Top Gun

In today’s video you’re going to learn English with movies, and when we study this way,

you’ll be able to understand American movies and TV effortlessly, without subtitles.

Today’s video uses the trailer for the movie Top Gun: Maverick.

You know, this movie was supposed to be out this month for a summer blockbuster, but because

of the coronavirus, it got pushed back to December. We’ll see what happens.

We’re going to go as in-depth as we can on the way Americans speak, how they speak,

so you’ll not only be able to understand everything, but you’re going to understand what Americans do

with English, in a way that will allow you to imitate perfectly. You might be the next Tom Cruise.

Maybe so, sir.

We’re going to be doing this all summer.

June through August, stick with me every Tuesday, they’re all great scenes and there’s going to be so

much to learn that can transform the way you speak and understand English.

And as always, if you like this video or you learn something, please like and subscribe with notifications.

You’re going to watch the clip then we’re going to do a full pronunciation analysis together.

This is going to help so much with your listening comprehension

when it comes to watching English movies in TV. But there’s going to be a training section.

You’re going to take what you’ve just learned and practice repeating it, doing a reduction, flapping a T,

just like you learned in analysis. Okay, here’s the scene.

Thirty plus years of service. Combat medals. Citations.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Yet you can’ get a promotion, you won’t retire.

Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

You should be at least a two-star admiral by now.

Yet you are here.

Captain.

Why is that?

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction.

Maybe so, sir.

But not today.

And now the analysis.

Thirty plus years of service.

Okay to start, let’s go ahead and write out thirty and plus. It would almost always be written this way

with the digit and then the plus sign, but as we talked about the sounds, we’ll write it out.

Now you probably noticed that the T in thirty is a flap T.

This follows the rules in that it comes after an R before a vowel. Like in dirty, this is a T that we would flap.

So rather than being ttt, a true T, the tongue simply flaps against the roof of the mouth. Thirty da-da-da thirty.

Thirty. Thirty. Thirty plus–

Thirty plus–

Thirty plus–

And we have first syllable stress on thirty.

Thirty, so stressed, then unstressed, the ending unstressed EE sound. Thirty plus–

Thirty plus– thirty plus– thirty plus years of service.

Some stress on plus, then we also have stress on years, and ser–vice.

So of and –vice, are both unstressed. Thirty plus years of service.

Thirty plus years of service.

Thirty plus years of service.

Thirty plus years of service.

Thirty plus years of service. So those are our longer syllables with the up-down shape of stress.

The other syllables are going to be shorter, but everything links together we don’t want to feel

any separation between the words. Thirty plus years of service, would not be natural sounding American English.

We need this contrast and then we also need the linking. Thirty plus years of service. No breaks there.

Thirty plus years of service.

Thirty plus years of service.

Thirty plus years of service.

Combat medals.

Okay, now in this little two-word phrase, you tell me what are the most stressed syllables?

Combat medals.

Combat medals.

Combat medals.

Combat medals. The most stress probably on combat, the adjective here describing the kind of medal.

Combat medals. And then also some stress on the noun. Combat medals. The second syllable of combat

is unstressed, it has a stop T, bat bat bat, because the next word begins with a consonant.

So again, the T is not released. Combat medals. Medals.

Combat medals.

Combat medals.

Combat medals.

This D can also be a flap just like thirty, medals, rararara, because it comes between two vowel sounds.

Here, it’s the EH as in bed vowel and then the schwa L combination. Medals, medals, medals. Combat medals.

The vowel here in the unstressed syllable is AH, but we don’t want it to be AA,

that would be stressed, we want it to be ah, ah, combat, combat medals.

Combat medals.

Combat medals.

Combat medals. Citations.

Citations. Do you feel how it’s that middle syllable that’s stressed? Citations.

The letter A here is TAY, the AY as in say diphthong. That letter A can have several different pronunciations.

Here it’s: ay, ay, citations. The letter C makes the S sound.

Citations.

Citations.

Citations.

The letter I makes the AI diphthong. The letter I, so many of the letters, almost all of the letters in American English

can have various different pronunciations, which makes English so hard you can’t necessarily tell

the pronunciation by looking at it. Citations. SH schwa N, and then Z, a weak ending Z sound.

Citations.

Citations.

