19
votes
Why does the present continuous form of "mimic" become "mimicking"?
It's a standard spelling change. Verbs ending in c form their present particle as -cking. This helps the pronunciation, as c at the end of a word is normally "hard" (pronounced like k) but ...
- 228k
8
votes
How to pronounce "changed"?
TL;DR
Replace the affricate [d͡ʒ] of 'changed' by [ʒ] and pronounce it [t͡ʃeɪnʒd]. [ʒ] is the sound at the end of the word garage, so it should be easier for you.
Explanation
English consonant ...
- 18.1k
8
votes
How to pronounce "changed"?
Try pronouncing two words, first "change" and then "do", with a little pause. Then practice saying them with a smaller and smaller pause, until you are saying "changedo". ...
- 43.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Pronunciation of "met her" in American English
Here are my thoughts as an American English speaker; I don't have references for this so some of it may be wrong.
The pronunciation that sounds most natural to me is [mɛɾɚ], with /h/ omitted and the /...
- 7,326
5
votes
Accepted
The TH sound seems to be silent just after the S sound
This is normal, not peculiar to Ms. Swift. In speech th- is often assimilated to an immediately preceding continuant, not only with that but at the onset of any unstressed function word such as the, ...
- 175k
5
votes
Why does the present continuous form of "mimic" become "mimicking"?
With many English words, the pronunciation of the letter 'c' is determined by with follows it. A 'c' preceded by a vowel and followed by an 'i' or an 'e' is almost always pronounced like an 's'. To ...
- 8,034
5
votes
Why does the present continuous form of "mimic" become "mimicking"?
The answer is about pronunciation, but it's not just about hard "c" vs soft "c".
Many words double the final consonant before adding -ing, such as "bid" -> "...
- 3,341
4
votes
Why does the present continuous form of "mimic" become "mimicking"?
When forming derivative forms of words in English, pronunciation is almost always preserved and the spelling is modified if needed to indicate the correct pronunciation.
In normal English spelling, a ‘...
- 4,258
3
votes
Accepted
Which syllable does a consonant belong to?
Syllables are a strange thing... They are important for poetry and rhyme, and typesetter use them to guide where to put hyphens, but when you try to analyse the sounds of speech spoken naturally, ...
- 228k
3
votes
/dz/ and /z/ Is there really big difference?
Yes, /dz/ and /z/ sound very different to native speakers, and when pronounced properly are clearly distinguishable.
It is actually far more common for /dz/ and /ts/ to be confused by non-native ...
- 108k
2
votes
Accepted
do they sometimes omit the /d/ , /t/ sounds of the -ed ending?
The final -ed would be either omitted or reduced to a vestigial -t in normal speech. The elision between the /z/ and the /s/ can clearly be seen in this spectrum, where the vestigial t can (believe it ...
- 60.9k
1
vote
How do we pronounce month's? I mean apostrophe s after th?
The presence or absence of an apostrophe makes no difference.
When I say 'th', my tongue is curled up at the sides. To change the sound to 's' I simply flatten it.
- 59k
1
vote
Having trouble with t-d, t-d, d-t and d-d clusters
In cases "3" the context of pronunciation is that of double consonant sounds, in particular that of double plosives; the key to the pronunciation is given in Longman Pronunciation dictionary,...
- 873
1
vote
Accepted
Pronunciation of [bunch'ed' together]: "ch+ed+t" cluster
English consonant clusters can be difficult-to-pronounce at times,...
The -ed is pronounced /t/ in this case. I've expounded on the pronunciations of the -ed endings in this answer
Now, there are four ...
- 18.1k
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