Learn how to practice the word “Literally” by breaking it down sound by sound. Then put it all together to feel confident using this word in American English conversation.
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Video Text:
In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to learn how to pronounce the word ‘literally.’
This video is being made while I’m on vacation, hence the weird wood background and the bad lighting. But the benefit is we get to hear lots of different people pronounce this word.
It’s literally a hard word to pronounce.
First let’s go over the pronunciation. This is a four syllable word with stress on the first syllable, DA-da-da-da, li-ter-a-lly, li-ter-a-lly. You may find that some people even stress the L a little bit, holding it out a little longer, Li-terally, to emphasize the word.
To make the L you can bring the tongue tip up to the roof of the mouth, ll. I’ve noticed I often bring the tongue tip through the teeth, ll. It looks like the TH but you can still make the L sound, li-, li-. Then we have the IH vowel, so the tongue tip will push here lightly behind the bottom front teeth and the jaw will drop a little bit, li-, li-.
Next we have a T, but it comes between two vowel sounds, so it’s a Flap T, Li-ter-a-lly. Li-t-t-t-t-t-t. That means the tongue just flaps, it bounces against the roof of the mouth, we don’t stop the air flow. It sounds a lot like the D in American English between two vowels. It sounds like the R in languages like Arabic, Portuguese, and Spanish. Li-ter, li-ter, li-ter, just a quick bounce of the tongue tip.
Next we have the schwa-R syllable, -er-, -er-, -er-. You don’t need to try to make a separate schwa sound, you can just go into the R sound. So after your tongue tip bounces against the roof of the mouth you pull it back and up a little bit for the R sound. Tongue tip shouldn’t be touching anything. Li-ter-, and you should be able to hold out that sound, li-ter, li-ter, li-ter-a-lly.
Next we have a schwa syllable. It’s very fast and you don’t really need to think about making a special schwa sound. Li-ter-a-lly, li-ter-a-lly. Just think of making a little emphasis for another syllable there, li-ter-a-. So your tongue tip will come back down before it goes into position for the L, li-ter-a-lly. Li-ter-al-, and you can see for the second L here, again, I’m bringing my tongue tip through my teeth. It’s a little bit more of a simple movement because it doesn’t have to go up so far. Li-ter-a-lly, li-ter-a-lly.
Then the tongue tip ends up down here again for the EE as in SHE vowel. Li-ter-a-lly, li-ter-a-lly.
Let’s listen to some friends and family say this word.
>> Literally.
>> Literally.
>> Literally, there were no doughnuts left.
>> Literally.
>> Literally.
>> Literally.
>> Literally. Literally.
>> Literally. Literally.
>> Literally. Literally.
>> Literally. Literally.
>> Literally. Literally.
>> Literally. Literally.
I hope this video has helped you understand how to say the word ‘literally.’ If there’s a word you’d like to learn how to pronounce, put it in the comments below, and don’t forget to ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ this video.
That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
>> Go one more time, literally,
>> Literally.
Hear the difference immediately.
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