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  • What's up YouTube? Thank you for studying with me.

  • You need to know this, this video request came through from Bertha, a student in my online school.

  • Her native language is Spanish and she lives in Alabama.

  • She asked me to make a video that goes over the pronunciation of all of the 50 states in the US

  • and their capitals.

  • Thank You, Bertha, for the question!

  • We'll be going through alphabetically

  • and we'll be talking about anything interesting that happens with pronunciation, like a flap T or a silent letter.

  • We'll talk a lot about stress.

  • I'll be going over the standard pronunciation.

  • Keep in mind, pronunciations can vary by region.

  • We'll start with Alabama. The capital of Alabama is Montgomery.

  • Alabama, we have four letters A.

  • Two of them are the AH vowel and two are the schwa.

  • Al-a-bam-a.

  • Most stress on the third syllable.

  • Alabama.

  • The capital is Montgomery.

  • You may hear this as four syllables.

  • Montgom-e-ry. Montgomery.

  • But it's more common to pronounce it: Mont-gom-ery, just three syllables.

  • Notice, I'm making a stop T.

  • Montgomery. MontMontMontMontgomery.

  • Say that with me. Alabama. Alabama.

  • Montgomery. Montgomery.

  • Alaska, and the capital Juneau.

  • Alaska, three A's, two are a schwa, and one is the AH as in Bat vowel.

  • That's the middle syllable. The stressed syllable, the beginning syllable, the schwa, the ending syllable,

  • the schwa.

  • Alaska. Alaska.

  • The capital is Juneau.

  • First syllable stress.

  • JuJuneau, and second syllable, unstressed with the OH as in No diphthong.

  • Juneau.

  • Say that with me. Alaska. Alaska. Juneau. Juneau.

  • Arizona and the capital, Phoenix.

  • Arizona, four syllable word with stress on the third syllable that has the OH as in No diphthong,

  • and make sure you have jaw drop and then lip rounding to get both parts of that diphthong: Ohh.

  • ArizoArizona.

  • Arizona. And we do end in the schwa. Arizona.

  • The capital is Phoenix, two-syllable word, first-syllable stress.

  • Phoenix. Phoenix.

  • Arkansas and Little Rock. Arkansas, this one is crazy because it looks like R, Kansas.

  • Kansas is also a state name, but it's not pronounced that way at all. It's Arkansas, first syllable stress: Ar-kan-sas.

  • And then the last syllable has no S sound at the end.

  • I think of this as the AW as in Law vowel.

  • Arkansas.

  • Though I have seen it written in IPA with the AH as in Father vowel, that doesn't matter so much.

  • Just know that it is unstressed.

  • Arkansas. Arkansas.

  • The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock.

  • Little has a flap T, and then the schwa L, that can be tricky. Little, little, little. Little Rock.

  • Rock also stressed along with the first syllable, lihLittle Rock. Little Rock. Say these with me.

  • Arkansas. Arkansas.

  • Little Rock. Little Rock.

  • California, Sacramento.

  • California, a four syllable word with stress on the third syllable, secondary stress on the first syllable.

  • Cal-i-forn-ia.

  • You can think of this second syllable as being either the schwa, or the IH vowel.

  • Just make sure it has a very unstressed feel.

  • Cal-ih-ih-ih-forn-ia.

  • Now, the stressed syllable would be written with the AW as in law vowel.

  • When that is followed by R in the same syllable, it is definitely more closed, it's not ah but it's aw, aw, aw,

  • for, for, fornia.

  • California.

  • Make sure you make this a Dark L.

  • The L in California comes at the end of a syllable, not the beginning, so we don't want: Cal, cal,

  • right from AH into a light L, but we want: Cal, Cal, uhl, uhl, that uhl sound is the dark sound of a Dark L.

  • An L is a dark L when it comes after the vowel or diphthong in a syllable, like it does here.

  • Cal, uhl, uhl, don't leave that out.

  • Cal-- Cal-- California.

  • The capital, Sacramento, also has four syllables, also has third syllable stress.

  • It has the same stress pattern.

  • Sacramento.

  • Now, the T here can be a true T like I've just done it, to- to- or it can be dropped, Sacramento, Sacramento.

  • Sometimes, we drop the T when it comes after an N, when it doesn't start a stressed

  • syllable. Sacramento, or Sacramento. Say these with me. California. California. Sacramento. Sacramento.

  • Colorado. Denver.

  • Colorado, just like California, and Sacramento.

  • It has four syllables with the third syllable stressed.

  • Here, the L is a light L, it comes at the beginning of the syllable, so you don't have to worry about the dark sound.

  • Co-lo-ra-do.

  • Colorado. Colorado.

  • The capital is Denver, two-syllable word with first syllable stress

  • Denver. Denver.

  • Say these with me. Colorado. Colorado. Denver. Denver.

  • Connecticut, Hartford.

  • Connecticut, four syllable word, this time, stress is on the second syllable.

