Correct way to pronounce "our"

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glen9146

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Dec 18, 2005
Hi can you please tell me the correct way to pronounce "our" is it the same as "hour" or "are"

Many thanks
 
yeah,the word "our" is pronounced the same as "hour" because "h" in "hour" isn't pronounced,so they are pronounced the same!
 
However, in connected speech, the unstressed form would sound very simialr to 'are'. Both pronunciations are used- the "hour" pronunciation would be used to stress the word, and the "are" pronunciation when it's less important. ;-)
 
glen9146 said:
Hi can you please tell me the correct way to pronounce "our" is it the same as "hour" or "are"
Many thanks

As far as the "are" is stressed, it's pronounced BOTH similar to "hour" & "are". Both are perfectly alright, depending on your own regional accent.

I myself prefer the rather posh way of pronouncing it as similar to "are".
 
Bear in mind that "are" usually has two pronunciations, a strong one and a weak one (i.e. when it is not stressed and does not receive particular emphasis). "Our" is sometimes pronounced as the stressed version of "are" (/A:/ or /A:r/) but not as the weak version (/@/ or /@'/). The more careful pronunciation remains like "hour" (/aU@/ or /aU@'/).
 
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