Pronunciation of "Million"

[EngFan]

Dear All,

When I look up the word "Million" in dictionary, the phonetics symbol is / ˈmɪljən /, but how come I hear people and dictionaries say / ˈmɪlijən /, please advise.

EngFan

[Raymott]

Dear All,

When I look up the word "Million" in dictionary, the phonetics symbol is / ˈmɪljən /, but how come I hear people and dictionaries say / ˈmɪlijən /, please advise.

EngFan

Because not everyone pronounces it the same?

[5jj]

Well I would say /mi‛ly‛n/ or some people said /milii‛n/, there're only two ways to say it.

Neither of those is standard. /y/ is not an English sound.

[Tdol]

Neither is those is standard. /y/ is not an English sound.

It's a new crackpot theory transcription method that improves on the IPA.
There's more here: http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/pr...tml#post785269

Interestingly, it was being revealed on a word-to-know basis, and doesn't seem to have a name.

[EngFan]

Most of people and talking dictionaries would pronounce it with 3 syllables mil.li.on, but phonetics symbol shows there are only 2 syllables mil. on, could you tell me how do you pronounce it 2 syllables or 3 syllables?

[5jj]

Most of people and talking dictionaries would pronounce it with 3 syllables mil.li.on, but phonetics symbol shows there are only 2 syllables mil. on, could you tell me how do you pronounce it 2 syllables or 3 syllables?

/'mɪljən/ and /'mɪliən/ are both acceptable. Note that there is always a /j/, even if it is only in the glide from /i/ to /ə/ (which can, but does not have to be, noted with a subscript /j/ in the second version).

/mɪljən/ has two syllables; /mɪliən / has between two and three, depending on how the speaker actually pronounces it; it is usually closer to two than three.

[Raymott]

/'mɪljən/ and /'mɪliən/ are both acceptable. Note that there is always a /j/, even if it is only in the glide from /i/ to /ə/ (which can, but does not have to be, noted with a subscript /j/ in the second version).

/mɪljən/ has two syllables; /mɪliən / has between two and three, depending on how the speaker actually pronounces it; it is usually closer to two than three.

That's right. You could also say there's always an /i/ since you have to go through /i/ to get from /l/ to /j/ - or that /j/ starts with an abortive /i/.
Given that, there aren't two ways of saying it, but one way, on a spectrum from almost no intrusive /i/ to an obvious two syllable /ijə/.