Americans pronounce landslide as LAND-slahyd (/ˈlændˌslaɪd/). In "landslide", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. This is called the Cat-Vowel Before M/N, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as LAND·SLAHYD. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She investigated the causes of the landslide".
Record yourself saying "landslide" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
2 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
The tongue relaxes down in the back and the corners of the lips relax before the consonant. This adds a schwa-like 'uh' relaxation after the /æ/. Think of it as 'relaxing out of the vowel' — it is no longer a pure /æ/ sound.
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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.
Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
In "landslide", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. The "/æ/" vowel raises and fronts before M or N — tongue pulls up and forward, producing a tense [eə] glide (between /e/ and /ə/). Not a pure /æ/.
In "landslide", the "d" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch LAND — keep everything else short and quick.
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