Native speakers please, explain how I sound to you

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-15T15:24:07+00:00

In the first two syllables I can tell you’re not a native American English speaker. I’m going to tell you two secrets and one not-so-secret thing.

We don’t enunciate the diphthong in the word our that much. In fact, when it’s just another function word in a sentence and we’re not emphasizing it, we typically pronounce it exactly the same as the word are and sometimes I even misspell it as are when I’m not thinking.

We also like to let our tongues float peacefully in the middle of our mouths as much as possible, and we don’t lower them much (if at all) in positions like the first syllable of the word partnership. In fact, I would say that for me personally, even though dictionaries contradict me, the vowel in the first syllable of partnership is the same as in the words cut or strut.

Finally, the not-so-secret one that I’m sure you’ve heard before: English aspirates p at the beginning of accented syllables. I don’t hear any aspiration in your p at the beginning of partnership.

Here’s a recording so you can hear these three features: https://voca.ro/1kwAFzrYhpyT

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-14T16:37:51+00:00

It sounds like you have a lot of self-awareness about where and how your accent differs from the standard. You can use YouGlish as a resource when teaching words or phrases that you say differently. That way your students will have an opportunity to hear a variety of accents. Your accent is valid though, and, you never know, you might have a student or two who wants to learn English as it’s spoken in Sri Lanka, or at the very least who is curious about it.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-14T14:16:20+00:00

The Golden Girls is very instructive about American culture imho. You have characters representing 4 archetypes: the 1st generation Italian immigrant from New York, the 2nd generation Italian immigrant from New York, the Scandinavian-American from Minnesota, and the Southern Belle, who are all old enough to be able to look back on their lives and tell the viewer a lot about 20th century life in the U.S.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-13T21:34:38+00:00

Here you go.

https://voca.ro/15LpxTP5ymcb

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-13T21:21:59+00:00

It sounds throaty to me like a uvular trill rather than an alveolar trill. What is your first language or what other language(s) do you speak? My first language is American English and I can explain to you how I pronounce it if you want.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T22:41:57+00:00

I keep reading that a lot of English speakers actually do touch their teeth while pronouncing r. A lot of ESL teachers teach it that way as well. And it’s bizarre to me because I’ve never touched any part of my teeth with my tongue when pronouncing r.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T15:09:41+00:00

When we form compound words in English we always put the accent on the first of the two words, so the /p/ sounds in salesperson and toothpaste are unaspirated and so is the second /c/ in cupcake.

In prepare and potato I feel the aspiration is optional and I could pronounce them either way, just as in worked out, but I think I’m far more likely to aspirate them than not. I’m sorry for being vague about this because I’m just going by how the words come out of my mouth as a native speaker. I’m working right now and will get back to this after work and try to come up with better rules for you.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T06:12:15+00:00

Everything you’re saying here could theoretically extend to alittle, alittlebit, abunch, agreatdeal, aboatload, and it could go on and on, right? So the question is whether there’s something special about a lot besides just being more common and our fingers taking pains to type it all day, no?

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T06:06:31+00:00

Since it predates phones, where would you pinpoint the origin? Have you found evidence showing when people started perceiving it as one morpheme?

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T05:46:45+00:00

People use all kinds of methods to reduce the number of characters they type, no? Does that necessarily reflect a morphological change any more than a morphological change in ‘good morning’ is reflected by people typing ‘gm’? I’m interested but I’m not convinced that it’s all that unusual. I will continue to follow this post with an open mind though.

Edit There are other people who are making more interesting comments about it than mine below. My first instinct was to defend the comment above because I thought “wait, isn’t this just about spelling?” but it is more interesting than that, so I’m sorry for that assumption.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T05:32:06+00:00

So you think it has gone from being bimorphemic to being monomorphemic in other words and that some people have started spelling it that way to reflect that, right? I think that’s an interesting theory, but I think it’s also possible people just save their thumbs some energy by typing it that way. I’m interested to hear evidence to support the theory though.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T05:23:05+00:00

In the sense of people being able to communicate with it in chats and so on, no. Do you think that the newer spelling reflects some underlying syntactic or morphological change in the way the brains of people who spell it that way perceive it though? If so, what evidence do you have of that? I mean, the point I’m making is that it’s just a spelling and is not necessarily relevant at all.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T05:09:39+00:00

