where we study everything about American English pronunciation

to help you improve your listening comprehension and understand how to sound more American.

So today, we're going to do a Ben Franklin exercise on a monologue about the weather.

00:00:27,340 --> 00:00:32,580 First, we'll listen to the full monologue, then there will be an in-depth analysis.

After that, after you study everything about stress,

reductions, and linking, there will be a listen and repeat section.

This is where you get to practice out loud and see if you can imitate what I've done.

First, the monologue.

00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,440 Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

That's thirty eight degrees Celsius.

We're in the middle of a heat wave, which is the opposite of a cold snap,

and every day this week is supposed to be upper nineties.

I know some people love the heat.

I am not one of these people.

Weather like this makes me want to stay inside all day and only venture out after the sun has set.

Now, the analysis.

00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,340 Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

What do you hear is being the most stressed words in that little thought group?

Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

I hear the stressed syllable of 'a hundred' and 'Philadelphia'.

Let me write this out.

A hundred.

So stress is on the first syllable of 'hun'.

A hundred.

Today, it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

And I feel that I'm emphasizing the H a little bit more than normal,

that's to add stress to that syllable, to that word.

A hundred.

Hundred, making the H a little stronger than normal.

A hundred degrees.

A hundred degrees.

A hundred degrees.

And I break it up a little bit. There's a little break between 'today' and 'it's'.

Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

And then I do another little break here.

Why did I do that?

Well, I think I did it to add emphasis to how hot it is.

It's a hundred degrees.

When we put a little break before

a segment in a thought group, it helps to add stress to it

just like exaggerating the beginning consonant did.

It's a hundred degrees.

Today it's a hundred degrees.

Today it's a hundred degrees.

Today it's a hundred degrees in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia.

This is a long word and long words can be intimidating.

Notice the PH, which is in here twice, is pronounced as an F.

Philadelphia.

Phila-del-phia.

So the syllable 'Phil' has a little bit of secondary stress, it's a little bit longer

but 'del' has the most stress, the up-down shape of the voice,

and that's what we can use to shape the word.

Philadelphia.

Philadelphia.

Philadelphia.

Philadelphia.

Philadelphia.

Philadelphia.

Philadelphia.

That's thirty eight degrees Celsius.

That's thirty eight degrees Celsius.

That's thirty eight degrees.

I did it again, I put a little break before the TH for 'thirty' and that adds stress.

That's thirty eight degrees.

If I made it more smooth: That's thirty eight degrees.

That's thirty eight degrees.

Then I lose some of the stress that I want to put on how hot it is.

I want to put stress on the number: That's thirty eight degrees.

Let's write that out too.

That's thirty eight degrees.

That's thirty eight degrees.

That's thirty eight degrees.

Thirty eight degrees.

Okay, we have a couple things happening with our T's here.

We have this first T in 'thirty', that's a flap T.

And the T is a flap T when it comes between two vowels or

when it comes after an R before a vowel like in the word 'thirty'.

Thirty.

Thirty eight degrees.

So the T in 'eight' is a Stop T because the next sound is a consonant.

Thirty eight degrees.

So we definitely don't release it, it's definitely not a True T,

that would sound like this: Thirty eight degrees.

Thirty eight degrees.

And that's just more emphasis on the T.

It's a more clear pronunciation than we would give it.

We make it a stop.

Thirty eight degrees.

Thirty eight.

Eight.

Eight.

Eight.

Eight.

We cut off that word by cutting off the air.

That abrupt stop is what lets us know this was a T.

Thirty eight degrees.

Thirty eight degrees.

Thirty eight degrees.

Thirty eight degrees.

The word 'degrees' ends in the Z sound and the word 'Celsius'

begins with the S sound.

If I was speaking less clearly, a little bit more conversationally,

I would have said: Thirty eight degrees Celsius.

And I would have connected the two and just made a single S sound,

but I was being a little bit more clear here, just like up here when I said 'a hundred degrees',

and then I put a little break after 'degrees'.

I did not connect with the same sound because I wanted

the 'thirty eight degrees' to stick out of the line a little bit for stress, for emphasis.

Thirty eight degrees Celsius.

Thirty eight degrees Celsius.

Thirty eight degrees Celsius.

