oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
How to pronounce oklahoma in American English
oh·kluh·HOH·muh
Start here
Americans pronounce oklahoma as oh-kluh-HOH-muh (/ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/). Stress falls on the third syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "oklahoma".
4 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
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.
h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the third syllable, not the others. Stretch HOH — keep everything else short and quick.
OH·KLUH·hoh·MUH→OH·kluh·HOH·muh
02
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.
oh·KLUH·HOH·muh→OH·kluh·HOH·muh
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "oklahoma" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the third syllable — say "HOH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "oh-kluh-HOH-muh" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "oklahoma" 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 "oh-kluh-HOH-muh" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "oklahoma" 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 "oh-kluh-HOH-muh" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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