VOA名师答疑2023--Syllable Dropping in Speaking

Syllable¹ Dropping in Speaking

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about syllable dropping in American English pronunciation.

Question:

Hi, VOA Learning² English,

I'm Herbert from Germany.

Throughout my whole life speaking English, I did not realize that some vowels⁴ in words are "swallowed," like in the words "vegetable," "family" and "difference."

Could you give a lecture on this topic?

Thanks a lot,

Herbert

Answer

Hi Herbert,

This 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!

So, why does it happen in English?

Syllables⁵ and vowels

First, let's talk about syllables and vowels.

A syllable is part of a word that contains one vowel³ 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.

Stress and unstressed vowels

Every 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.

Now, 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.

Let's look at a few more examples of words that lose unstressed vowels.

"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."

"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.

Speaking like a native

You 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.

In this exercise, I will pronounce all the syllables first, then drop the unstressed vowel.

Family (3)

Family (2)

Difference (3)

Difference (2)

Vegetable (4)

Vegetable (3)

Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Herbert!

What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at [email protected].

And that's Ask a Teacher.

Words in This Story

vowel – n. a speech sound made with your mouth open and your tongue in the middle of your mouth not touching⁶ your teeth, lips, etc.

lecture – n. a talk or presentation by a professor or teacher

pronunciation –n. the sound of the way a word is said

stress – adj. something that is stressed is louder or in a higher pitch when speaking

relaxed – adj. not tense or stressed

1 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

2 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

3 vowel   

n.元音；元音字母

参考例句：

• A long vowel is a long sound as in the word"shoe ".长元音即如“shoe” 一词中的长音。
• The vowel in words like 'my' and 'thigh' is not very difficult.单词my和thigh中的元音并不难发。

4 vowels   

n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Note the various sounds of vowels followed by r. 注意r跟随的各种元音的发音。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

5 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

6 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。