There are two common ways to pronounce the word ‘alternative’ in American English. In this post, I’ll share one of them.
The word ‘alternative’ has 4 syllables. The primary stress is on the second syllable.
aal-tur-nuh-tiv [IPA: ɑlˈtɜɹnətɪv], and in spoken English: aal-tur-nuh-d’v [IPA: ɑlˈtɜɹnəɾəv]
- aal
The first syllable starts with the aa as in ‘father’ and then shifts to the dark L sound. The dark L makes the aa sound a bit muffled so it sounds a bit like an O sound. Other speakers might pronounce this syllable with a clearer O sound: ol [IPA: ɔl] - tur
The second syllable is pretty much a shift from T to R. The R sound is actually the STIR sound, an R vowel as in the words ‘turkey’ or ‘term’, but it might be easier if you think of it as if you shift directly to an R sound. - nuh
The third syllable is simply an N sound followed by a schwa sound. - t’v
The fourth syllable is officially tiv [IPA: tɪv] – beginning with a clear T sound and
then a short, lax i sound, as in the word ‘sit’. And finally – a V sound.
However, in spoken English, this vowel is often reduced to a schwa in unstressed syllables and the T sound can become a flap T sound, which sounds more like a light D sound. Therefore, this syllable can be pronounced as: d’v [IPA: ɾəv]
Watch my tutorial on how to pronounce ‘alternative‘ and practice with me:
If some of the sounds I mentioned are unfamiliar to you, check the additional resources below.
Additional resources:
