Pronouncing "it's still"

[Tom]

Hi

As a non-native speaker of English, I have always found it difficult to pronounce it's still . I mean, the end at "s" and start with an "s". Would you say it is easier for native speakers? However, I can say "it is still" easily.

Tom

[Alan]

Hi,

Just pause slightly after 'it's' and come down heavily on 'still' and then Bob's your uncle and Charley's your aunt!

A
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[Yankee]

Hi Tom

When you pronounce those two back-to-back Ss in conversation, it will end up sounding more like one S. In other words, "it's still" usually sounds pretty much the same as "it still" when you talk. The two Ss just sort of slide together.

(I hope my description doesn't cause any undue wincing on the other side of the pond.)
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[diverhank]

Yankee...I don't think it sounds like "it still"... You can certainly tell there are 2 s's in there. Imho, what Alan says applies to both sides of the pond .

[Yankee]

Hi Hank

Are you referring to slowed down speech or emphatic speech, or are you referring to speech at normal conversational speed? My post was focused on pronunciation at conversational speed without any special emphasis on the word 'still'. I thought Tom was likely to be interested in that too.

The two, basically identical S-sounds in the words "it's" and "still" tend to merge at normal conversational speed, and without a stop or pause between the two words, those two Ss would at most sound like a single, slightly elongated S rather than pronounced as two separate ones. I have to admit that it's hard for me to believe that this doesn't also happen in California, so I assume you may have misunderstood that it was my intent to address pronunciation at regular conversational speed.

For more emphatic usage or in speech at a very slow pace, I would agree that both S sounds will be more clearly pronounced as two distinct sounds.

Most likely the main reason that Tom does not have the same trouble with pronouncing "It is still" is that the S in "is" is pronounced differently (more like a Z).
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Tom]

Many, many thanks for your giant contribution(s) to my little problem. I am grateful.

@ Amy

I was so relieved when I saw "It still" by you. In fact, I was more than happy.

As I mentioned, starting another "s" within a split of a second is, now was , difficult for me. And whenever I tried to say it aloud, it came more or less like one "s". And it always made me wonder why my "it still" and "it's still" were the same. You hit the nail on the head when you said why "it is still" was easy for me to say.

Now, no problem!

Tom