Hi again and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast.

My name is Mandy, and this is our 147th episode.

To read the transcripts and to find links to free lessons associated with this episode,

go to www.org-Pronencian.com slash podcast and click Episode 147.

Pronuncian is spelled P-R-O-N-U-N-C-I-N.

I notice that a lot of my students have trouble with words that end in the I-O-U-S suffix, as in the words cautious and previous.

If you've never had the I-O-U-S suffix explained to you, seeing the vowels I, O, and you,

altogether, can cause a little confusion.

I mean, really, how many vowel sounds are in that suffix.

Remember, we can count the number of vowel sounds by counting syllables.

The word cautious, C-A-U-T-I-O-U-S, has only two syllables total, one on the

word stem and one on the suffix, cautus. The word previous, P-R-E-V-I-O-U-S, has three syllables, one on the stem, and two on the suffix,

pre-V-U-S.

Lucky for us, there is a pattern to help us understand what's happening here.

The I-O-U-S suffix is a little extra difficult

because it's the letter before the suffix that dictates how the suffix itself is pronounced.

Let's start with T plus IOUS and C plus IOUS.

Both of these combinations are pronounced as shus.

The initial consonant sound, whether it's a T or a C, is pronounced as an S-H sound.

Then, the vowel sound can be thought of as either shua or the short U.

Dictionaries mostly transcribe the sound as shua, which essentially is a very quick short U.

Uh.

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