Episode 136 of the Influency Podcast (host Hadar Shemesh) is a short pronunciation-and-vocabulary lesson focused on 10 common legal terms and one courtroom phrase. The host provides brief definitions and step-by-step pronunciation guidance (stresses, vowel qualities, schwa notes, and alternative pronunciations) for: law; prosecute/prosecutor; jury; attorney; affidavit; felony; warrant; subpoena; testimony; and the phrase "Objection, your honor." The episode closes with an invitation to follow the host on Instagram (Hadar / Accentsway) and to rate/write a review.
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Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar and this is episode number 136. And today we are going to talk about legal vocabulary. Hey. Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in for another episode of the Influency podcast. Today we are going to talk about words. And not just words, legal words. Some of these words I knew before I knew anything about pronunciation because I used to be a fan as a teenager of all the legal drama that was available back then. I think my favorite was Law and order and Ally McBeal, if you remember, I was obsessed with it. And in particular, I was obsessed with imitating the prosecutors when they were in court. So this is why I know a lot of legal vocabulary, even though there is no real need for me to know this, because I don't have a lot of experience in real courtrooms, thankfully. And I haven't studied law, which is probably a good thing for the legal system because I don't think I'd make a good student anyway. So today I decided to select 10 very common words and talk about the meaning or the pronunciation or both, because some of them are very deceiving in terms of pronunciation. So we're going to talk about those words, definition, and just have fun in this legal conversation. So are you ready? Let's start. Okay, so the first word is of course, law. Law. It's a one syllable word. It's really short, but it could be confusing because of the spelling. So it's spelled with l, a w. A lot of times when we see that w, we think it means that it's a changing vowel, a diphthong. And therefore people sometimes pronounce it as low. Low. Low is a different word and a different vowel. There it's the O's in go, but here it's the aw say sound. Law. Law as in daughter, or even the ah as in father. If you totally relax your lips and relax your mouth. Law. Law. Law. Can you hear the difference? La, la. In the second one, I rounded the lips just a bit, but my mouth was very open for both. The tongue is relaxed and pulled back just a bit. Law. It's against the law, I'm telling you. Law. Law studies. I studied law. Okay, the next word is prosecute. Prosecute. The primary stress here is on the first syllable. Pro. Pro. Prosecute. To prosecute, by the way, is to, according to the Dictionary, institute legal proceedings against a. So you prosecute someone for something that they did. And prosecute starts with a pr and then the as and father. PRA primary stress, as I said. Then we have a schwa. Su, su, su, pra su. And then cute. Cute. The T. I released it here. But it could be a healthy prosecute where you just hear that abrupt stop of air. But I don't like those confusions, especially since, you know, native speakers of English may pronounce it with a T or may pronounce it without the T with a held t. So just do whatever is easier for you and makes it clearer for other people to understand what it is that you're saying. So prosecute. And the person who is prosecuting is called a prosecutor. A prosecutor, by the way, is usually a public official. It's not the person suing, but a public official that is prosecuting. Prosecuting. The next one is jury. Jury. We start with a J sound and then it's the or, as in poor. It's not an U sound. It's not an O sound. It's somewhere in between. Or jury. Jury. Make sure you pronounce the D sound at the beginning and not jury, but jury. Jury. Some people might reduce the sound and just pronounce it as jury with an er, as in stir. Jury. But both are okay. Whatever is easier for you. The next one is attorney. I needed to get a good attorney. Attorney here. Even though we have the letter O, we don't really hear an O sound. So we start with a schwa sound, then ter. Ter, as in Turkey. And then knee. Attorney. Attorney. She's my attorney. I'm an attorney at law. Attorney. The next word is affidavit. Affidavit. Listen to the sounds here. Affidavit. An affidavit is a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation for use as evidence in court. Affidavit. A written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation for use as evidence in court. The first sound is a as in cat. Then we have F. F. F. An F sound. And then a schwa. The spelling. In the spelling, you'll see the letter I, but it's actually a schwa sound. Then day. That's the primary stress. Affidavit. It's like