  • Co-nnec-ticut.

  • Notice the T is a flap T, the first T,

  • that's because the T comes between two vowel sounds, you're thinking: wait a second, it comes after the letter C.

  • Well, that letter C is actually silent in this state name.

  • So when we look at the sounds, the T comes between two vowel sounds, that's a flap T.

  • Co-nnec-riririri. Connecticut.

  • The final T will likely be a Stop T.

  • It might be a flap T if it's linking into a word that begins with a vowel or diphthong.

  • But in general, this will be a Stop T.

  • Connecticut. Connecticut.

  • The capital of Connecticut is Hartford.

  • This is tricky, it has two R's, Hartwith a stop T, Hartford, ford.

  • And don't try to put a vowel here in the second syllable, it has the schwa followed by R,

  • those just blend together into one R sound.

  • Fff--rrr--ddFordFordFordHartford.

  • Hartford. Say those with me. Connecticut. Connecticut. Hartford. Hartford.

  • Delaware. Dover.

  • Delaware, three syllable word with first syllable stress.

  • It has the EH as in Bed vowel, and a Dark L.

  • DeldeldelaDelaware.

  • Warewareware

  • Unstressed syllable with the EH vowel.

  • Wareweh eh ehwarewareDelaware.

  • Delaware.

  • The capital of Delaware is Dover.

  • Two syllable word, first syllable stress.

  • That syllable has the OH diphthong. Make sure you have jaw drop, then lip rounding.

  • DohDohDover.

  • Dover. Say those with me. Delaware. Delaware. Dover. Dover.

  • Florida.

  • This is my home state. I was born here and I lived here for the first 18 years of my life.

  • I pronounce this word with two syllables. Florida.

  • That's the same pronunciation most of the people I know use, however, you will hear some native speakers

  • put in a really light IH vowel in the middle, making it three syllables.

  • Florida. Flor-ih-da. Or Florida.

  • Florida.

  • Two-syllable word with first syllable stress.

  • Flor-da, Flor-da, just the schwa sound in the second syllable, da-da-da no bigger vowel than that.

  • The vowel in the stressed syllable is the AW as in Law vowel, just like in Califo-oh-ornia.

  • California.

  • When the AW vowel is followed by R in a syllable, that is stressed, the AW vowel will change,

  • it will be more closed.

  • It won't be: aw, but: oh, oh.

  • Or-- flor-- Florida, or as some people might say it with three syllables: Florida, Flor-i-da, ih-da, ih-da, Florida.

  • The capital of Florida is Tallahassee.

  • Four-syllable word, with stress on the third syllable.

  • We do have a dark L in the first syllable.

  • Tal-- tall-- uhl uhl-- Tala-- Tallahassee. Tallahassee. Say these with me. Florida. Florida. Tallahassee. Tallahassee.

  • Georgia and the capital, Atlanta. Georgia, two syllable word with first syllable stress.

  • Just like Florida, it has the AW vowel followed by R.

  • It is more closed, it's not: AW it's: uhr, uhr. Georgia. So more lip rounding, tongue a little further back.

  • GeorGeorgia, and a schwa in the second syllable.

  • Georgia.

  • The capital of Georgia is Atlanta.

  • The pronunciation of this capital is interesting.

  • It's a three syllable word with stress on the middle syllable.

  • It has two T's, but you might hear it pronounced with no T's at all. Atlanta. Atlanta.

  • I would pronounce it with a Stop T in the first syllable because it's followed by another consonant.

  • AtAtAtlanta. Atlanta.

  • The second T can be dropped because it's followed by an N. Atlanta. Or you can make it a light true T. Atlanta.

  • Atlanta. It ends in a schwa. I will say I have friends and family who live in this city,

  • and none of them pronounce the second T.

  • They all leave it out. Atlanta, is how they say it.

  • Say that with me. Georgia. Georgia. Atlanta. Or Atlanta.

  • Hawaii. Honolulu. Hawaii.

  • Now, I'm doing a very American English pronunciation of this.

  • People who actually speak Hawaiian would probably be giving it a different pronunciation.

  • But in general, the general population of America would pronounce this as Hawaii.

  • So we have stress on the second syllable, it's a three-syllable word, a schwa in the first syllable.

  • Huh, huh, huh. Ha-wa-ii. AI diphthong then IH vowel.

  • Hawaii. Hawaii.

  • The capital of Hawaii is Honolulu.

  • Four syllable word, stress on the third syllable.

  • Honolulu. Honolulu.

  • We have a schwa in the second syllable, and the OO vowel, the same exact sounds in the last two syllables.

  • First, it's stressed Lu--, then it's unstressed: Lu—.

  • LuLuHonolulu.

  • Say these with me. Hawaii. Hawaii. Honolulu. Honolulu.

  • Idaho. Boise.

  • Idaho. Three-syllable word with first syllable stress.

  • That's the AI diphthong: I-da, then we have the schwa in the second syllable,