k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce colonists in American English
KAH·luh·nuhsts
Start here
Americans pronounce colonists as KAH-luh-nuhsts (/ˈkɑlənəsts/). In "colonists", 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, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. It comes out as KAH·luh·nuhsts. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The colonists decided to rebel against the new rules".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "colonists".
3 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
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.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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 "colonists", 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.
colonists→KAH·luh·nuhsts
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch KAH — keep everything else short and quick.
kah·LUH·NUHSTS→KAH·luh·nuhsts
03
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.
KAH·LUH·nuhsts→KAH·luh·nuhsts
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "colonists" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "KAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "KAH-luh-nuhsts" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "colonists" 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 "KAH-luh-nuhsts" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "colonists" 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 "KAH-luh-nuhsts" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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