a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
How to pronounce applicants in American English
A·pluh·kuhnts
Start here
Americans pronounce applicants as A-pluh-kuhnts (/ˈæpləkənts/). In "applicants", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. This is called the Silent T in Clusters, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as A·pluh·kuhnts. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "We need to screen all the applicants".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "applicants".
3 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
t/t/
DroppedThe T is skipped entirely. Your tongue doesn't make contact at the T position.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Pronouncing the T in a consonant cluster.
In "applicants", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. /t/ is dropped entirely — the surrounding consonants flow together without the T.
applicants→A·pluh·kuhnts
02
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "applicants", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
applicants→A·pluh·kuhnts
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch A — keep everything else short and quick.
a·PLUH·KUHNTS→A·pluh·kuhnts
04
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
A·PLUH·kuhnts→A·pluh·kuhnts
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "applicants" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "A" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "A-pluh-kuhnts" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "applicants" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "A-pluh-kuhnts" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "applicants" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "A-pluh-kuhnts" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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