My first language is Russian. I tried to learn American English pronunciation of the word "lee" and other words containing / li /
sound, like "delete". When I compared the recording of my voice with the given example of correct pronunciation, they sounded quite different. My pronunciation sounded like / li /
, and the correct one sounded like / lɪi /
with the sound ɪ
being very short. I believe, that my pronunciation was not correct, but I was told my pronunciation was ok.
I listened to many examples of pronunciation in dictionaries and in YouGlish and I still believe my pronunciation had a distinguishable Russian accent.
I would be glad if any American Native Speakers could confirm one of the two things:
- there was a Russian or other Foreign accent in my pronunciation or…
- my pronunciation sounded like an American Native Speaker without any foreign accent would pronounce it.
I attached a screen recording video. In this recoding I first press a button and the correct dictionary pronunciation plays, and then I press another button and a recording of my pronunciation plays.
Update: I found an article saying that /iː/ is a diphthong.
Here’s John Wells on FLEECE in Accents of English, 1982:
the general phonetic nature of this vowel could be adequately
represented as /i/, as /iː/, or indeed as /ɪi/, /ɪj/ (p. 140)
Gussenhoven & Broeders (English pronunciation for student teachers,
2nd ed., 1997):RP /iː/, as in piece, sea, is a close, front, unrounded vowel. It is
typically somewhat diphthongised, much like [ɪi] (p. 95)
Best Answer
In my opinion his soft
L
is what clearly indicates his Russian accent. Considering,L
followed byEE
always requiresL
to be soft in Russian language it's an easy indicator of his native language. Lastly, the vowel sound seems higher pitch yet less nasal, although I don't believe that would clearly identify him as a native Russian speaker.