə-)rən(t)s.
26Let's look at a few more examples of words that lose unstressed vowels.
27"Business" is pronounced with two syllables, biz-nəs, instead of three.
28The i vowel sound is dropped. You do not want to pronounce it bi-ze-nəs. That is another three-syllable word "busyness."
29"Evening" is pronounced with two syllables instead of three - ev-ning not e-ven-ing. And lastly, we have "Wednesday," the third day of the work week as wenz-day not wed-nes-day.
30You can speak fast like a native speaker of American English by dropping syllables.
31But remember to center more on the stressed vowel, rather than the dropping of the unstressed one.
32In this exercise, I will pronounce all the syllables first, then drop the unstressed vowel.
33Family (3)
34Family (2)
35Difference (3)
36Difference (2)
37Vegetable (4)
38Vegetable (3)
39Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Herbert!
40What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com.
41And that's Ask a Teacher.
42I'm Faith Pirlo.
1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about syllable dropping in American English pronunciation. 2Question: 3Hi, VOA Learning English, 4I'm Herbert from Germany. 5Throughout my whole life speaking English, I did not realize that some vowels in words are "swallowed," like in the words "vegetable," "family" and "difference." 6Could you give a lecture on this topic? 7Thanks a lot, 8Herbert 9Answer 10Hi Herbert, 11This is an interesting question! Or is it interesting? Now you have us thinking! We do not "swallow" the vowels. That would be a little strange, but it creates a great image! 12So, why does it happen in English? 13Syllables and vowels 14First, let's talk about syllables and vowels. 15A syllable is part of a word that contains one vowel sound. For example, "cat" is a one-syllable word that contains one vowel sound. And "swallow", with two vowel sounds, has two syllables -swa(l) and -lo. 16Stress and unstressed vowels 17Every word in English has one stressed syllable. This is called word stress. The stressed syllable is longer, louder and clearer than the other syllables. The unstressed syllables then become shorter, softer, and less clear. 18Now, let's look at the word "family" with its three vowels of a, i and y. The stress is on the first syllable -fam. Over time the vowel i relaxes so much that we dropped the whole syllable and turned it into -fam-ly. 19We say some of these words so often that we skip over the less important, unstressed vowels. As you said, "vegetable" becomes vej-tə-bəl and "difference" becomes di-f(ə-)rən(t)s. 20Let's look at a few more examples of words that lose unstressed vowels. 21"Business" is pronounced with two syllables, biz-nəs, instead of three. The i vowel sound is dropped. You do not want to pronounce it bi-ze-nəs. That is another three-syllable word "busyness." 22"Evening" is pronounced with two syllables instead of three - ev-ning not e-ven-ing. And lastly, we have "Wednesday," the third day of the work week as wenz-day not wed-nes-day. 23Speaking like a native 24You can speak fast like a native speaker of American English by dropping syllables. But remember to center more on the stressed vowel, rather than the dropping of the unstressed one. 25In this exercise, I will pronounce all the syllables first, then drop the unstressed vowel. 26Family (3) 27Family (2) 28Difference (3) 29Difference (2) 30Vegetable (4) 31Vegetable (3) 32Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Herbert! 33What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com. 34And that's Ask a Teacher. 35I'm Faith Pirlo. 36Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 37___________________________________________________________________ 38Words in This Story 39vowel - n. a speech sound made with your mouth open and your tongue in the middle of your mouth not touching your teeth, lips, etc. 40lecture - n. a talk or presentation by a professor or teacher 41pronunciation -n. the sound of the way a word is said 42stress - adj. something that is stressed is louder or in a higher pitch when speaking 43relaxed - adj. not tense or stressed 44___________________________________________________________________ 45Do you have a question for the teacher? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 46Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.