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  • I've had some requests to go over the pronunciation of various contractions.

  • So, let's start with the 'to be' contractions, as in I am, you are, we are. First, I'm. It's

  • one syllable, the 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong and the M consonant sound. I'm here, I'm here.

  • You are, you're: begins with the Y consonant sound, then the schwa, and finally the R consonant

  • sound. You're, you're. You're here! You're welcome. He's, she's, and it's. Now the apostrophe

  • S for the word 'is' in these three contractions is pronounced as a Z sound for he and she,

  • and as an S sound for it's. He's, zzz, zzz, Z sound, she's, zzz, zzz, Z sound, it's, sss,

  • S sound. The apostrophe S in he's, she's, and it's, can also be shortening the word

  • 'has', not just 'is'. He has, he's been here before. She has, she's, she's been here before.

  • It has, it's, it's been here for a while. We're begins with the W consonant sound. It

  • then has the schwa/R sound combination, just like the 'er' as in 'her' vowel sound: ww,

  • er. So even though it would be written with two different symbol sounds, it's just the

  • one rr, rr, rr sound. We're, we're, we're coming! They're: pronounced just like these

  • two words their/there. Th, the voiced TH sound, th, the 'eh' as in 'bed', the-er, er. The

  • schwa/R sound finishing off the word. They're. They're. They're here! Question words are

  • often part of contractions as well. For example, how is. How's, how's. The S is pronounced

  • as a Z sound, how's. How's it going? Why's, why is. Why's, again it is pronounced like

  • a Z sound. It's pronounced just like this word wise. Why's, why's it there? What is,

  • what's. So the apostrophe S is pronounced as an S, what's. Now, make sure you get the

  • T for 'what' in there. It's a stop, what's, not just an S sound. What---ss. So do move

  • the tongue up to the roof of the mouth to make that stop for the T. What's, what's.

  • What's it doing there? The apostrophe S could also be the word does. What does, what's.

  • What's it mean? When. When is becomes when's, zz, zz. Here the apostrophe S is pronounced

  • as a Z. When's, when's, when is, when's it over? The apostrophe S can also mean does.

  • When does, when's, again, pronounced as a Z, when's it end? When does it end, when's

  • it end? The have contractions. These are written as apostrophe VE, and when the word before

  • ends in a vowel or diphthong sound, it simply adds the V consonant sound to the end of that

  • syllable. I, I have, I've, I've, vvv. I've been waiting. You have, you've, you've. Again,

  • the word 'you' pronounced just the same, only with, vv, a V sound at the end. You've. The

  • Y consonant sound, 'oo' as in 'boo' vowel, and the V consonant sound. You've, you've

  • been waiting. We have, we've. The W consonant sound, the 'ee' as in 'she' vowel, and the

  • V consonant. It's pronounced just like this word, weave. We've, we've been waiting. They

  • have, they've. They've. The voiced TH sound, the 'ay' as in 'say' diphthong, they, they,

  • vv. And the V sound. They've. They've been waiting. The next set of words with the 'have'

  • contraction all end in a consonant. So rather than just adding a V sound, it actually adds

  • another, unaccented syllable: the schwa sound followed by the V sound. For example, could

  • have, could've, could've, ve, ve. Separate, extra syllable at the end. Could've. I wish

  • I could've seen it. Should have, should've, should've, ve, ve. I should've known. Would

  • have, would've. Again, it's the first syllable, woul-dve, that is stressed and, -dve: low

  • in pitch and volume. Would've. It would've been nice. Might have. Now the T here is going

  • to be pronounced as a flap T, so it will actually sound like a D: might've, might've. Dve, dve,

  • mai-dve, might've. I might've gone. The 'will' contractions. All of these contractions have

  • a dark L that is added at the end. I've said before, the dark L has a vowel-like sound

  • that's not written in IPA: uh, uh, uhl, before the tongue moves up into the final position.

  • So let's take example I, I'll, I--'ll, uhl, that dark L sound on the end. I will, I'll.

  • I'll be there soon. You will, you'll. You---uhl. Dark L at the end. You'll. You'll need to

  • come quickly. With the he will and she will contractions, the ee vowel might relax a little

  • into the 'ih' as in 'sit' vowel. He will, he'll, he'll, he'll be here soon. She will,

  • she'll, becomes more with the ih sound she'll, she'll, she'll be here soon. It will. It'll.

  • Notice the T here is pronounced as a flap T, the D sound. It'll. It'll be ok. With the

  • we will contraction you might find, again, that the 'ee' as in 'she' vowel relaxes into

  • the 'ih' as in 'sit' vowel. We will, we'll, we'll. It sounds a lot like the word 'will'.

  • We'll be there tomorrow. The will, they'll. They'll. The TH, th, voiced sound, 'ay' as

  • in 'say' diphthong, and the dark L sound. Uhl, uhl, they'll. They'll be here soon. How

  • will becomes how'll, which sounds just like this word howl. How will, how'll, how'll you

  • get there? Where will becomes where'll, where'll, where---'ll. Where'll you be? When will, when'll.

  • When'll I see you again? What will. Again, the T here will be pronounced as a D, it's

  • flapped. What'll, what'll. And you'll notice that the contraction adds a second unaccented

  • syllable. What'll. What'll it be? The words had and would can both be represented by the

  • apostrophe D. In the word I'd, it's simply a D sound at the end of the 'ai' as in 'buy'

  • diphthong. I'd. I'd go if I could. You would, or you had, you'd, you'd. The Y consonant

  • sound, the 'oo' as in 'boo', and the D sound. You'd, all one syllable. You'd like it. She

  • had, or would, and he had, or would, again, the apostrophe D simply adds the D sound at

  • the end of the syllable. She'd, he'd. She'd been there before. He'd been there before.

  • It. Now, when you add the apostrophe D here, it'd, it'd, you change the T to a D sound,

  • and the apostrophe D adds a syllable. It's going to be the schwa and the D sound. It'd,

  • it'd. So that 's the 'ih' as in 'sit' sound, ih, dud. The D - schwa - D sound. It'd, it'd,

  • it'd be nice. The apostrophe D with the word 'we', again, is just simply the D sound at

  • the end of that word, not adding a syllable. We'd. We'd. It's pronounced just like this

  • word 'weed'. We'd better get going. The D with they, again, simply adds the D sound.

  • They'd, they'd. They'd seen it twice before. The apostrophe D on the word how again just

  • adds the D sound. How'd, how'd, how'd. How'd it go? The apostrophe D can also represent

  • the word 'did' as in the following two examples. Again with the word 'where', when you add

  • the apostrophe D, you simply add the D sound at the end. Where'd, where'd, where'd it go?

  • Why did, why'd. Why'd. Again just adds a D sound, and it's pronounced just like this

  • word 'wide'. Why'd. Why'd you do it?

I've had some requests to go over the pronunciation of various contractions.

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