139: Pronunciation of 'sure'
/It begins with an sh sound, but after that, it gets a little complicated.
Transcript
Hi again, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 139th episode.
Today I'm going to talk about the pronunciation of the word sure and I'm going to include some symbols from the International Phonetic Dictionary in the transcripts for this show. You can see the symbols I'm talking about and read along with what I'm saying by going to www.pronuncian.com/podcast and clicking on Episode 139. Pronuncian is spelled p-r-o-n-u-n-c-i-a-n. That web address again is www.pronuncian.com/podcast.
The first oddity of the pronunciation of the word sure is the beginning sh sound. The only other common word that I could find that begins with an sh sound spelled with an s instead of sh is the word sugar. If something occurs only once or twice, or even a few times, I consider it to be a non-phonetic word.
A non-phonetic word is a word that is not pronounced the way we would expect by its spelling. Since most words that begin with the letter s (obviously excluding sh) begin with an s sound, words that begin with the letter s that are pronounced with a different sound are non-phonetic.
The full transcription in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary shows the sh sound (sh sound), then the other u (u sound), then a small, raised schwa (schwa), then the r sound (r sound) /ʃʊər/. The raised letters in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary mean that the sound can optionally be inserted.
So I can say sure without the added schwa, or sure with the added schwa.
That is actually rather complicated. But I don't want you to worry about it too much. Here's why: that transcription is showing the pronunciation of that word in its fullest pronunciation. That is the pronunciation you would use if you were stressing the word in a sentence.
LPD shows a secondary American pronunciation of simply an sh sound followed by their symbol for schwa+r /ʃɝː/. This would be pronounced as sure. While I don't have any way of counting which pronunciation is more common, I am going to make a guess that it is the quicker, reduced form that you are more likely to hear on a regular basis. I believe it's part of the informality of the word sure that makes the reduced form more common (sure).
As an example, think of how we use sure as a casual way of saying yes.
Would you like to come along?
Sure, I'll be ready in a minute.
Can you email me that file?
Sure, I'll get it to you by this afternoon.
Can I get you another glass of water?
Sure.
An even more informal answer is to add the word thing, as in sure thing.
Could I get another glass of water?
Sure thing!
We can also have a stressed sure, which acts to emphasize the idea of yes. We could say:
Would you like to come along?
Sure, I'll be ready in a minute.
Can I get you another glass of water?
Sure.
Next we have the informal for sure, which, when said quickly becomes for sure. The phrase for sure means that you are certain about something.
The question, Are you for sure gonna (going to) take the class? is asking, in a more informal way, Are you certain that you will take the class?
We can also have the sentence:
I know for sure that Alex is coming.
Or in the negative:
I can't say for sure that Alex is coming.
In the case of a stressed for sure, the certainty is again being emphasized:
Are you for sure gonna (going to) take the class?
I know for sure that Alex is coming.
In a negative for sure uncertainty is being stressed:
I can't say for sure that Alex is coming.
We also have the phrase to make sure, meaning to be certain that something will happen.
Make sure to spell check the proposal.
Make sure you're ready by 7:00.
Please make sure to pack some snacks for the kids.
As you can probably guess, if to make sure is stressed, the level of certainty required is being emphasized:
Make sure to spell check the proposal.
Make sure you're ready by 7:00.
Please make sure to pack some snacks for the kids.
So the word sure, when stressed, uses the other u (other u), the vowel of the word put. When sure is unstressed or said quickly, it is pronounced sure. Fluent speakers can choose which pronunciation is appropriate based on context. If you use a good pronunciation dictionary, it's important to check secondary pronunciations as well as primary pronunciations, and then listen for both when you get a chance to listen to a native speaker.
Non-phonetic words like sure are often a surprise for non-native speakers and ESL students. Many of my students don't trust that they are correctly hearing words pronounced in unexpected ways, and so they continue to incorrectly pronounce words by relying too much on the spelling. For this reason, all of our Pronuncian sound lessons include non-phonetic words for each sound . For instance, in our current sh sound lesson, the words ocean and issue are included along with sure and sugar.
I don't just talk about the free audiobook you can get from Audible.com every week because they are my sponsor. The pronunciation of my students really does improve when they listen very carefully to native speakers. Audiobooks really are a great way to do that while hearing lots of good vocabulary and many repetitions of the words we use most frequently. Don't put it off again. Go to www.audiblepodcast.com/pronuncian and download a free audiobook by signing up for a free 14-day trial. You can cancel the trial and keep the book. Then, if possible, go to your local library and pick up a copy of the physical book to read along with as you listen to the audiobook. You will learn things!
That's all for today everyone. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.
Thanks for listening.
Bye-bye.