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Pter
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799521
Sun, 28 Jun 09 05:41 PM
I was researching the pattern of silent letters and was about to post a question on this forum when I found this site: http://www.eleaston.com/pr/sl-pat-pb.html
After going through the list, I was surprised that there are so many. I pronounce most of them correctly without even noticing that some letters are silent. I also found that I have always mispronounced a few of them, including debt and Illinois.
However, I want to confirm if the following are really silent:
k in asked t in acts, ducts, students l in almond th in clothes, months, depths, lengths w in toward o in laboratory, comfortable (probably a BrE and AmE difference)
Thank you very much.
p.s. oops, just found that I posted it in the wrong forum. Would an admin please help to move it back to English Audio: Speech and Pronunciation ?
Thanks.
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Wed, Nov 28 2007
Regular Member
553
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AlpheccaStars
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799596
Sun, 28 Jun 09 06:51 PM
Pter - the pronunciation of words depends heavily on a person's dialect. k in asked - variable pronunciation - I say - askt (some dialects say "axt")
t in acts, ducts, students - I pronounce the "t", but very muted.
l in almond - I pronounce the "l", but muted
th in clothes, months, depths, lengths - I pronounce these: close, monts, deps, linx
w in toward - I pronounce as tord
o in laboratory, comfortable (probably a BrE and AmE difference) - I say the "or" sound.
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3,508
The pen is mightier than the sword. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)
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Soka
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799609
Sun, 28 Jun 09 07:02 PM
 Pter“ However, I want to confirm if the following are really silent:
k in asked t in acts, ducts, students l in almond th in clothes, months, depths, lengths w in toward o in laboratory, comfortable (probably a BrE and AmE difference) ”
Hey Peter, even i doubt these. But yes, its correct for almond and asked. For clothes, months, depths, lengths i guess while speaking, the tongue does make that move for the "th" sound , but the sound is quite faint .
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Mon, Dec 10 2007
Full Member
186
The Lord prefers common-looking people.That is why he makes so many of them.
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CalifJim
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799748
Sun, 28 Jun 09 09:06 PM
Pter “ However, I want to confirm if the following are really silent:
k in asked t in acts, ducts, students l in almond th in clothes, months, depths, lengths w in toward o in laboratory, comfortable (probably a BrE and AmE difference) ”
As you may already know, it depends on who you ask. Here are my pronunciations.
askt - very soft, unreleased k; neutral t, not very aspirated.
akts, dukts - again, soft, unreleased k; ts as a unit as in tsar. stewd' N(t)s - unreleased d, syllabic n. s / ts indistinguisable after n. (Cf. prince = prints)
au' mund - no l for me, but I've heard people pronounce the l. It's not a big difference. cloze - not the remotest attempt to say the th. Zero.
munths, depths, lengkths - soft th, unreleased p, k; ths a unit similar to the ts referred to above. I hear munce (munts , munss) a lot.
twore + d; never tore + d. lab' ra tor y - definitely no o there.
cumf' ter bull (believe it or not  ) or cum' fer duh bull
CJ
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Mon, Aug 2 2004
California
Veteran Member
22,395
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
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Pter
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800498
Mon, 29 Jun 09 09:32 AM
Thank you all for your replies. Hmm, interesting. Seems very different even among native speakers. I found CJ's reply most detailed but a bit hard for me to understand. And I'm not sure how I can practise saying those sounds.
What are your suggestions for a non-native? How should I say them if I want to reduce my accent?
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CalifJim
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801123
Mon, 29 Jun 09 06:29 PM
Pter “ I'm not sure how I can practise saying those sounds.”
I think you need to get yourself some audio materials -- the sort of thing where you listen and repeat, listen and repeat, listen and repeat, ad infinitum.
CJ
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Kooyeen
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801219
Tue, 30 Jun 09 12:18 AM
I'm not a native speaker, and I am not fluent at all, but this is the way I would pronounce them (American English):
Pter “
k in asked No k, and trying to put one in there would have no effect: ast
t in acts, ducts I pronounce the t, butthe k before it becomes silent (but it's still there).
l in almond No L at all
th in clothes, months, depths, lengths No th in clothes. In the other cases it depends. For example I would say "depths" as depts.
w in toward No w, it rhymes with "scored"
o in laboratory, comfortable (probably a BrE and AmE difference) No... labrutory, cumftuble.
”
Just my preferences though. As you can see, it varies from speaker to speaker. I'm gon ax him to gimme a han! (ask him to give me a hand, AAVE). 
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Thu, Dec 22 2005
Italy
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Parental Advisory / Explicit Posts
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Yankee
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801250
Tue, 30 Jun 09 02:19 AM
Hi Pter,
I have recorded myself saying the words in your list: Pter “ k in asked t in acts, ducts, students l in almond th in clothes, months, depths, lengths w in toward o in laboratory, comfortable ”
I'm looking forward to hearing you record them for me now.
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Sat, Apr 15 2006
Connecticut, USA
Veteran Member
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Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain
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Pter
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803352
Thu, 02 Jul 09 05:25 PM
This is how I say them (after correcting my pronunciation for almond and toward).
What should I improve?
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