How to pronounce Martyr and Murder | American English Pronunciation

22 Nov 2016 · 2 min

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Hadar Shemesh breaks down the American English pronunciations of murder and martyr. Both stress the first syllable, but murder uses a schwa-like vowel while martyr opens with a broader ah sound before the same ending.

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Hey guys, it's hadar. And this is the accent's way, your way to finding clarity, confidence and freedom in English today. I want to compare the two words murder and martyr.
Murder.
Martyr. Now, I know both words are spelled totally different, but they are pretty similar. The beginning is different, but the ending is exactly the same. Alright, so we shouldn't think of the word as it's spelled, but as it sounds.
Murder.
Marder. Let's begin with the word murder. The first syllable is mer.
Mer.
So you close the lips for the M and then you pull the tongue in for the r. Mer. There is no vowel in the middle. It's the er, as in stir. As in first mer.
Mer.
Then you bring the tongue up for the D sound and then you pull it in for the r. Dur.
Der.
So basically it sounds like it's the same vowel.
Murder.
The primary stress falls on the first syllable. That's why it's a little higher in pitch.
Murder.
The D is very light.
Murder. Murderer. Murder. Murderer.
You're adding another R at the end when you're talking about a murderer.
Murder.
The word martyr begins with an M sound. But then you have the R as in car. So you drop your jaw for the ah sound. Ma. And only then you bring the tongue up for the r. Mar. The ending is the same again.
Der. Der. Der.
Marder. So it's mar. Mer versus mar. No vowel in the middle.
Mer.
Open ah sound in the middle. Mar.
Murder.
Martyr. The martyr was murdered. The marder was murdered by the murderer. Martyr. Murder. All right, that's it. Very positive and optimistic video today, but I hope it was helpful. And please share this video with your friends if you liked it. And come on over to my website to check it out and get more great content every single week. Have a wonderful week and I will see you next week in the next video. Bye.