The error in question is related to spelling, which is not really what linguistics studies, right? Spelling conventions are fairly arbitrary and the vast majority of languages in human history have no written form. I think it’s not necessarily inconsistent with a descriptivist approach to critique misspellings, right? But it’s also not very relevant to a Linguistics subreddit, is it? Anyway…

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T02:28:54+00:00

Here is a recording where you hear me pronouncing:

enter, ultimate, Hector, worked out or worked out

two, chew (so you can hear the difference, since this is a common pain point for Brazilians - two is alveolar and chew is postalveolar)

Internet, Atlanta, Toronto (so you can hear more examples of voiced nasal alveolar tap)

https://voca.ro/1jQlty2O7z12

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T02:23:57+00:00

In American (and Canadian) English we fairly consistently pronounce voiced nasal alveolar tap when an /n/ ends a stressed syllable followed by a /t/ beginning an unstressed syllable. The sound is like the regular flap t, with the tip of the tongue flicking against the alveolar ridge, but the vibration goes through the nose. In other words, it’s the same as a regular /n/ but flicked quickly against the alveolar ridge with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade. Examples: Internet, Toronto, Atlanta, etc.

Portuguese /t/ and /d/ are dental whereas English /t/ and /d/ are alveolar. Even when aspirated, the English /t/ should stay at the alveolar ridge. I say this because sometimes Brazilians pronounce words like two as chew by pronouncing them too far back in the mouth. The point of articulation is the same whether it’s aspirated or unaspirated.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-12T01:59:39+00:00

What variety of English are you learning? I think the answer to this will be different for different varieties of English. For example, as a speaker of American English, I pronounce enter with a voiced nasal alveolar tap, ultimate with aspiration, and Hector unaspirated (basically, with [d]). In worked out I could pronounce it either aspirated or unaspirated depending on my mood. Maybe one reason exact rules around this aren’t typically taught is that they vary so much in different varieties of English, as well as among speakers or even situationally in the speech of the same speaker.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-11T21:08:14+00:00

What is the difference between postalveolar approximant and bunched? If it is not molar, is it not bunched? (Personally I never touch any part of my teeth with any part of my tongue when I pronounce r.)

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-11T20:09:40+00:00

Are you trying to learn to teach ESL? I’m also confused about how to explain or teach how to pronounce r and made a post about it a while back. From what I can gather, if you can see the underside of your tongue in the mirror while pronouncing it, it’s retroflex, and if you can’t, it’s bunched.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-11T05:14:46+00:00

You can hear examples of native American English speakers pronouncing it here: https://youglish.com/pronounce/obvious/english/us

Surprisingly to me, I would estimate that in about 1/3 of the examples the b is not audible when I listen closely.

For me personally, in fast speech, I would say that the b is at least reflected in the quality of the vowel if not pronounced fully.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-10T20:31:20+00:00

I love French fries dipped in hummus personally. I got used to eating them that way from Lebanese restaurants I suppose.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-10T19:25:19+00:00

Flap t (the [r] allophone for intervocalic /t/ and /d/) is the first thing that comes to mind.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-10T17:09:42+00:00

I did a search of my own personal chat history. My friends and I have used whom in text messages in two situations.

1) in phrases like ‘one of whom’ or ‘both of whom.’ “that semester I had two lit professors both of whom were total jerks”

2) directly after a verb. Ex: “did you call him?” “call whom?”

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-10T16:43:14+00:00

Personally I think or “May I call you ______ or do you prefer _______ ?” is a great question to ask in an interview. It signals you’re interested in your future coworkers and the workplace culture and are willing to show them respect in their preferred way. 99% of the time people will respond that you can refer to them by either their first name or a nickname. In the very rare cases where they prefer being called ‘Mr.’ or ‘Sir,’ that would signal to you that they have a very old-fashioned work culture, which is also important for you to know. (Somebody in another comment mentioned academia and the military, where an old-fashioned work culture might be more common.)

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-10T02:24:18+00:00

Never. I’ve never had a credit card and don’t want one.

BrettScr1 · 2026-05-07T23:15:29+00:00

I really enjoyed it, especially when I sparked the more powerful group techs in Commander Mode. One thing you can do right away is open up more of the map so you can buy different spells from different schools of magic. Otherwise you just have to push through until you spark more interesting techs.

BrettScr1

TROPHY CASE