WOR- and -RL- Pronunciation
Learn to pronounce ‘world’ and other difficult words in English. This is a standard American accent.
Difficult Words
Lisa Mojsin, Director of Accurate English, author of the American Accent Course DVD Set with 4 1/2 hours of video instruction, and an accent reduction trainer, is helping fix the pronunciation mistake many students make in difficult words with wor-.
world
work
word
worry
Rules
Non-native English speakers are likely to mispronounce such words. 2 rules will help you with world and other difficult words.
English words with wor- have no middle o articulated with rounded lips. So it pretty much disappears making wr- sound like [w(e:)r]. The [w] sound naturally requires half rounded lips. Don’t pronounce [r] foreignly with the rolled tongue when its tip touches in the front behind the upper teeth. Instead, create rolling American [r] in the mouth back.
World is also difficult in the rl combination. You need to put [ә] in between. Try to imagine the neutral vowel always inside rl. So the English dictionary transcription [wo:ld] differs from its everyday American pronunciation.
Practice
wor- [w(e:)r]
-rl- [rәl]
world – wr rolled
[‘w(e:)rәld]
[w(e:)rk]
[w(e:)rd]
[‘w(e:)ri]
in the whole world
It’s worldwide.