171. How to pronounce 'chaos'

12 Nov 2021 · 0 min

Episode

12 Nov 2021 · 0 min

0:00

Short pronunciation lesson from the Influency podcast (How to Pronounce Friday) by Hadar Shemesh that teaches pronunciation, stress, and connected-speech details for the word “chaos” and its adjective “chaotic.” The episode explains phonetic components (initial /k/ aspiration, vowel in first syllable like 'day', second syllable vowel, intrusive /j/ glide), models example sentences, and invites listeners to submit sentences.

Welcome to the Influency podcast. I'm Hadar, and this is how to Pronounce Friday, where we take a confusing word or word pair. We learn how to pronounce it and how to use it with confidence. Let's get started.
Today we're going to talk about how to pronounce the word chaos. Chaos. There is so much chaos in this world. Okay, we begin with a K sound. The K at the beginning of words is aspirated, so it feels like there is a little H right after K, K, K. And then it's the A as in day K, and that's the primary stress. So it's going to be higher in pitch and longer. K. The second syllable is os, oz, and father. And then you ended up with s. But when you connect those two vowels, you hear an intrusive sound, a small little Y sound right there in the middle. So actually we want to say chaos. Chaos. Chaos. Look at all this. Chaos. Chaotic. What a chaotic afternoon I had. Chaotic, chaotic with a flap T. The place was so chaotic I left immediately. Chaos. Chaotic. Practice it. That's it. That was short and hopefully not too chaotic. Leave me a comment below and share one sentence with the word chaos or chaotic, and let's practice it together.
Okay. That was your how to Pronounce Friday episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you liked the podcast, then consider subscribing to the podcast. And if you feel really crazy, you can even rate and review the podcast. And you can find me at Hadar Accentsway on Instagram, where you can DM me and ask for all the crazy, fancy, confusing words that you'd like to know how to pronounce. Have a beautiful day and I'll see you next time. Sam.