Pronunciation tips: 'cousin'.

March 30, 2023

I came across many non-native speakers of English who mispronounce the word cousin. It seems that their mistake stems from their attempt of pronouncing ou in cousin as the sound aʊ - as in the word out. The correct pronunciation of cousin is that of ˈkʌz(ə)n̩ or ˈkʌzɪn, but it is not that of ˈkaʊzɪn̩, nor is it anything that starts with kaʊz. The word slough is another example of the pronunciation of the letters ou as ʌ. Let me leave you, my dear reader, with an example sentence from Walden:

Thus also the snake casts its slough, and the caterpillar its wormy coat, by an internal industry and expansion; for clothes are but our outmost cuticle and mortal coil.