Learn how to pronounce the words PERFECT & PERFECT with this American English heteronym pronunciation lesson. Heteronyms are words that are spelled exactly the same. They just have a different pronunciation and a different meaning.
Pronunciation:
Noun: exactly correct
Verb: to make correct
Definition:
Noun: /ˈpɜrˌfɪkt/
Verb: /pərˈfɛkt/
Transcript:
Hey everyone Jennifer from Tarle speech.
You are loving these heteronym lessons so we’re going to continue with them. Heteronyms are words that are spelled the same but they have different pronunciations and different meanings.
So our words today are perfect, which means exactly correct, and perfect, to make perfect. Some people think these are challenging because there are slight differences there that some people have difficulty hearing but I’m going to try to break it down and make it as easy as possible for all of you.
So easy breezy first syllable is the same for both of these words.
per per per
To do that your lips are closed. They open for the p and then we move to that er. To do this I suggest square tense lips. Tip of the tongue is down, back of the tongue is pulled way high up, or the tip of the tongue can be flipped back, just no touching the teeth. Next, for syllable number two, for perfect, we’re going to use a short i sound or a short u sound. This is going to be more of a schwa sound which is a relaxed, unstressed vowel. So let’s start with that f, to do this, you are going to think about touching the inside or the outside of your bottom lip with your teeth, air moves out. We’re going to add that short e sound. To do this, my tongue is high in my mouth but my lips are relaxed. It’s not an e, it’s an ih. You can see when I do that, all that I do to relax my tongue and let my tongue pop down is I relax my lips a little bit, then we’re going to add that k. k. Tip of the tongue is down back of the tongue is pulled way high up. And then move the tip of the tongue to the back of the top front teeth for that t. t
fict fict fict
Now for fect, all you’re going to do is open your mouth slightly wider than you did for that short ih eh
You can see I just dropped my jaw slightly, that helps my tongue get into the right spot . So we have ih eh
fect fect fect
fict fect
Now the last thing that you need to remember for these two words is that we are going to stress syllable number one for perfect and syllable number two for perfect. To stress a syllable it needs to be louder, the vowel needs to be longer, and it needs to be higher in pitch. Just as important, the other syllable needs to be softer, shorter, and lower in pitch.
So let’s put this all together:
perfect perfect perfect perfect perfect
perfect perfect perfect perfect perfect
perfect perfect
perfect perfect
perfect perfect perfect
perfect perfect perfect
And now for a sentence:
Perfect pronunciation is not required but trying to perfect your speaking clarity is.
Give it a try I know people are going to notice the difference. If you found this helpful please share us with your friends, let us know what you think about this series, and try these words in a sentence. And if you were looking for more help please go to totalspeech.com. We have books and classes and lots of options for you there.
Thanks so much have an amazing weekend!