Citations.

Citations.

The stress is really important in American English. We want to know what stressed, and what’s unstressed,

so that we can feel that we make a peak on that stressed syllable. We definitely don’t want all syllables

to feel the same. Citations. That would have the right pitch, but not the right rhythm.

It’s not DA-DA-DA but it’s da-DA-da. The first one is very short and the last one is very short. Citations. Citations.

Citations.

Citations.

Citations.

Also I should point out this T in ta– is a true T because it starts a stressed syllable.

So if a T starts a stressed syllable, and it’s not part of the TR cluster, then it will be a true T. Tay, tay, citations.

Citations.

Citations.

Citations.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Okay, now we have a much longer phrase. I want you to listen to it a few times and see

what you think is the most stressed word.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

I hear it is the last word. In the last forty years– years– he sort of holds on to the beginning Y consonant a little bit.

Years. Draws out the length and it definitely has that up-down shape. Now certainly, we have other syllables

that are stressed in the sentence, but I think this is the most stressed in the phrase.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Let’s look at our other stressed syllables and do we have any reductions?

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Everything links together really smoothly. So let’s take it bit by bit.

Only man to shoot down–

Only man to shoot down–

Only man to shoot down–

Only man to shoot down– So we have stress on OH. Only man– not on the word ‘to’, that’s a preposition,

usually not going to be stressed. Shoot and down, both have some stress and length.

Did you notice that the word ‘to’ wasn’t pronounced ‘to’ it was reduced. Man to– man to–

Flap T or a D sound and the schwa. Man to– man to– only man to–

Only man to–

shoot down–

I have a friend named Amanda, and we often as a nickname, as a way to shorten it, call her just ‘Manda’.

Manda. And it sounds just like these two words together: man to– Manda, Manda, Manda,

when you make that a flap T.

Only man to–

shoot down–

Only man to shoot down–

Only man to shoot down–

So we have two letters T here. The first one is a flap T, or it’s sort of like a D sound, and then the second T

is a stop T. Shoot down. Which means we stop the air, but we don’t release the T, that would be shoot down.

We definitely don’t hear that. It’s just shoot down, shoot down.

Shoot down–

Now a word of caution with the word down, a lot of my students, especially students whose native language is

Chinese, but not just those students, have a hard time with the word down. It’s the OW diphthong,

OW, plus the N consonant. And they kind of mix the N into the diphthong and nasalize it. Down.

We don’t want that at all. We want it to be completely un-nasal in the diphthong.

Dow– Dow– Dow– nnn– Dow– nnn–

And then you can practice it that way splitting off the N, make sure you’re not going down,

and mixing the two into a nasal diphthong sound. Down, down, shoot down.

Shoot down– shoot down– shoot down three enemy planes.

Then we have three words, and they’re all stressed, so we have quite a few words and syllables that are

stressed in this sentence. Three enemy planes. I want to point out that even in a stressed word,

if it has more than one syllable, it will have unstressed syllables. So the only syllable stressed here is EH.

Enemy. Nemy. Nemy. Nemy. Then the rest of the syllables are unstressed and said very quickly.

Three enemy.

Three enemy.

Three enemy.

Three enemy.

Now, we have a vowel to vowel link here. We have the EE vowel in three and the EH vowel in enemy.

Some students feel like they need to split that up a little bit to make it clear, the change between words,

you don’t need to do that in English. And we don’t want you to do that. We want it to glide together smoothly.

Three enemy. Three enemy.

If you have a hard time linking them together, it can help to think of, in this particular case, with this particular link,

a Y consonant. So you could think of the word as being yenemy, three enemy, three enemy, three enemy.

If you link it together, that might help you smooth it out you don’t want to make a very big heavy Y,

but a little light Y glide consonant to link those two words together,

might help you make a smooth transition.

Three enemy.

Let’s talk a little bit about the consonant cluster here. It’s TH unvoiced and R consonant.

Thr, thr, thr, thr, thr, thr. His TH almost has like a T quality in it. I think when I listen to it on repeat.

But it’s definitely not: three, three, three, that’s something that a lot of non-native speakers do, they substitute in TR

instead of THR and then it sounds like a tree, you know, like, oh, a tree. But we don’t want to be saying tree.

