differences - What is the Pronunciation of "-sts" at the end of the word?


How can we pronounce words ending with -sts?



  • lists

  • costs

  • tests


I often heard people pronunce its like,



  • lɪsts and kɒsts

  • lɪsː kɔsː


but which one is acceptable?



Answer



In rapid speech particularly, consonants in clusters such as /sts/ are frequently lost in a process known to phoneticians as ‘elision’. Similarly, ‘next’ will occur as /neks/ and ‘acts’ as /aks/. It’s not so much a matter of bad pronunciation as a recognized feature of speech which most of us will display at one time or another.


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