How to pronounce south in American English

IPA /saʊθ/ Syllables 1 · sowth Stress 1st syllable

SOWTH

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Americans pronounce south as SOWTH (/saʊθ/).

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Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

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"Arthur had a toothache in his mouth south."

AR·ther had uh TOOTH·ayk ihn hihz MOWTH SOWTH

"Birds migrate south for the winter to find warmer weather."

BURDZ MAHY·grayt SOWTH fer dhuh WIHN·ter tuh FAHYND WOR·mer WEH·dher

"North and South."

NORTH and SOWTH

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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

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