pronunciation: months; strengths

    • Dr.Susy said:
    How to pronounce "months" and "strengths" ?
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    Hello Dr Susy,

    I'm sure it would help you to know that online dictionaries often have pronunciation recorded, accessible by links indicated often my little loudspeakers. If you look a word up in Word Reference dictionary (at the top of this page) you will often find such a link, and Merriam-webster (accessible from the WR dictionary) has them too. Just click on the little loudspeaker link and someone will pronounce the words for you.

    http://www.wordreference.com/definition/months (I've noticed that the WR dictionary UK pronunciation of months omits the s, so does Merriam-Webster - the US pronunciation on WR is you best guide, perhaps).

    Merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=strengths
     
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    Thank you very much :)
    But,actually I heard it as" monts " on WR dictionary !!!!!! And on another site I heard it as Months !!!!
     
    A dictionary will only give you the pronunciation of the singular form of the word.

    The problem, in the present case, is how does it sound with the 's' sound immediately after the 'th' sound?
    At least, that's what I thought Dr. Susy meant, until post #3.
     
    THIS is a good site for comparing different accents, Dr.S (though it's a small sample.)
    Personally, in rapid speech, I would always pronounce the words munss and strengss.
     
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    A previous short discussion on Pronunciation: months

    I think I pronounce the th and the s in months and strengths, but I don't know whether people hear them. The th is almost certain to be quieter than the rest of the word.
    The same with strengths.

    Occasionally strength/s loses its g - strenth/s.
     
    panjandrum said:
    A previous short discussion on Pronunciation: months

    I think I pronounce the th and the s in months and strengths, but I don't know whether people hear them. The th is almost certain to be quieter than the rest of the word.
    The same with strengths.

    Occasionally strength/s loses its g - strenth/s.
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    LV4, I hate to disagree with you, but sites are now giving the pronunciation of some plurals: have a look at that link I gave to WR dictionary on Months, which gives the pronunciation in UK and US. It may be a new thing. I admit that the UK version doesn't seem to put an s on the end of the word, but I'm not sure that's what you meant: they certainly give the impression that they are showing how to pronounce months.

    Yes, Panj., M-W gives both pronunciations of strengths (stren-ths & streng-ths). I must admit that until this moment I thought people who said stren-ths had some sort of speech impediment, but that appears not to be the case.

    As for WR dictionary's pronunciation of months: the US version sounds to me like moths and the UK like month. I wonder what other people think.

    I never thought the matter could be complicated until I read Tom in Bahia's post.
     
    Thomas Tompion said:
    As for WR dictionary's pronunciation of months: the US version sounds to me like moths and the UK like month. I wonder what other people think.
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    They both sound more like munss to me, TT ~ though in the British version there's some kind of sound between n and s: I just don't know what it is.
     
    Funny you should bring up voicing because I doubt whether /th/ sound in "months" and "strenghts" would be voiced in any dialect. At least, I don't know of any.

    I'd have agree with Ewie and Panj; even if native speakers do pronounce the /th/ sound followed by /s/, one is not really likely to clearly distinguish it. No wonder as a matter of fact, I remember a few jaw breakers (/th/+/s/) we had to keep practising in phonetics class, and I must say that was quite demanding. :)
     
    When I pronounce months, the end of my n is unvoiced, as if t followed. I always pronounce both the th and the s (both unvoiced). In some urban dialects, the th sounds a lot like a t.

    When I pronounce strengths, the end of my ng is unvoiced, as if k followed. I always pronounce both the th and the s. Sometimes an actual k sound comes between the ng and the ths. In some dialects, the ng becomes n so that strengths ends the same as months.

    The combination -ths is really no more demanding than -ts (e.g. in hits) or -ffs (e.g. in foodstuffs).
     
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