There are scores of nouns that end eith '-ity suffix'. Such nouns denote quality of a thing or condition of an event. This of such words for learners is as follows. A common rule is to pronounce –ity as ‘uh-dee/tee'
Some common rules for reasonable pronunciation the above-listed words are as follows.
Word List
Common Rules
Being 'quality-nouns', they should be spoken loudly
Stress should be on the syllable that comes before -ity. Same is true for words with
Suffixes -ety; -ous; -inl; -ate. In English, the suffix is not stressed as a common rule.
The sound of t in the suffix is like 'flap t' in which the tip of the tongue makes a quick tap against the top of teeth ridge
Notes:
Flap t sounds more like 'a soft and light d' as in'melody' unlike the d in 'day' which is heavier. Even 'tt' is sounded like 'flat t' as in 'butter' to spoken likr 'budder' which has 'flap t'. For example 'ability' is to be pronounced as 'uh-bi-luh-dee'.
Similarly, 'diversity' to be pronounced as 'dai-vuhs-uh-dee'..... Say 'D' as 'T' when the word ends in a voiceless sound like a p, k, f, or sh sound. for example, tip/tipped/tippt/, Talk/talked/talkt/, Cough/coughed/cought/, Asked/askt, Danced/danct, Finished/finisht, Jumped/jumpt, Reached/reacht, Worked/workt, Liked/likt, Wish/wished/wisht.
Further, say 'ID' for 'ED' when the word ends in a t or d sound. For example, Melt/melted/meltid, Trade/traded/tradid·
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