Editing Pronunciation

{{Short description|The way a word or a language is said}}
'''Pronunciation''' <big>{{Pronunciation|En-us-pronunciation.ogg|Pronunciation|(}}</big> is the way in which a word or a [[language]] is spoken.  This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific [[dialect]]—"correct" or "standard" pronunciation—or simply the way a particular individual speaks a word or language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pronunciation in English {{!}} How to better pronounce in English |url=https://www.english-efl.com/courses/pronunciation/ |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=English EFL |language=en-US}}</ref> 

Words' pronunciations can be found in reference works such as [[dictionaries]]. General-purpose dictionaries typically only include standard pronunciations, but regional or dialectal pronunciations may be found in more specific works.<ref>The Oxford Handbook of Lexicography, 2016, page 303</ref> [[Orthoepy]] is the study of the pronunciation of a language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of ORTHOEPY |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orthoepy |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref>

A word can be spoken in different ways by various individuals or groups, depending on many factors, such as: the duration of the cultural exposure of their childhood, the location of their current residence, [[speech disorder|speech]] or [[list of voice disorders|voice disorders]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beech |first1=John R. |last2=Harding |first2=Leonora |last3=Hilton-Jones |first3=Diana |title=Assessment in Speech and Language Therapy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMQ9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA55 |chapter=Assessment of Articulation and Phonology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMQ9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA55 |editor-last=Grunwell |editor-first=Pam |year=1993 |publisher=[[CUP Archive]] |isbn=0-415-07882-2 |page=55 }}</ref> their [[ethnic group]], their [[social class]], or their [[education]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Sociolinguistics: The Essential Readings |last1=Paulston |first1=Christina Bratt |last2=Tucker |first2=G. Richard |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |date=February 14, 2003 |isbn=0-631-22717-2 |chapter=Some Sociolinguistic Principles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVG5XCa1DkkC |editor-last=Labov |editor-first=William |pages=234–250}}</ref>

==Linguistic terminology==
[[Syllable]]s are combinations of units of sound ([[Phone (phonetics)|phones]]), for example "goo" has one syllable made up of [g] and [u]. The branch of [[linguistics]] which studies these units of sound is [[phonetics]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-08-09 |title=Syllable {{!}} Phonology, Prosody, Stress {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/syllable |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Phones which play the same role are grouped together into classes called [[phoneme]]s; the study of these is phonemics or phonematics or [[phonology]].  Phones as components of articulation are usually described using the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA).<ref>{{cite book |last=Schultz |first=Tanja|author-link= Tanja Schultz |date=June 12, 2006 |title=Multilingual Speech Processing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LC2WKbEr85YC&pg=PA12 |chapter=Language Characteristics |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LC2WKbEr85YC&pg=PA5 |editor-last=Kirchhoff |editor-first=Katrin | page=12 |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |isbn=0-12-088501-8}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Elision]]
* [[Elocution]]
* [[Epenthesis]]
* [[Help:IPA/English]] — the principal key used in Wikipedia articles to transcribe the pronunciation of English words
* [[Help:Pronunciation respelling key]] — a secondary key for pronunciation which mimics English orthography
* [[Metathesis (linguistics)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{commons-inline}}
* {{wiktionary-inline}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Phonetics]]
[[Category:Speech]]
[[Category:Lexicology]]
[[Category:Lexicography]]

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