Proper Pronunciation Guide
people
[
pi pḷ]
Tips:
- Do not add an extra vowel sound between the second “p” and the syllabic “l,” nor do not substitute the vowel /o/ for the “l,” or the word might sound like “peep hole.”
- Be sure to aspirate the initial consonant /p/ sufficiently since it precedes a stressed vowel.
Practice Sentences:
| Most people don't like to be told what to do. | |
| How many people were there? |
Notes:
- Remember that the word “people,” like the word “police,” takes a plural verb—that is, people are, were, have, do, need, or seem. This remains true when “people” is followed by a relative pronoun, such as “who”—The people who have their tickets do not need to wait in line.
- The word “people” is often not stressed because listeners know that the speaker is talking about “people” and not, say, dogs or fish. Therefore, another word will receive the stress such as “most” in the first practice sentence and perhaps either “were” or “there” in the second practice sentence.