Americans pronounce "Please clean up this area" as "PLEEZ KLEEN UHP DHIHS AIR-ee-uh" in casual speech. Three things bend the textbook pronunciation. The headline is the Unreleased Stops — the final stop consonant closes without a puff of air. It lands on up, a hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.
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What's happening in this sentence.
Small tricks that turn a textbook sentence into how an American actually says it.
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Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "up", the "p" 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.
Pausing between the words.
The "n" at the end of "clean" flows directly into the vowel starting "up" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. Final consonant "migrates" to next word — no pause between.
Saying a clean TH.
The TH in "this" can be produced with the tongue tip pressing just behind the upper teeth rather than coming all the way through — an easier, faster articulation. Tongue tip presses behind teeth instead of coming through (easier articulation).
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