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  • In this American English pronunciation video,

  • I’m going to answer someone’s question about reducing “I’m gonna”.

  • Hiroya says that’s he’s noticed people saying, instead of “I’m gonna”, “I’m’onna”.

  • Youre exactly right.

  • We do reduce “I’m gonna,”

  • which is already a reduction of “I am going to,” to “I’muna”.

  • Basically, dropping the G sound.

  • We don’t do it with any other subject except I.

  • Not you, not he, not she, just I.

  • I’muna.

  • Well even reduce it further,

  • dropping the AI diphthong and starting with the M consonant: Muna.

  • There are certain phrases that are so familiar to us,

  • that we use so often, that we just feel free to reduce them like crazy.

  • This is one of those phrases.

  • “I am going to”, “Muna.” Do you have to do it this way? No.

  • Reducing it to “I’m gonnais already a great reduction

  • that will smooth out your speech.

  • But if you have good ears and you listen for it,

  • youll probably notice Americans doing this, just like Hiroya did.

  • Let’s practice it: muna, muna.

  • Lips start closed for the M sound, mm.

  • Then I drop the jaw a little bit, everything is relaxed, mu-, mu-.

  • Then you can leave the jaw where it is, dropped a bit, relaxed,

  • and just flap the tongue against the roof of the mouth

  • for the N, muna, then right back down again for the schwa.

  • Muna, muna.

  • I can tell you right now, the thing you probably need to work

  • on the most is making your second syllable ultra short.

  • Muna, uh, uh, uh, muna.

  • It should sound like a two-syllable word with stress on the first syllable.

  • Muna.

  • DA-da.

  • Muna.

  • Let’s look at some example sentences.

  • Muna see her later.

  • Muna try that next.

  • M’be a little late.

  • Okay, that one I reduced even more.

  • I just saidmuh’, ‘muh-be’.

  • Muh-be a little late, muh-be, muh-be.

  • Yep, youll hear this reduction too.

  • Muna graduate next year.

  • Muna check.

  • Okay, I’m going to just improvise here for a second.

  • I’m going to try that, I’m going to try that.

  • I’m going to transfer the files when were done.

  • So we have the reduction “I am going to

  • to “I’m gonna”, and sometimes, well reduce it even more.

  • I hope this has helped you understand what you hear.

  • Americans can get pretty crazy with their reductions.

  • If there’s a word or phrase you’d like help pronouncing,

  • please put it in the comments below.

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

In this American English pronunciation video,

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