Pronouncing words with "ld" vs. "de"

Question

I am a 30 year old native English speaker from Canada and it has recently come to my attention that I actually have a difficult time pronouncing words with "ld" vs. "de"

To be more specific I struggle with finely pronouncing "cold" vs. "code"

When I say it out loud, in my head it sounds like I'm pronouncing cold properly but majority of the time it is coming out "code"

I've read online that with L sounds I should be using my aviator ridge but was wondering if anyone has any tips for me to help me with my problem or rather is there a specific way I should be using my tongue?

Is there any exercises I can do to fine tune this? I remember as a child my teacher told to pronounce "TH" sounds my tongue had to go under my front teeth and after practice I corrected my problem

Thanks

Umka · Accepted Answer

Hello, Easyb! It is typical of most native English speakers, as I have noticed, and I don't think it is a problem. Some English learners even try to copy native speakers' "defects" (if you can call it so) in their pronounciation. When I studied in London, I recall, it took me about 2 days to learn how to pronounce "a bottle of water" like a native speaker. It was something like "a-bo'-v-wo'-a" :-)  I guess you pronounce "cold"  as "koud", right?

Easyb · Answer

Yes I guess you could say it comes out "koud" as mentioned I compare to "code" as that is a "real" word.

I've tried with different words e.g. "bold" come out as "bode"

So I've been trying to see if there is a specific way I should be pronouncing the "ld" or rather if there is a trick to pronounce it better.

Thank goodness I'm not a meteorologist

Raindoctor · Answer

Easyb,

One can produce lateral sounds without the tongue tip touching alveolar ridge. For instance, I can produce lateral sounds with the tongue tip touching the bottom of the teeth. Usually, such sounds are called velarized l. Of course, one can further say that they are non-apicalized velarized lateral consonants. Sometimes, people vocalize that velarized non-apicalized l, thereby ending up with a back close-mid vowel like "o"--I think that's what you are doing with cold, which sounds like code. Of course, there is a difference: in code, the first vowel is a diphthong; in cold, the first vowel is monophthong.

In the word "cold", use velarized, non-apicalized, l. Try to produce lateral sounds by keeping the tongue tip touching the bottom of teeth. It is very easy for me to demonstrae graphically than describing here.

Easyb · Answer

raindoctor.

Are you saying I should be touching the bottom of my teeth vs my alveolar ridge? So far I can't seem to tell the difference of how my tongue should move when saying cold vs. code.

Any examples you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Easyb · Answer

Sorry, also not quite sure what you mean by velarized lateral consonants.  Could you please give me an explanation or provide me with a link so I can read up on it.

Raindoctor · Answer

1. Just produce vowels in isolation, and see where your tongue tip is staying. Keep that position to produce "l" sounds.
2. If you still have problems to notice where your tongue tip is staying, take vowels like "eee", "ooh", and produce these vowels slowly (or you are staying on vowel for a bit longer). Now see where your tongue tip is staying. That's what you need for a velarized l.
3. Forget about what velarization is, just be aware of the tongue tip touching the bottom of teeth, and try to produce various l sounds. For instance, the tongue body can be touched anywhere on the roof. What you need for your native accent is a "l" sound without ur tongue body touching anywhere, but with tongue tip touching the bottom of teeth. This is called velar l.
4. 99.9 percent of speakers don't know what their articulators doing. So, you are not an exception. It takes a practice to develop kinesthesia and/or proprioception. There are some exercises that speech language pathologists give to develop this muscle memory.
5. Descriptions are not the best way if you are new to this business of training accents and dialects. Descriptions can help you once you develop awareness of various muscles of tongue, places, etc.
6. When you produce t and d, see where your tip is. Just lock in there, try to slide your tip down to the bottom of teeth. That's another way.
7. Study about clear l and dark l on the net. What we are targeting here is: dark l

Easyb · Answer

Raindoctor,

Thanks for the advice, when I pronounce "L" vs "D" on its own I am definitely natively using bottom of teeth for L and touching my ridge for "D"

I will start making more of effort to touch the bottom of my teeth. Right now it feels weird but I suppose that happens when you don't think about it for the last 30 years.

Raindoctor · Answer

So, your problem is not so much about the tongue tip location for dark l. If you can produce "l" just with the tongue tip touching the bottom of the lower teeth, that's what you want. Mind you, you can produce a vowel with that configuration.

Try to alternate "l" and "o" in that configuration (tongue tip touching the bottom of lower teeth). Notice what is happening to your the back tongue body. When you produce l, your tongue body kinda bunches, and air flows laterally. When you produce "o", the air flows centrally. The so-called l-vocalization in some accents (like in Pittsburgh, PA) is about producing a vowel instead of a dark l.

In my earlier post, I did not mention "lower" teeth, when I mentioned the bottom of teeth. Bottom of lower teeth is what I meant there.

Easyb · Answer

Okay just to be clear.

"L" sounds should be used by touching tongue to the bottom of your lower teeth?

When I was making a native "L" sound I was touching the bottom of my TOP teeth. That might explain why my L's come out as D's

With individual D sounds my tongue seems to hit my top teeth/ridge

Raindoctor · Answer

Easyb,

Lateral sounds can be produced in many places, and in many ways.

1. You can produce l where you produce t and d. This is called a clear l. For instance, in words like look, let, lot, lore, Lee, etc, that's what you should aim for.
2. In words like feel, cool, cold, roll, cult, etc, you should aim for dark l. Even here, some produce apicalized dark l; others produce non-apicalized dark l (like the tongue tip touching the bottom of lower teeth). Whatever I have described so far is all about the latter variety.
3. The "l" you appear to be producing is called dental "l", which is not a feature of native accents. The sound "th" is a dental one.
4. Produce pure vowel "o". Whenever people produce vowels, the tongue tip usually touches the bottom of lower teeth. Keep that position to produce various l sounds. Here, two kinds of l's can be produced: by tongue body touching the mouth roof (from pre-palatal to velar); by tongue not touching any mouth roof at all. You can try all versions to get a feel of what is going on. What you should aim for in words like cold, gold, feel, play, clay, etc, is the second version (tongue body doesn't touch where; but tongue tip touches the bottom of lower teeth)
5. There is a minimal difference between this version of l and a vowel like o. Thats why I asked you to alternate this l and o. You can feel how the back of tongue body changes its shape for vowels and this l.

Pronouncing words with "ld" vs. "de"

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