Learn to read and pronounce the letters ILD in the words MILD, WILD, and CHILD with this American English Pronunciation Lesson. These words are an exception to the closed syllable reading rule. If the letters ILD followed this rule, then they would be pronounced as a short i. In these words, they are pronounced with a long I sound.
Pronunciation:
/waɪld, maɪld, ʧaɪld/
Playlist for more help:
English Spelling and Pronunciation-Improve Your Accent and Speak Clearly
Transcript:
Hey everyone Jennifer from Tarle Speech with your pronunciation question of the week! The question today is how do I pronounce the words: wild mild and child?
This gets confusing because typically, when we see a vowel with one or two consonant sounds after that, in a closed syllable, we usually pronounce those vowels as short. So a lot of people might think we pronounce these words as willed chilled and milled. But we don’t! So this is actually a reading tip for today, as well as a pronunciation tip. This is an exception to the rule and when you see ild and also ind – stay tuned for that video next week! These are exceptions, and we are going to use a long i sound.
So to say a long I sound you’re going to open your mouth really wide, tip of your tongue is low in the front, back of the tongue is pulled high up. Move to a smile and a high flat tongue.
I I
Then touch the tip of your tongue to the back of your top front teeth of that l. L. And then pull it down so that that air can puff out for the d.
ILD
ILD
ILD
ILD
Now let’s put it together with the words:
wild child mild
wild child mild
wild wild wild
child child child
mild mild mild
So give me a sentence if you can in the comment section and give it a try I know people are going to notice the difference!
If you need more help we have lots of videos here on youtube. As you know, you can check out our playlists, you can also check out our website for class options and products at tarle speech dot com.
Thanks so much everyone have a great week!