A short episode of the Influency Podcast 'How to Pronounce Friday' in which host Hadar Shemesh (with another speaker) teaches pronunciation of the word 'spontaneous'. The transcript provides a syllable-by-syllable breakdown (spa-nta-ne-ous), vowel descriptions (as in 'father', high E, schwa), consonant guidance, and notes on English stress and rhythm (primary stress on the second syllable).
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 the word spontaneous. Because I'm just feeling so spontaneous today.
Spontaneous.
Let's break the word down. We begin with spa. Just like, oh, I'm going to the spa today.
Spa. It's an S sound, then a p.
So close your lips and then open it to the ah, as in father. Spa.
Spaan. Then we shift to the word the T. Spa. Just like the beginning of the word take or table. It's a diphthong, so it's a Ching vowel. Make sure you're not pronouncing it as a clean E sound. Sponte. No, spa. Drop your jaw, relax your lips. Span. Then T. You see the shift from E to E. Sponte. And then it's a high E sound. And then you relax your tongue into a schwa sound. But when you shift from the high E to the schwa, you get like, a little sound in the middle. Spontaneous. Spontaneous. I'm feeling spontaneous now. The interesting thing about this word is the rhythm. Spontaneous. In English, not every syllable receives the same beat, so it's not spontaneous, but spontaneous. The is the primary stress, so it's the longest syllable, and the at the end is the shortest. So it's really reduced and short. The span and the knee are somewhere in the middle. Spontaneous. Spontaneous. So that what creates the beauty of American rhythm and different lengths of different syllables and also different words in a phrase or a sentence. Spontaneous.
Okay, that was your how to Pronounce Friday episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you like 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.
