How to pronounce

Raleigh pronunciation

/ˈrɔ.li/
RAW-lee

Raleigh has 2 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "raw". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.

Say raleigh and check it

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Accent

Press record, say "raleigh" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.

Raleigh syllables

Raleigh has 2 syllables: RAW-lee.

  1. RAW
  2. leeli

RAW-lee, two syllables. The "-eigh" is a simple "ee", as in "Leigh", not "lay" as in "sleigh" — the city and the Elizabethan courtier share the same sound.

Sounds to watch

The r sound

Pull the tongue back and up without touching the roof of the mouth. American r is never rolled or tapped.

The l sound

Touch the tongue tip to the ridge behind your top teeth. At the end of a syllable the l is darker and the back of the tongue rises.

Raleigh in a sentence

  • Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina, not Charlotte.
  • The flight to Raleigh was delayed by an hour.

Read either sentence into the recorder above. The check judges only the target word, so the rest of the sentence can be rough.

What Speakeroo listens for

These are the pronunciation patterns from Speakeroo’s speech feature catalog that this target tends to expose. The check above reports the ones it hears.

  • /r/ and /l/ confusedTouch the ridge behind the teeth for /l/ but avoid tongue contact for /r/.
  • Every syllable stressed equallyEmphasise one main syllable and reduce the others.

Questions

How do you pronounce raleigh?

Raleigh is pronounced /ˈrɔ.li/, or RAW-lee in plain letters. It has 2 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "raw".

How many syllables are in raleigh?

2: RAW-lee. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.

How do you use raleigh in a sentence?

Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina, not Charlotte. The flight to Raleigh was delayed by an hour.

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