How to pronounce "used the" in the USA?

Question

He changed the music style to fit trend and used the media as his new tragedy

This above a line from a movie but what I heard instead of 'used the' was like 'use the'.
So I wonder what's the right sound and how to distinguish it from 'use the' And I want some examples and other accents!!!

People often drop the last consonant in speech. It's not specific to any phrase. — DJClayworth, Jan 22 '21 at 17:28
While precisely which word combos will be subjected to this modification likely varies widely, the basic process is common in pretty much all dialects (and likely in most other languages as well). — Hot Licks, Jan 22 '21 at 18:37
Closely related: https://ell.stackexchange.com/q/814/106592 //// https://ell.stackexchange.com/q/174863/106592 /////// and these: https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/th — Void, Jan 22 '21 at 19:59
Does this answer your question? Do native English speakers always pronounce `th` correctly? — Void, Jan 22 '21 at 20:03
The proposed dupe ( i.e "/ð/ at the start of function words may be assimilated to a preceding consonant in some cases" ) would seem to be the obverse of the OP. This Q is about elision of the preceding consonant in favor of the /ð/. — Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_, Jan 23 '21 at 17:31

Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ · Answer 1 · 2021-01-25T15:41:21.070

2

Used the (pronunciation)

"...what I heard instead of 'used the' was like 'use the' "

If we are speaking clearly and enunciating every word carefully, there would be a clear /d/ as a final phoneme in "used".

However, the following word "the" begins with the phoneme /ð/. This is closely related to /d/ in production.

/d/ is alveolar, but /ð/ is an inter-dental fricative.

i.e. The difference is the tongue touches the palate and behind the teeth for /d/, but the tongue protrudes more for /ð/ (interdental) and is vibrated (fricative) .

The difference is often missed when speaking quickly. The first phoneme is usually elided by most native-speakers when the tongue of the speaker passes from the first phoneme to the second.

It will sound like "use the" i.e. /juːz/ /ðə/...

not "used the" i.e. /juːzd/ /ðə/

I have always called this liaising but there are probably other terms.

By way of comparison, we also have

used to

In this case "used" is liaised with "to".

The "to" begins with the dental phoneme /t/, the preceding dental is also reduced, and elided.

edited Jan 25 '21 at 15:41

answered Jan 22 '21 at 18:37

Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_

1,005
8
11

2

It is extremely rare to hear people pronouncing the /d/ in a /dð/ cluster. It's normal for the /d/ to be elided into the following dental. So what the OP heard was the correct, normal, idiomatic pronunciation. Rather than the artificial pronunciation resulting from trying to pronounce all the letters that get spelled in a word. – John Lawler Jan 22 '21 at 19:18
Both are considered dentals, but /ð/ is also an inter-dental fricative.... ///////// No. They're not considered dentals. Those are just the realisations of /d/ and /ð/ in some accents of English. interdental /ð/ is an allophone of /ð/. – Void Jan 22 '21 at 19:25
1

@Void tomatoes, tomatos For me, if the tongue touches the teeth, it is dental. This was originally on EL&U, where I might have considered having this conversation. Why do we need to complicate this for learners? – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Jan 22 '21 at 19:27

How to pronounce "used the" in the USA?

1 Answers1