Rural pronunciation
Rural has 2 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "ruu". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
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Press record, say "rural" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.
Rural syllables
Rural has 2 syllables: RUU-ruhl.
- RUUrʊ
- ruhlrəl
ROOR-ul, two syllables, and the hardest common word in English for many speakers. The trick is not to rush: a clear "roor" as in "sure" with an r in front, then a light "ul".
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.
Weak syllables
The unstressed syllables use a short, relaxed uh (schwa). Rushing through them lightly is correct; giving them a full vowel sounds unnatural.
Rural in a sentence
- Rural areas lost bus services first when the cuts came.
- She grew up in a rural town with one shop and one pub.
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/.
- Final /l/ unclearKeep tongue-tip contact while raising the back of the tongue for a clear final /l/.
- Final consonant omittedHold the final mouth position briefly without adding another vowel.
- Schwa not reducedRelax unstressed vowels toward a short neutral sound.
- Every syllable stressed equallyEmphasise one main syllable and reduce the others.
Questions
How do you pronounce rural?
Rural is pronounced /ˈrʊ.rəl/, or RUU-ruhl in plain letters. It has 2 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "ruu".
How many syllables are in rural?
2: RUU-ruhl. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use rural in a sentence?
Rural areas lost bus services first when the cuts came. She grew up in a rural town with one shop and one pub.
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