Celsius.

Celsius.

First syllable stress: thirty eight degrees.

Stress on 'thir—'.

Thirty eight degrees Celsius.

And then we also have stress on that first syllable.

Celsius.

Celsius.

Celsius.

Celsius.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

One word is the most stressed there, is most clear, highest in pitch.

What is it?

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

Heat.

Definitely 'heat' has the most stress.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

And what do you notice about the T there?

A Stop T because the next word begins with a consonant.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

So 'mid', a little bit of stress.

'Wave' is also a stressed word. It's not as stressed as 'heat', that's the most stressed,

but it is longer and more clear.

What about these two strings of words that are not stressed?

What do they sound like?

Let's just listen to them on their own.

First: We're in the—

What does that sound like?

We're in the—

We're in the—

We're in the—

We're in the—

We're in the—

We're in the—

Not very clear.

It's definitely not: We're in the—,

that would be a stressed pronunciation.

They're all unstressed, said very quickly, no gaps between the words.

We're in the—

We're in the—

We're in the—

We're in the—

We're in the—

We're in the—

We're in the—

I would write this contraction 'we're' with the schwa.

Schwa R, said very quickly, not too clear:

we're, we're, we're, we're, we're.

Then 'in': We're in— we're in— we're in— we're in— with no break,

we're in the—

we're in the—

we're in the—

The word 'the' with no break, schwa.

We're in the—

we're in the—

we're in the—

We're in the—

we're in the—

we're in the—

Then we have the words 'of' and 'a'.

Of a—

of a—

of a—

Of a—

of a—

of a—

of a—

of a—

I don't drop the V sound, and I would probably write this with the full UH as in butter rather than a schwa.

But it's still said quickly, it's still unstressed.

Of a— of a— of a— of a—

That's really different than our most stressed word 'heat'

which has up-down shape and is much longer.

These strings of unstressed words are very flat in pitch,

compared to the stressed words, and that's part of the important contrast of American English.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

We're in the middle of a heat wave.

We're in the middle of a heat wave which is the opposite of a cold snap.

Which is the opposite of a cold snap.

Which is the opposite of a cold snap.

So 'heat wave', 'cold snap',

in both of those phrases, both words are stressed but the first word is the most stressed.

Which is the opposite of a cold snap.

Which is the opposite of a cold snap.

Which is the opposite of a cold snap.

So in this sentence fragment, 'op' and 'cold' and 'snap' are our most stressed words

and the other words like above are less clear, flatter in pitch, unstressed.

Let's listen to 'which is the'.

Which is the—

which is the—

which is the—

Which is the—

which is the—

which is the—

which is the—

Now, I noticed I pronounced the word 'the' with a schwa.

There is an official rule about the pronunciation of 'the'

and it says: when the next word begins with a vowel,

you make that an EE vowel: the opposite.

But I have noticed that many Americans don't do this and I did not do this here.

I made this a schwa.

Which is the—

which is the—

which is the—

Notice the S in 'is' makes the Z sound.

The letter S often makes the Z sound.

Don't be deceived and think because you see the letter S, that it's the S sound.

Which is the—

Which is the—

Which is the opposite of a cold snap.

Opposite of a cold—

Opposite of a cold—

Opposite of a cold—

So these words are all linked together.

The T becomes a Flap T which links into the next word.

Opposite of a—

of a, of a, of a.

Opposite of a cold snap—

But all of these words link together, there's no break, there's no choppiness.

Which is the opposite of a cold snap.

Which is the opposite of a cold snap.

Which is the opposite of a cold snap.

Let's look at the ending D in 'cold'.

It is not released.

That would sound like this: cold snap, cold snap, cold snap, cold ddd—.

We don't do that. We put the tongue up into position for the D,

and we vibrate the vocal cords: cold snap,

and then we go right into the S sound without releasing.

So the D sound is very subtle when it's followed by a consonant

because we don't release it but native speakers still definitely hear that vibration in the vocal cords.

Cold, cold, ddd, cold snap.

Cold snap, cold snap, cold snap.

So a 'heat wave' is a phrase we use when there's a period of time, a couple of days,

where the heat reaches an extreme high,

and a 'cold snap' is the exact opposite.