uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce irregularities in American English
uh·reh·gyuh·LAIR·uh·teez
Start here
Americans pronounce irregularities as uh-reh-gyuh-LAIR-uh-teez (/ɪˌrɛgjəˈlærəɾiz/). In "irregularities", 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, a hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. It comes out as uh·REH·gyuh·LAIR·uh·teez. Stress falls on the fourth syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "International observers monitored the election for any irregularities" or "The grammar rules in this language have many irregularities and exceptions" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "irregularities".
6 syllables, 12 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
y/j/
Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth, but stop just short of touching. /j/ is an approximant, not a stop. The tongue tip stays down, lightly resting near the back of your bottom front teeth. Voice runs through the whole gesture, and the tongue glides smoothly down into the next vowel. The lips stay neutral or pre-shape for the upcoming vowel (rounding early for OO in <em>youth</em>, for example).
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
l/l/
SyllabicThe schwa before L disappears — L becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to a Dark L.
air/ɛr/
Start with the 'eh' vowel mouth position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
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.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "irregularities" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"International observers monitored the election for any irregularities."
ihn·ter·NA·shuh·nuhl uhb·ZUR·verz MAH·nuh·terd dhee uh·LEHK·shuhn fer EH·nee uh·reh·gyuh·LAIR·uh·teez
"The grammar rules in this language have many irregularities and exceptions."
dhuh GRA·mer ROOLZ ihn DHIHS LANG·gwuhj HAV MEH·nee uh·reh·gyuh·LAIR·uh·teez and uhk·SEHP·shuhnz
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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 "irregularities", 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.
uh-reh-gyuh-LAIR-uh-teez→uh·REH·gyuh·LAIR·uh·teez
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the fourth syllable, not the others. Stretch LAIR — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·REH·GYUH·lair·UH·TEEZ→uh·REH·gyuh·LAIR·uh·teez
03
Pronouncing the first 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.
UH·reh·gyuh·LAIR·uh·teez→uh·REH·gyuh·LAIR·uh·teez
04
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "irregularities" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the fourth syllable — say "LAIR" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-reh-gyuh-LAIR-uh-teez" 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 "irregularities"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "irregularities" sounds closer to "uh-reh-gyuh-LAIR-uh-teez" 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 first syllable in "irregularities" 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 "uh-reh-gyuh-LAIR-uh-teez" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "irregularities"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
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