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  • In this American English pronunciation video, were going to go over the pronunciation

  • of the wordgirl’.

  • This is a really tough word, and I get a lot of requests for it. Like other difficult words,

  • world, and curl, for example, it’s hard because it has an R followed by a dark L.

  • So let’s go sound by sound and figure out how to say this word.

  • First, this is a one syllable word and it’s a content word, so it will be stressed and

  • have a vocal shape like this. Uhhh. Try that, just onuh’, uhhh. In this word in particular,

  • because of the Dark L, focusing on the shape of the voice will help your pronunciation.

  • Uh, uh.

  • We start with the G consonant, gg. Make the G by lifting the back of the tongue to the

  • soft palate, gg, and engage the voice, gg, gg. Girr-. Now we have the UR vowel followed

  • by R. Two symbols in IPA, but just one sound. The R sound. Grr, gr. So it’s just like

  • a GR consonant cluster, like ingreat’, orgrow’. Grr, grr. To move from G to

  • R, the front and back of the tongue move at the same time. The back of the tongue was

  • here and the tip was here for the G: gg. Gr. To make the R we release the back of the tongue,

  • and at the same time we pull the tip of the tongue up. It doesn’t touch anything. If

  • you want to focus on something, focus on the tip of the tongue. Think of it as doing this.

  • So now the middle part touches the roof of the mouth lightly, rr, rr, back here. And

  • you should be able to hold that sound out, grr.

  • Let’s practice just those first sounds with the right shape: grrrr. So the pitch of the

  • voice needs to go down. Grr. Ok, now the Dark L. First, how does it fit into the

  • shape? Your voice is coming down in pitch. The Dark L should just fit into that line.

  • It’s also going to come down in pitch. And, because it’s at the end of the curve, some

  • of the energy of the voice is gone. Listen to just the dark L, uhl [3x].

  • How to make it. The tongue can be in two different positions. It can either come back down, so

  • it’s touching the back of the bottom front teeth. Or, the tongue tip can come up to the

  • roof of the mouth. The middle part is no longer touching the roof of the mouth. It’s also

  • down. The part that really matters is the back of the tongue. It shifts back, uhl, uhl.

  • It’s still low. Uhl, uhl. Because of the back part of the tongue, we get this strange,

  • dark sound, uhl. Does it feel strange? That’s okay. If it’s new to you, it should definitely

  • feel strange. If you only pay attention to the front part of the tongue, what the tip

  • is doing, you can never get the right sound for the Dark L. Focus on the back.

  • Let’s just try transitioning from the R to the Dark L. Rrrlll. Rrrlll. And now the

  • whole word, but do it slowly. And use your hand, it can’t hurt. Girl, girl, girl.

  • There it is, youve got it. Practice it slowly, with your hand, lots of times. Practice

  • it in sentences. This is a tough word, and youre going to get really good at it if

  • you practice.

  • Now let’s look at it up close in and slow motion.

  • Can you tell that the tongue has started to pull back and up here? It’s not forward.

  • For the L, I flip my tongue tip to the roof of the mouth. And then back down at the end

  • of the word. Let’s watch that again.

  • If there’s a word or phrase you’d like help pronouncing, please put it in the comments

  • below.

  • Also, I’m very excited to tell you that my book is now on sale. If you liked this

  • video, there’s a lot more to learn about American English pronunciation, and my book

  • will help you step by step. You can get it by clicking here, or in the description below.

  • That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

In this American English pronunciation video, were going to go over the pronunciation

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