How to pronounce slang in American English

IPA /slæŋ/ Syllables 1 · slang Stress 1st syllable

SLANG

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Americans pronounce slang as SLANG (/slæŋ/). In "slang", the "a" vowel before NG shifts toward "ay" — sounding like "ay" as in "say", a distinctly American pattern — most prominent in Midwestern American English; other GenAm speakers may use a less raised vowel. This is called the Cat-Vowel Before NG, and it's why Americans sound more relaxed than the textbook. It comes out as SLANG. You'll hear it in sentences like "I learned a lot of slang and idioms from watching television shows".

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Sounds

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Clarity

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Stress

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Intonation

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Fluency

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Common mistakes

Pronouncing the vowel before NG too pure.

In "slang", the "a" vowel before NG shifts toward "ay" — sounding like "ay" as in "say", a distinctly American pattern — most prominent in Midwestern American English; other GenAm speakers may use a less raised vowel. Vowel changes to sound like /eɪ/ ("ay" as in "say").

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "slang".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

s/s/

Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.

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.

a/æ/

Nasalized-ng

Before NG, the vowel changes to sound more like the AY (/eɪ/) diphthong. The middle part of the tongue lifts toward the roof of the mouth, then the front part arches up.

ng/ŋ/

Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.

In real conversation

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"I learned a lot of slang and idioms from watching television shows."

ahy LURND uh LAHT uhv SLANG and IH·dee·uhmz fruhm WAH·chuhng TEH·luh·vih·zhuhn SHOHZ

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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.

Pronouncing the vowel before NG too pure.

SLANG→SLANG

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "slang" 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 "SLANG" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.

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Overall assessment

Common mistakes

Pronouncing the vowel before NG too pure.

Every sound in "slang".

Hear "slang" in the wild.

Words that work the same way.

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

Pronouncing the vowel before NG too pure.

Questions people ask about this.

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