We want to be saying three , three , three. So let your tongue tip come lightly through your teeth,

don’t build up the air, don’t put pressure there, don’t bite on the tongue at all, that will make it sound more like a T.

We want th– the easy passage of air. Three, three, three enemy planes.

Three enemy planes-

in the last forty years.

In the last forty years. So in and the, both said so incredibly quickly.

Let’s just listen to: in the last–

in the last–

I actually think it sounds like the TH is dropped. In the, in the, in the, in the, in the, in the.

It’s just IH as in sit, N linking right into the schwa. In the, in the, in the, in the, in the, in the.

You can only do this if you do it very, very quickly. It’s low in pitch, it’s low in volume, try that.

In the, in the, in the, in the. You should be able to do it without moving your jaw at all.

Your lips, your face, should be totally relaxed, the only thing moving is the tongue inside the mouth.

You want to take away all the extra movement that

you don’t need so that you can say this as quickly as you need to. In the, in the, in the, in the last forty years.

The last forty years.

The last forty years.

The last forty years.

Okay, again, we’re going to write out the word ‘forty’.

Our T again is a flap T because it comes after an R and before a vowel.

The vowel is the EE as in she vowel. Forty, forty, forty. Thirty, thirty, thirty.

These all have a flap T which can sound like a D. Dadadada forty forty.

Forty–

years.

Now we have some stressed words other than years, let’s listen to the phrase again:

In the last forty years–

In the, in the, last forty, and then we’ve already marked years. So the unstressed syllable of forty is unstressed.

We have stress in the word last with the AA vowel. Notice the T is dropped there.

It’s very common to drop the T in an ending cluster like ST when the next word begins with a consonant,

the next word begins with F, so we’re gonna drop that T to smoothly connect. Last forty, last forty.

Last forty–

So out of all of our letters T here on this page, we have a flap T, in we have a stop T in combat,

we have a true T in citations, because it begins a stressed syllable, but then the next T is actually

part of the TION ending, and that’s an SH sound. In the word to, the reduction is da, flap T, not a true T.

In the word shoot, it’s a stop T. And in the word last, its dropped.

So out of all of the T sounds in this particular part of this conversation, there’s only one true T.

And then we even have as the T and the TH, it’s fully pronounced in one case and then dropped in another.

So you really need to study how Americans speak and what happens with reductions and linking

and dropping sounds, in order to figure out how they do things so smoothly.

But after you study this, and you look at this part of the video several times, you’ll be able to go back

and imitate that audio, and that’s when it really gets fun,

when you can not only understand what’s happening with American English, but when

you can imitate it yourself in a way that sounds natural. It really can feel freeing to do that.

And that’s what this video series is all about this summer.

Last forty years. Last forty years. Last forty years. Yet you can’t get a promotion–

Okay in this next phrase, what’s the most stressed word do you think?

Yet you can’t get a promotion–

Yet you can’t get a promotion–

Yet you can’t get a promotion–

I’m feeling can’t, and promotion, as being really stressed. Yet you, really low in volume, low in energy,

harder to hear, right? Let’s listen to just those two words together.

Yet you–

Yet you–

Not very clear, but that’s what we need. We need that less clear to provide contrast with our more

clear syllables. That’s what makes up the character of American English. So we have yet, with the stop T,

yet, yet, yet, yet, Yet you– Yet you– Yet you– Yet you–

Yet you–

can’t get a promotion–

Can’t get a promotion– Okay we have an N apostrophe T ending in the word can’t.

That can be pronounced three ways. One of them is can’t, with a true T, one of them is can’t, with a stop T,

and one of them is can with the T totally dropped. I’m having a hard time deciding if I think it’s a stop T,

or a dropped T, because if I listen to it three times thinking it’s a stop T, that’s what I hear.

If I listen to it three times thinking it’s dropped, that’s what I hear. So at any rate, it’s not a true T.

We’ll call it a stop T, very subtle, very quick, can’t get, can’t get, can’t get, can’t get, can’t get, can’t get.

Not a big lift but just a tiny little break there before the G: can’t get, can’t get.

Can’t get–

The vowel is the AA vowel. When it’s followed by N it’s not really a pure AA anymore, it’s not ca– ca–

but cauh– it starts with a little less jaw drop and the back of the tongue relaxes, which brings in a sound

sort of like UH. Ca-uh, ca-uh, can’t can’t can’t can’t can’t.

