{{Short description|Way a word or a language is spoken}} '''Pronunciation''' is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. In American Sign Language, pronunciation describes how a sign is constructed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sign Language • ASL Dictionary {{!}} Handspeak® |url=https://www.handspeak.com/word/ |access-date=2026-01-07 |website=www.handspeak.com}}</ref>
This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or all 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 or 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== Syllables are combinations of units of sound (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 phonemes; 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}}
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Category:Phonetics Category:Speech Category:Lexicology Category:Lexicography
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