Today a client encountered an unfamiliar word ending in -ture; I think it was overture. So we had a brief review of the pronunciation of this end syllable. It can be part of a noun, as in the word nature, or part of an adjective, e.g. immature.
Unlike British pronunciation, American English pronunciation always pronounces the final ‘r’ (unless we live in a the deep South, or New England area).
The syllable is pronounced as: ‘cher’.
For great interactive illustrations and demonstration on how to make sounds like ‘ch’ and ‘er’, go to:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/
Once you understand how to pronounce the syllable, you can collect all the words that end in -ture, so you can practice them, at: wordbyletter.com Type in -ture, in the box for “words ending with….” and you’ll see many, many words with this spelling at the end. They all are pronounced with the ‘cher’ sound at the end.
Once you’ve selected words you want to practice, I suggest you use the Merriam Webster’s Learner Dictionary, for the best examples of American English pronunciation. I’ve created live links for the first 5 words below, so you can try out this website. I recommend this one, over others, to my clients. They use clear, standards American English pronunciation for their audio examples.
Some common words ending in -ture:
nature, departure, picture, signature, scripture, lecture, puncture, acupuncture, gesture, creature, expenditure, torture, culture, legislature, mature, immature, miniature, sculpture, and nurture.
Have an adventure! Learn the structure of English! Learn the nature of American English pronunciation! But dont torture yourself!
dont torture yourself! This is a short message from Peggy to you!