echofloating
How do you pronounce these words in American English? I would like to know how Americans pronounce the words " failure" and "million". When I looked them up in Cambridge dictionary : http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ I found the letter "L" only pronounced once in the dictionary: fail + jər (not fail+ ljər) and mill + jən (not mill + ljən) . Could you please help clarify which one is most commonly used in American English ? Thank you so much.
Nov 18, 2017 3:03 PM
Answers · 3
Hi, echofloating! Standard American English does pronounce those two words the way the Cambridge dictionary says we do: fail + jər and mill + jən. Generally, American English drops more consonant sounds than British English and ends up "slurring" sounds together as a result. This is just one example of that: the "L" in the middle of a word is often pronounced more like a "half-L" with the finishing "tap" dropped off completely. I hope my answer helps. 如果看不懂,请说。我也可以用中文帮你解释。
November 18, 2017
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