How to pronounce "l"?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Squirrel_3110

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Macau
Dear all,
I find pronouncing "l" not simple at all. For example:
WHILE, I hear its pronounciation like "wai-el", "oil" like "oi-el". One more thing, how can I treat well the words ending in "l" because I find it difficult to connect to the followed consonants. Thank you very much.
 

thatone

Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2010
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Italian
Home Country
Italy
Current Location
Italy
That's because the final l a dark l /ɫ/.
When the diphthongs aɪ, eɪ or ɔɪ or the vowel /i/ precede a dark l, a schwa can be heard in between. That's why while can sound like /waɪəɫ/, oil like /ɔɪəɫ/, fail like /feɪəl/ and real /riəl/. This should occur naturally, to some extent, if you're pronouncing the dark l correctly.

Additionally, some speakers merge the diphthong with the schwa when using /eɪ/, so that fail sounds more like /feəl/. That can also occur with /aɪ/ that becomes /ɑ:/ in dialectal speech.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top