Tortoise pronunciation
Tortoise has 2 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "tawr". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
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Press record, say "tortoise" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.
Tortoise syllables
Tortoise has 2 syllables: TAWR-tuhs.
- TAWRtɔr
- tuhstəs
The ending is "tus", not "toys": TOR-tus.
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.
Weak syllables
The unstressed syllables use a short, relaxed uh (schwa). Rushing through them lightly is correct; giving them a full vowel sounds unnatural.
Tortoise in a sentence
- A tortoise can live for more than a hundred years.
- The tortoise pulled its head back into its shell.
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/ distorted or unclearUse the selected accent’s tongue shape without pressing the tongue against the palate.
- 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 tortoise?
Tortoise is pronounced /ˈtɔr.təs/, or TAWR-tuhs in plain letters. It has 2 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "tawr".
How many syllables are in tortoise?
2: TAWR-tuhs. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use tortoise in a sentence?
A tortoise can live for more than a hundred years. The tortoise pulled its head back into its shell.
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