Teacher Discussion Forums

Hi,
I grew up in the US and I could swear I learned the pronunciation of the word " neutralize" like the attched wave file. I have heard another pronunciation but is mine incorrect?


http://nagat.com/neu.wav


thank you

Yours sounded okay to me. What was the other one?

If you've been hearing a pronunciation anything like this: /'nju:tr*la1z/ (sorry I don't have a wav file to direct you to), then it's "just" British English (I can't say what other varieties are like). "We" don't make that "noo" (rhymes with 'boo'...and also 'poo' ) sound you're making there.

BTW, later in the recording, I thought I heard something almost like "noo-tcha-lies" (not sure if there was a "trah" quality), but this could just be due to the limitations of my PC or the recording itself (or my hearing!).

It'd be interesting to hear how Americans pronounce words like 'neuter', 'pewter' etc.

fluffyhamster wrote:
It'd be interesting to hear how Americans pronounce words like 'neuter', 'pewter' etc.

I have the "y" in pewter but not in neuter. fyi

this is the other pronunciation and the only one I was able to find in My American Heritage dic.

http://nagat.com/neu2.wav

I pronounce it almost like "natural" any of you find yourself saying it with the "sh" sound like me? "neutral"

Okay, I think I got it now. The dictionary one is right. You are making more of a "ch" sound, but it still sounded close enough to be okay for me. Is that what you meant? Quality of Internet sound, etc., being taken into consideration.

I think I got it too now. The differences hasmos was talking about are subtle differences in American pronunciation (if there is a "ch/tcha", it maybe doesn't appear to occur in BrE at least "at all"), not about AmE vs British or any other type of English at all; that is, now that the two recordings can be heard, it's obvious that hasmos wasn't "surprised" by anything other than a difference internal to American English(es)! (In my defence, all I can say is that the 'I grew up in the US...' rather led me down the wrong garden path ).

That "ch/tcha" is still interesting, though (=I don't want to be excluded from or thrown out of the discussion totally! ).

Lorikeet wrote:Okay, I think I got it now. The dictionary one is right. You are making more of a "ch" sound, but it still sounded close enough to be okay for me. Is that what you meant? Quality of Internet sound, etc., being taken into consideration.

yes that's what I meant.I say it with a "ch" sound

"Neutralize" isn't one of those words we use every day (well at least I don't!) Perhaps the /ch/ /tr/ thing was a variation in the area you grew up in, or maybe that's the way you heard it and never noticed it before. I've had students who have had trouble with the /ch/ and /tr/ in words like chuck and truck. Is that the only word you do it in? It's fun when you start paying attention to how you say things and how others say them. Listening to the radio is never boring then .

You are quite right. At least now I know that there are variations to pronouncing this word. One is never too old to learn

In fact, the "tr" does sound like "ch" (as the "dr" sounds like "j").

The combination of the stop and the voiceless r creates an affricate, at least in American English. Native speaking children actually confuse them when they are learning to read and write for the first time. It's actually one of the harder parts of their "alphabetic" stage. Funny that we all grow up and forget all about it.