David, but with a T. Affidavit. Where is your affidavit, David? Affidavit. The next word is felony. Felony. A felony is a crime that usually involves violence. And it's usually more serious than a misdemeanor. Misdemeanor is breaking the rules without serious, serious implications. Something not too serious, but still, you know, it's not the right thing to do. So a felony is something More serious than that. So to pronounce it, you start with fe. That's the primary stress. An F sound and the E as in red. Then an l in a schwa. Fella. And then knee. Felony. Felony. The next word is warrant. Warrant or warrant. Warrant or warrant. We'll talk about the pronunciation in a sec. Just to clarify, a warrant is a document issued by a legal or government official authorizing the police or some other body to make an arrest, or sometimes even to search the house. I remember from watching Law and Order. Law, Law and Order. And there was always the question, do you have a warrant? We need to get a warrant. Where's the warrant? I want to see the warrant. So you can't really do anything. The police can't do anything really without a warrant. So that's a warrant. And we start with a W sound. Then it's the or as in for. And then rent. Rent. There is a schwa sound there. Warrant. After the w. You can also open your mouth more for an ah sound, just like the difference between law and law. You know, these two sounds are very similar. Ah as in father and ah as in daughter. In some dialects in the US you don't hear a distinction. Both of them are merged to the ah sound. Ah. And this is why I always tend to teach it with the ah sound. Because it's just more general and easier for people to understand when there's one sound and not two. But if it's easier for you to pronounce it with a more rounded mouth, Warrant. Then go for it, because it's a valid pronunciation. The next word is subpoena. Subpoena. The word is spelled with a B sound and then there is an o there somewhere. So if you heard this word for the first time, you probably didn't imagine that there is a B and an o in this word. Subpoena. Subpoena is a written form ordering a person to attend a court. I'm going to subpoena you so you can use it as a verb or I received a subpoena. And then it functions as a noun. How efficient. Subpoena. You start with an S sound, then a schwa, then P as pizza. I know what you're thinking. No, I was thinking about pizza. Nuh. Nuh. An N sound in the schwa at the end. Subpoena. The next word is testimony. Testimony. Testimony. You start with a T sound, then it's the E as in red. Te. Close it with an S. Tess. Tess. And then T. Schwa. T. Testa. Mo. O as in Go. Testimony, Testimony, testimony. So a testimony is a formal written or spoken statement, and it's especially one that is given in the the court of law. Testimony. I gave my testimony. Okay, the next phrase. I had another one on the list, but I changed it to this one because I love saying it so much. The next phrase is. Objection, your honor. When I was a child, I always practiced saying it out loud. Objection, your honor, I object. Objection. So the reason why I want to talk about the word objection because it has a fun little schwa at the beginning, even though it's spelled with an O. Object. I object. Object. And then shin. Shin, shin. Objection. The your is reduced to your. Your. And then honor. Even though it's spelled with an H, we pronounce it without an H. Your honor. Your honor. Objection, your honor. Objection, your honour. Okay, that's it. These were the 10 legal terms or words that we constantly come across when we watch all those legal shows. And thankfully there are many. So now we talked about how to pronounce them to make sure that what your mouth is doing is aligned with how you hear the word, and even more so if how you hear the word is actually aligned with how the word is meant to be pronounced. There's always confusion around there. It's like there are so many moving pieces when it comes to pronouncing a single word. It's not only how it's supposed to be pronounced, but also how it's perceived and then how it is performed by the speaker. So this is why we've got a lot of work to do, but we're trying to keep it fun because it is okay. If you enjoyed this podcast episode, come on over to Instagram and let me know if you like more of those and if you have other ideas for similar pronunciation series. So you can find me at Hadar Accentsway on Instagram, as I said. And you can also take 30 seconds if you like this podcast and rate the podcast and even write a review to help people understand what this podcast is all about if they don't know it. Okay? So thank you so much in advance. I sincerely appreciate it, your honor. And that's it. I'm going to put on my cape right now and take my law books and continue with my day. Have a beautiful, beautiful day, my friends, and I'll see you or speak to you in the next episode. Bye. It.
