how do you say usually?

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmNJAnALRHA&feature=youtu.be

Hello ensan, and welcome.
Your post only had a link to a Facebook page, which I have duly removed.

This is an English language-learning forum. If you have questions in that regard, you're welcome to submit them. Otherwise, you risk getting banned if you post such links in future.

teechar said:

Hello ensan, and welcome.
Your post only had a link to a Facebook page, which I have duly removed.

This is an English language-learning forum. If you have questions in that regard, you're welcome to submit them. Otherwise, you risk getting banned if you post such links in future.

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Sure.now it is a youtube link

Your answers ,please

ensan said:

Sure. (Space needed after a full stop) Now it is a YouTube link.

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ensan said:

Your answers, please.

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Note my corrections above. Don't put a space before a comma or a full stop. Always put a space after a comma and a full stop.

Forvo is a great website if you want to hear how native speakers pronounce a word. Click HERE to reach 7 pronunciations of the word "usually".

If you are interested in tracing changes to the spoken language in the last hundred years, the first edition of Daniel Jones' English Pronouncing Dictionary is a fascinating resource. I should not consult it for current English, though.

Until now,I have not a clear answer for my simple question.Do you pronounce 'usually' as the woman in my video pronounced it ?

I usually pronounce it as in the American example at Forvo in the sentence about the particularly perceptive person. You'll notice that the second /u/ sound isn't pronounced in that sample. The American examples that pronounce the /u/ are not representative of typical connected speech.

I think I tend to say ['jʊʒli] if I'm not putting emphasis on it, ['jʊʒəli] or ['ju:ʒəli] if I am. If I have to stand up and say something to a group, I try to enunciate more carefully: ['juʒlɪ] and ['ju:ʒəlɪ] respectively. I believe the four-syllable ['ju)ʒʊəli] is more common among female speakers, but I may be wrong.

My vote is for the version by gemmelo at www.forvo.com

I think all of these people are trying hard to say it as clearly as possible. That's not how they'd say it in continuous speech.

abaka said:

I think all of these people are trying hard to say it as clearly as possible. That's not how they'd say it in continuous speech.

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I more or less agree.

The two American speakers there are not great models. It seems that they are unnaturally forcing an extra syllable. The second of the two British speakers is not great, either. The first of the British ones is the best model.

jutfrank said:

I more or less agree.

The two American speakers there are not great models. It seems that they are unnaturally forcing an extra syllable. The second of the two British speakers is not great, either. The first of the British ones is the best model.

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I agree, but in slow or emphatic speech I find it natural to pronounce the second /u/.

GoesStation said:

I agree, but in slow or emphatic speech I find it natural to pronounce the second /u/.

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Right, but if I were modelling this word in class, I'd make sure to use three, not four syllables. (Or rather to use a mono- and not a diphthong in the middle.)

A typical learner pronunciation inaccuracy with this word is precisely that the second 'u' is pronounced where it oughtn't be.

jutfrank said:

A typical learner pronunciation inaccuracy with this word is precisely that the second 'u' is pronounced where it oughtn't be.

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And that's a perfect example of how educated British speech has changed over the last century.

Daniel Jones's 1916 entry in full:


The italicized schwa is optional, but the [ʒu] forms are asserted to be more common.

Forvo's samples indicate American pronunciation may have retained greater tolerance of the [ʒu] forms.

PS. The current 18th Cambridge edition of the EPD also gives preference to [FONT=&quot][[/FONT][FONT=&quot]ʒə][/FONT] in RP, but has [[FONT=&quot]ʒu[/FONT]] or [[FONT=&quot]ʒw[/FONT]] for its American form.

I usually pronounce it like this: ['ju:ʒəli]

You are so helpful. I noticed that no one commented on the video directly.
By the way, I used to say it as the dictionary not the woman .

ensan said:

You are so helpful. I noticed that no one commented on the video directly.
By the way, I used to say it as the dictionary not the woman .

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The video has a couple of British speakers, first in connected, then isolated speech, followed by a heavily-accented foreign speaker. I can't guess where he's from.

What kind of comment are you looking for?

The dictionary pronounces the word 'usually in a different way from the native woman in the very beginning of the video.I mean the woman's pronunciation is not include in the famous dictionary.