k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce constitutionality in American English
kahn·stuh·too·shuh·NA·luh·tee
Start here
Americans pronounce constitutionality as kahn-stuh-too-shuh-NA-luh-tee (/ˌkɑnstəˌɾuʃəˈnæləɾi/). In "constitutionality", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, and it's why Americans sound more relaxed than the textbook. It comes out as KAHN·stuh·TOO·shuh·NA·luh·tee. Stress falls on the fifth syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He challenged the constitutionality of the new law in court".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "constitutionality".
7 syllables, 16 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.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
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/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
oo/u/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
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.
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.
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.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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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
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "constitutionality", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
kahn-stuh-too-shuh-NA-luh-tee→KAHN·stuh·TOO·shuh·NA·luh·tee
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the fifth syllable, not the others. Stretch NA — keep everything else short and quick.
KAHN·STUH·TOO·SHUH·na·LUH·TEE→KAHN·stuh·TOO·shuh·NA·luh·tee
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.
kahn·STUH·too·shuh·NA·luh·tee→KAHN·stuh·TOO·shuh·NA·luh·tee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "constitutionality" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the fifth syllable — say "NA" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "kahn-stuh-too-shuh-NA-luh-tee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "constitutionality"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "constitutionality" sounds closer to "kahn-stuh-too-shuh-NA-luh-tee" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the second syllable in "constitutionality" 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 "kahn-stuh-too-shuh-NA-luh-tee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "constitutionality" 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 "kahn-stuh-too-shuh-NA-luh-tee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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