And we know that this is different than the word can, because if the word was you can get a promotion,

then we wouldn’t stress it, we would say, you can get, you can get, you can get.

That would be reduced to the schwa. The word can’t never reduces, always has this AA vowel in it.

Can’t get,

a promotion.

Now we have get and a, not stressed, along with the first syllable of promotion, that’s a schwa there.

Pro–

So we have get a pro– but that’s not how it’s pronounced, it’s pronounced: get a, get a, get a, get a,

flap T linking into the schwa, and the schwa links right into the PR. That’s what helps us link everything together,

is we just don’t stop the sounds. Get a, get a, get a, get a pro, get a pro, get a pro, get a promotion.

Get a promotion–

Again we have a TION ending and that is SH schwa N. Tion, tion, tion. It’s not: shen, shon, it’s shun, shun.

Try to make it with a no vowel at all. N absorbs the schwa, so just try to make SHN and say that quickly.

SHN SHN promotion.

Promotion–

Get a promotion.

Get a promotion–

you won’t retire.

I wrote the word you here, but it is so, so subtle. You, you, you, you.

I almost just hear it as a superlight weak Y sound in the throat, but

I could even see someone saying it’s totally dropped.

You won’t retire–

You won’t retire. So we have two stressed syllables there, and again, I feel like I’m hearing this

N apostrophe T as a stop T. Won’t, won’t , won’t , won’t. Won’t retire.

Be careful here, some people say something more like: won– wo, oh, oh, won– but it’s woah–

So your lips start in a circle for the W, then they loosen up a little bit for the first half of the OH diphthong,

then they have to round again. Woah– If you miss that second rounding, then you’re not gonna get the

correct sound there. Won’t, won’t, won’t retire.

You won’t retire.

You won’t retire.

You won’t retire.

Again, this T is a True T, why? Because it starts a stressed syllable. Tire, retire. Retire.

Retire–

Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

What do you hear as the most stressed syllables in that phrase there?

Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

Despite your best– A little bit of stress on best. A little bit of stress on efforts. But more on refuse and die.

Okay, let’s look at the rest of the words, the rest of the syllables, do we have any T’s that change from a true T?

Do we have any reductions? How do we link all of this together and provide the rhythmic contrast we need?

Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

Let’s just look at the first two words: despite– despite your– so this T is a stop T because the next sound

is a consonant sound, the Y consonant. Also we want this to be a schwa in DE, and a schwa in RE,

retire, so don’t say re– retire, say ruh– retire. Duh– despite, despite, the letter I here makes the AI diphthong.

Despite. Stop T. So it’s different from dropped T because that would be despie– the sound would be the same,

AI but it would change shape, AI, it would go up and then come down. Despie–

but when we cut it off, despite, despite.

Despite–

your best–

That cutoff is a stop of air, and that signifies the T. Now the word your, is reduced it becomes the schwa R.

Those two sounds blend together. The R absorbs the schwa.

So you don’t even need to try to make a vowel there. It’s just yy–rr– yrr, yrr, yrr, yrr, yrr, yrr.

Say that as quickly as you can. Your, despite your, despite your.

Despite your–

best efforts.

Best efforts. So we have an ST cluster. If the next word began with the consonant, we would drop that T,

but it doesn’t, it begins with the EH as in bed vowel. So we will link that with a light true T.

Best efforts, best, best efforts.

Best efforts–

We don’t want to say efforts. We see a letter O here, maybe you want to do some lip rounding,

but it’s not, it’s a schwa. Effor–

And remember just like we said here, schwa is absorbed by the R so you don’t even need to try to make a vowel

right from F into R. Effor– for for for. Efforts. Efforts.

Efforts–

you refuse to die.

Efforts, you re–

So we have three unstressed syllables here. We have the unstressed syllable of efforts, the word you,

which doesn’t reduce. He could have said yuh, but he said you, but he said it low and unstressed.

You, you, you. You re– you re–

Then again just like retire, we have refuse, with a schwa, not refuse, but re re refuse,

Refuse–

to die–

You refuse to die. Now, I listen to this quite a few times to decide, do I think this is a true T in to or a flap T?

