Well, I had a big change in my life this year. So in this American English pronunciation
video, you’re going to meet someone very special, and we’re going to study real life
American English.
This is my son, Stoney. He was born in January so he’s almost 4 months old. So far, his
life consists mostly of eating and sleeping, although not sleeping too much, which is why
I look so tired. And also, meeting friends and family.
Here he is meeting his grandma and grandpa, my husband’s parents.
>> Yeah. >> He has two fingers.
>> You’re gonna get a mouthful of skin!
Did you notice how my mother in law reduced ‘going to’ to gonna? Americans do this
all the time. Two syllables, very relaxed. GUN-nuh. Do that with me. GUN-nuh. Gonna,
gonna.
>> You’re going to get a [3x]
>> You’re going to get a mouthful of skin!
Oh, he definitely knows they’re there.
Did you notice the contractions grandma used? Americans use contractions all the time in
speaking. First, ‘they’re’. This is the contraction of THEY ARE. Often in conversation,
Americans will reduce this contraction so it sounds like ‘thur’, thur. But here,
Grandma used the full pronunciation, they’re. When it’s fully pronounced, it sounds just
like two other words: THERE and THEIR. Here, she said THEY’RE THERE, talking about his
fingers. Two different words, but they sound the same. Listen again.
>> Oh, he definitely knows they’re there [3x]
>> So did you guys have good traffic down? >> Oh we did. Wonderful traffic.
I reduced ‘did’ here: “So did you guys” became “So d’you guys”.
I reduced ‘did’ to just the ending D, and when the D sound is followed by ‘you’
or ‘your’, it combines with the Y sound and becomes J. ‘Did you guys’ becomes
‘joo guys’. ‘Joo’ guys have good traffic? Listen again.
>> So did you guys have [4x]
“Did you” is a very common word combination in conversational English. Pay attention as
you study English and see if you notice this reduction. Try using it yourself. “Joo”
see that? “Joo” know that? Joo, joo. It can also be reduced further to ‘juh’,
with the schwa. “Juh” see that? “Juh” know that?
>> How is it to hold him? >> Oh, how is it?
>> Mm-hmm. >> Oh, I don’t know. It’s beyond description!
How is it to hold him? What do you notice about the word ‘him’ in this phrase?
>> How is it to hold him? [3x]
The H was dropped, hold’im, hold’im, and the two words linked together with no gap
in between. This is a very common conversational pronunciation of function words that begin
with H like him, her, his, have, has, and had.
>> How is it to hold him? >> Oh, how is it?
>> Mm-hmm. >> Oh, I don’t know. It’s beyond description!
>> Oh! Hi! >> Come on in!
You might not have understood this phrase: Come on in. It was all very linked together.
>> Come on in! [3x]
Two consonant to vowel links. Cuh-mah-nin. Come on in. You can use this phrase when welcoming
someone to your house. Come on in. Listen again.
>> Come on in! >> Hi, baby. Ow. He’s still so little!
>> Hi Stan! >> Hey! Oh! Stoney! You little nipper, you!
This is your grandpa. I brought you some toys. >> Oh boy! I bet you did.
I bet you did. Earlier in this video, you learned that when D is followed by ‘you’,
you can combine D and Y to make a J sound, ‘jew’. There is a similar rule: when T
is followed by ‘you’ or ‘your’, you can combine T and Y to make CH: now ‘you’
will sound like ‘chew’. Or, you can leave in the Y sound, “chyoo”. Also, like I
did here, you can reduce the vowel to the schwa, “chuh”: betcha, or betchya. You’ll
hear this a lot. Listen again.
>> I bet you did. [3x]
In the beginning, he didn’t do much. So we just sat around and stared at him! This
was okay with us. It never got boring!
>> Are you going to smile?
Another ‘gonna’. Are you gonna smile?
>> Are you going to smile? Are you going to smile? Huh?
We did get a couple of his first smiles on camera.
The first four months have been so fun. He’s changing a lot, kicking, and he has even started
talking!
His head’s kind of big, so he has a hard time holding it up. Some people have asked
me about his name, Stoney. It’s not very common in America. In fact, most people say
they’ve never heard of it, or never known anyone named Stoney. It’s just like the
word ‘stone’, with the ST consonant cluster.
What do you think about your name? Do you like it? I think he’s not sure yet. It has
the ST consonant cluster, the OH diphthong, the N consonant, Stone-, so it’s just like
‘stone’. And then a little unstressed ‘ee’ at the end. Stoney.
You already know Stoney if you’re subscribed to my mailing list. If you’re not subscribed,
sign up now. You get a free weekly newsletter with English lessons, and also photos and
stories from my life. Also, if you’re not on the list and you sign up now, you get access
to a free, 10-day mini-course in accent reduction sent right to your inbox. So, sign up here.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
Can you say bye, Stoney? Do you want to say ‘bye’ to everybody? Do you want to say
‘bye’? What do you think? He likes funny noises. Boo-boo-boo-boo. But not right now,
because he’s too tired. Bye everybody! Bye everybody!