How to Pronounce 'Woman' vs 'Women'

6 May 2022 · 1 min

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A short instructional YouTube clip by Hadar Shemesh explaining how to pronounce the singular "woman" versus the plural "women." The speakers demonstrate that the singular begins with a /w/ plus a vowel like the vowel in "look" (a rounded, short vowel) with a reduced schwa in the second syllable (woman), while the plural uses a front vowel like the vowel in "wicked" for the first syllable (women). Primary stress is on the first syllable in both forms and the second syllable is a reduced schwa + n.

Chapters

How to pronounce woman versus Women. For the singular form a woman, you start with a w sound. W. Then the as.
In Cook.
Look book.
It's not an ooh.
Sound, not woman.
No big deal if you pronounce it this way.
But if you want to get fancier.
Drop your jaw.
A little bit round.
Your lips, not.
Too much, and make it super short and relaxed. Then we have an.
M sound, a.
Schwa, and an N. Men. The primary stress is on the first syllable, woman. For the plural form, we put an e sound.
Instead of the.
So we we we as in the word wicked. Women.
The second part.
Is absolutely the same.
An m, a.
Schwa sound and an n. Woman women, woman.