I think it’s a true T. Refused to. But it’s got the schwa. It’s not to it’s to to to, it’s low in pitch, it’s said very quickly.

Refuse to die, before the stressed word die. Now I want to talk about this word, refuse, so it can be pronounced

two different ways, it can be unstressed, re, R schwa, actually, you know what, it’s not the schwa,

it’s the IH as in sit vowel, which brings up something interesting. This is actually an IH as well,

as is despite, if I look it up, I see it’s an IH, refuse is an IH, so why am I saying it’s a schwa?

I’ve always said to me, the IH as in sit, unstressed sounds just like the schwa.

Re re re re re refuse. Retire. Re re re re refuse. Retire.

In the word themselves, they pretty much sound the same to me. So I always tell students, don’t worry

about an unstressed syllable like this, do whichever one helps you say it more quickly.

But I love this, when I look something up and I find, oh man I’m wrong.

The official pronunciation does show an IH,

if you say it with a schwa that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it’s said very quickly.

With this word, we actually have two different pronunciations.

Two different meanings but same spelling. So the first one is how it’s used here, it’s a verb.

We have the R consonant, IH vowel, unstressed. And then in a stressed syllable, we have the F consonant,

the JU as in few diphthong, and the Z. Refuse, refuse. That’s the verb.

And it means no way will this person do something.

Refuse–

The other pronunciation of it is a noun, and it’s refuse. So now, the first syllable is stressed,

we have the EH as in bed syllable there and then in our unstressed syllable, we still have the JU diphthong

but we have an S at the end instead, and this is the noun and this is just another word for trash.

So two different words, two different meanings, same spelling, but different pronunciation.

Refuse. Refuse.

Refuse–

to die.

You should be at least a two star Admiral by now.

You should be at least– some stress there. You should be at least a two star Admiral by not by now.

Two star Admiral by now.

You should be at least a two star Admiral by now.

You should be at least a two star Admiral by now.

You should be at least a two star Admiral by now.

Let’s look at our first four words here. You should be at–

You should be at–

You should– The D, the letter L is always silent in this word, the D is very subtle and actually, you can drop it,

you can think of it as being dropped, before a word that begins to the consonant: shuh– shuh– shuh–

So it’s SH and schwa,

you should be, you should be, you should be, you should be at– you should be at– you should be at–

Be linking right into at which reduces, at at at, I would write that with the schwa and a stop T.

Be at, be at, be at, be at, be at, you should be at, you should be at, you should be at.

You should be at–

least a two star Admiral by now.

Four less clear words before we have some of our words with stressed syllables.

You should be at least a two star–

You should be at least a two star–

You should be at least a two star–

At least a– Now, here, T in an ST cluster but the next sound is the schwa.

So we do hear a true T linking into that. Least a, least a. At least a two star.

Now this is a T starting a stressed syllable, so that will be a True T. Two star, two star, two star Admiral by now.

AA. There we have that AA vowel again. Hope you feel pretty good about it because it’s in this sentence,

it’s in this conversation quite a bit. Two star Admiral by now.

At least a two star Admiral by now.

At least a two star Admiral by now.

At least a two star Admiral by now.

Admiral, Admiral. I love that word. It really is clear that the first syllable is stressed,

and the second two are unstressed. Miral, miral, miral. Don’t say MEERAL or anything like that.

Miral, miral, miral.

Admiral–

Both unstressed syllables have the schwa. Schwa followed by R. It gets absorbed by the R.

Schwa followed by L, it gets absorbed by the L. M, N, R, L. All absorb the schwa.

So they’re called syllabic consonants. You don’t need to try to make a schwa there. It’s just

Mm, rr, ll. M right into the R sound, and then a dark L. Miral, miral, miral, miral. Admiral.

Admiral–

by now.

By now, by now. A little bit of stress on now, but it’s the end of the phrase, his voice has lost some of the energy,

it’s lower in pitch.

By now–

Yet here you are.

Okay in this little four-word sentence, what is the stress?

Yet here you are–

Yet here you are.

Here and are, more stressed, everything links together very smoothly. We have a stop T in yet,

because the next word begins with a consonant, the H consonant. Yet here you are.

Yet here you are.

