A short YouTube lesson by Hadar Shemesh explaining three common pronunciations of the word “toward” in American English. The speaker demonstrates articulatory details (aspiration of initial /t/, the /ɔr/ diphthong vs. /ɜr/ sound, optional final -s) and states that the American-preferred form is “toward.” The video ends with example usage and a call-to-action to visit the creator’s website.
Chapters
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 talk to you about the word tord. Toward. There are actually three different ways to say this word. With a schwa and a w. Toward. Without a schwa. Toward. Without a w. Toward. That's how I like to pronounce it because it's the easiest pronunciation. Alright. Tor. We begin with a t sound and since it's the beginning, it's a strong aspirated T. So it feels like there is a little h after t and then it's the or, as in for tor, Tor D. Now the or vowel is a diphthong. So you round your lips, drop your jaw and the back of the tongue rises up. And only then you start to close your jaw and lift the tongue up for the R toward Tord. If you don't allow the vowel to be before raising the tongue up for the R to, then it's going to sound like tur. Turd. And you don't want it to sound like turd. All right, so tore. And then you bring the tongue up for the d. Tord. Now you can also say towards. And then you just add a little Z sound at the end. Towards. But in American English, the word toward is more common. I walk toward the door. Toward. Alright, that's it. Thank you for watching. 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 great week and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.