Yet here you are.

Yet here you are.

Captain.

Captain. Ca– again, that AH vowel in our stressed syllable. Captain.

Captain–

A light true T here. Now why would this one be a true T? The rule is if it’s part of a consonant cluster, like in PT,

that it’s a True T, although we’ve definitely seen exceptions to that, haven’t we?

ST followed by a constant, it’s dropped, but here, part of the PT cluster, it is a light true T.

And again, captain, tain, tain, captain. Don’t try to make a vowel there. Schwa N. Captain.

Captain–

Actually, I just looked it up because I was curious. Dictionary.com shows both schwa N or IH,

N, as an ending and as i’ve said before, to me, they sound the same.

Captain–

Why is that?

Why is that? Why is that? Most stress on the question word. Why is that?

And then the pitch sort of falls down from that. Why is– really link that AI diphthong, why is,

into the IH as in sit vowel.

You might need to feel like you go through the glide consonant Y to help you link them.

Why is that? Then a weak Z.

TH, AH as in bat vowel, stop T. Now why is this a stop T? It’s not followed by a consonant.

It’s a stop T because T is a stop T if it’s followed by a consonant,

or it’s the end of a thought group, like it is here.

Why is that?

Why is that?

Why is that?

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

It’s one of life’s– more stress there, mysteries, sir. One has a little bit of stress, sir has a little bit of stress.

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

Let’s look at the other words the word its. Vowel is dropped. It’s just the TS cluster before the W of one.

It’s one, it’s one, it’s one, it’s one. It’s not uncommon to pronounce it’s that way.

You can even do that with what’s and let’s. Like if I was going to say let’s go, I might say:

let’s go, let’s go I’m ready to go. Let’s go. That’s can also be reduced to just the TS cluster. It’s one.

It’s one of–

life’s mysteries, sir.

It’s one of– the word of, I would write that with the schwa and the V.

You can drop the V sound but he doesn’t. It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

The word mysteries can be pronounced as three or two syllables, mys-ter-ies or mys-teries.

I actually think he’s doing it as three but this middle syllable is so fast.

Mysteries, mysteries, mysteries.

Mysteries–

sir.

And there’s not really a break between mysteries and sir. Mysteries, sir.

So even though an IPA, this would be written with the Z.

It’s more like an S that just keeps going into the stressed sound sir, into the stressed word, sir. Mysteries, sir.

Mysteries, sir.

Everything in this phrase really smoothly connected.

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

The end is inevitable, Maverick.

Okay, our stress here. The end is inevitable, Maverick.

The end is inevitable, Maverick.

The end is inevitable, Maverick.

The end is inevitable, Maverick.

End has the most stress, I would say. Now, the word the, here is pronounced the.

The rule is that’s what we do when the next word begins with a vowel, and here the next word begins with EH,

the EH vowel. Usually it would be the, but here it’s the, the end, the end.

Now do Americans always follow this rule? No. But if you noticed it, that’s what’s going on.

The end. The end is inevitable. Inevi–dadadadada Do you hear that?

That’s a flap T because it comes between two vowel or diphthong sounds. Inevitable.

So it’s a four syllable word with second syllable stress. Inevitable. Five syllable word with second syllable stress.

Unstressed, then stressed, then three unstressed. Inevitable.

Inevitable.

And everything links together really smoothly. D into beginning IH, Z into beginning IH.

The end is inevitable.

The end is inevitable, Maverick.

The end is inevitable, Maverick.

The end is inevitable, Maverick.

Maverick. This is another word that can be pronounced as three or two syllables

depending on if you drop the middle. Ma-ver-ick. Just like mys-ter-y. Or Mave-rick.

Maverick.

Dropped, the feeling of the vowel, and make this like, feel like a cluster. Rick, Rick, maverick.

And that’s what he did. He does not release the K. K is a stop sound just like T and we can skip the release at the

end of a thought group like he does here. Or when the next word begins with a consonant.

It’s a little bit less of a strong rule. The T is almost always a stop T in these cases.

K it’s a little bit more likely to release it, but he doesn’t. Maverick. Maverick.

Maverick.

Sort of an abrupt stop of air there, signifies the K.

Maverick.

Your kind is headed for extinction.

Now let’s look at our next sentence. The word your. The last time we saw that, it was reduced.

It wasn’t your, it was your, your, does that happen again? Listen.

Your kind is headed for extinction.

Your kind is headed for extinction.

Your kind is headed for extinction.

Honestly, I almost don’t even really hear an R sound. Ye ye ye ye ye kind.

Your kind–

is headed for extinction.

Your kind is headed– Stress on kind, head, headed for extinction.

So the word your, definitely reduced. We have stress on kind, it’s the AI diphthong, and your links right into kind ,

then the D links right into the IH vowel for our unstressed syllable is.

Weak Z sound links right into the H.

Kind is headed–

Kind is headed. The ED ending after a D is schwa D. Headed. Headed. Could you think of that?

I’m sorry I said schwa, but I wrote IH because you can also think of it as schwa D. Headed. Headed. Headed.

Headed–

for extinction.

The word for, now I know this word usually reduces, is it for? Let’s listen.

Headed for–

Headed for, headed for. It’s not for. It is fur fur fur. I would write that with a schwa.

Fur fur, reduced, headed for extinction.

Headed for extinction.

Headed for extinction.

Headed for extinction.

T here starting a stressed syllable, that’s a true T. Unstressed IH, K sound, the letter X here is interesting,

it makes KS and the syllable break actually happens between K and S so it’s actually IK, and then ST cluster.

Extinction.

So in the stressed syllable, STING, I’m just gonna write this over here, we’re getting crowded there. Extinction.

Extinction.

Extinction.

Extinction.

In the stressed syllable, we have the IH as in sit vowel but that’s followed by the NG consonant.

Now here, it’s the letter N. But it’s not made at the front of the mouth, like N, it’s made at the back,

with the back of the tongue like NG and that’s because it’s followed by a K sound.

Exting—, that’s the back of the tongue lifting to the soft palate.

When IH is followed by an NG sound, it’s not really IH, it’s more like EE,

you’ll notice this in the word sing, or ring, it’s not IH, sing, but sing, sing.

Extinct, extinction. Extinction. Sort of a tricky word. You might want to slow it down as you practice it. Extinction.

Extinction.

Maybe so, sir.

Maybe so, sir. A little bit of stress on may– much more on so, a little bit of stress on sir.

And everything links together really smoothly, doesn’t it? Maybe so, sir.

Maybe so, sir.

Maybe so, sir.

Maybe so, sir.

But not today.

But not today. Okay, so I think this T is actually dropped, I don’t really hear it as a stop, but

I hear the UH going right into the N. But not, but not, but not. But not today.

But not today. Stress on not. But not today.

But not today.

But not today.

But not today.

But not today. Not today. So we have two Ts here. These words will link together with the true T.

But not, but not today. But not today. And it’s not to, today. It’s to, to, schwa. To to today.

But not today. But not today.

But not today.

But not today.

But not today.

Listen to this whole conversation one more time.

Thirty plus years of service. Combat medals. Citations.

Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

Yet you can’ get a promotion, you won’t retire. Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

You should be at least a two-star admiral by now.

Yet you are here.

Captain.

Why is that?

It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction.

Maybe so, sir.

But not today.

Now for the fun part. You’ll look at the notes we took together and you’ll hear a part of the conversation

on a loop three times. Then there’s a space for you to repeat. For example, you’ll hear this:

Maybe so, sir.

Then you’ll repeat it: maybe so, sir. Try to imitate everything about this exactly.

So when you see this then you’ll repeat it. Maybe so, sir.

You’ll also have the opportunity to listen and repeat in slow motion.

This will be important for you if you’re more of a beginner,

or if you’re having a hard time focusing on linking or the melody.

Maybe you’ll want to do it both ways, but the important thing is here is your opportunity

to take what you learned and put it into your body and your own habit.

That’s what’s going to transform your speaking. You might do well to work with the audio section of this video

every day for a week imitating the rhythm, and the simplifications will get easier each time you do it.

If you can’t keep up with the native speaker, do the slow-motion imitation. Okay here’s our audio training section.

Don’t forget to come back and do this audio again tomorrow, and the next day.

You want to build habits here, so you don’t need to think about it so much when you’re speaking in conversation.

And if you love this video, share it with a friend. That’s it guys and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.