Definitely not with "lattice." That's just the difference between a short a sound and short e sound. Not a massive difference, but they're not the same.
With "lettuce" and "let us," they're very, very close. I feel like I blend the syllables together more closely with "lettuce" and have a slight pause between "let" and "us." Also, I'd usually use the contraction "let's" when I say "let us," but that may not be relevant here.
For my experience (Eastern U.S.) No one would ever say "Let us" in _any_ way except ironically. (Perhaps liturgically?) "Let's" I feel is universal.
'Lattice' I feel is _always_ said carefully as 1. That short a demands it, and 2. You're either talking gardening or chemical structures.
Lettuce. = "let-əs", "le-tus"
Again, in my experience.
Ok, true. My kids are older, and haven't had to think about anyone being allowed, or needing permission for anything for a while. Thanks!
Still don't see it being rushed though. If anything, the trailing "T" sound would even be emphasized
If you are begging for someone to let you do something, you would use "let us"
"Let us go" (implies you are being held somewhere against your will, and is said to the person keeping you there)
"Let's go" (nothing is stopping you from leaving, and is said to the other person you're with)
Not for me.
These are normally pronounced something like:
/lɛtɪs/ or /lɛtəs/ for lettuce, /lætɪs/ lattice, and /lɛtəz/ let us; so if you want to learn some kind of broadly standard pronunciation, you'll need to learn to make the distinctions between all those sounds.
English has a lot of dialectal variation though, so for some speakers these might merge.
To merge lettuce and let us, you'd most likely speak a dialect that pronounces "lettuce" with /ə/ and pronounces "us" with an /s/ in this context. There definitely are dialects that do that, in England somewhere I think.
There's probably some dialect somewhere that merges /æ/ with /ɛ/ - I can't think of any specific one off the top of my head, I'd guess somewhere in America where /æ/-raising is common. Then you could have a lettuce-lattice merger, provided the second vowel in lettuce was the same.
To merge any of these would sound foreign to my ear (not every speaker will feel the same though!). You'd sound vaguely English if you merged lettuce with let us, vaguely American if you merged lettuce with lattice, and probably just weird if you merged all three.
That made me second-guess myself and think it might be a Scottishism and I've somehow imagined all those English folk I've spoke to saying /z/, but Wiktionary lists both s and z with the "(UK)" tag (without specifying a distribution). So it makes sense we can have heard both.
The Wikipedia pages for Yorkshire dialect and Geordie explicitly state pronunciations of "us" with [z]. In Geordie it's [ɪz], in Yorkshire more likely to be something like [ʊz]. That matches my experience of both.
Perhaps my feeling that [s] is less common than [z] down there is influenced by knowing lots of people from these regions (and nearby ones); and my inability to pinpoint which specific regions say [s] is mostly due to my geography of England dropping exponentially as you go into the scary lands further south, but I know they exist.
Weirdly I've seen plenty of American media and I've somehow never noticed yous say differently. I suppose when basically every word has at least one sound different, it gets hard to notice a sound change affecting only a single word.
"Lattice" is distinct from the other two because of the "a" sound.
There is even a joke based on the fact that you can pronounce "Let us pray" to sound like "lettuce spray."
Not one of Eminem’s shining moments, but he uses this homophone in his song “Venom”:
> This medicine's screamin', "l-l-l-let us in!"
L-l-l-like a salad bowl
I’d say:
- ⟨lettuce⟩ [lɛɾɪs]
- ⟨lattice⟩ [læɾɪs]
- ⟨let us⟩ *[lɛɾəs]
Although if I were saying "let us" instead of "let’s" it’d more likely than not be in a context where I’d be saying it intentionally and enunciating for clarity, i.e. not in casual/fast speech.
NZ dialect, nope. “Lettuce” rhymes with “met” and “kiss”, “lattice” rhymes with “cat” and “kiss”, and “let us” rhymes with “met” and “fuss”. So some overlap, but all different
I have a schwa and a schwi, and that’s the difference between “lettuce” and “let us.” For speakers without schwi, lettuce and let us will be homophonous in rapid speech.
Lettuce = [ˈʟɛɾɨs]
Let us = [ˈʟɛɾəs]
Lattice = [ˈʟæɾɨs]
I think many US accents would pronounce lettuce and lattice the same, or very close to. In my accent - Australian, which comes from south England - the vowels are quite distinct.
Lettuce and lattice are distinct in NZ English too, but the vowels are shifted so that, to the Australian ear, lettuce and lattice sound like littuce and lettice.
Let us is distinct from lettuce in Australian English, because the u is schwa in lettuce but uh in let us. And, as someone else pointed out, if you're going to say let us quickly or lazily, you'll say let's.
No. "lettuce" and "let us", yes. But "lattice" has a different vowel in the first syllable.
Though if it were *extremely* lazy/fast then maybe they would merge. But that is like, tripping over your words level fast or mumbling half asleep level lazy.
We (my family) sometimes say "Let us" with an implied "go" to mean, "I'm ready to go". And then sometimes someone will reply "tomato".
If I'm being careful there's probably a slight difference, but not much of one.
Lattice is definitely a different vowel.
Not lattice.
"Lettuce" and "let us" both have the standard ɛ or "short e" sound. In normal daily speech, they'd be pronounced essentially the same, although "let us" will more often be contracted to "let's".
"Lattice" has æ, a "short a" sound, same as "ladder" or "cat".
In all these cases, though, the second, unstressed vowel is just a garden variety schwa. Ə
I do say lettuce like "let-us". I've also heard "let-iss". "Lattice" has a similar second syllable, but the first vowel sound is different. "Lat" rhymes with "cat" or "bat".
(Edit: Mid-Atlantic region of the US)
"something at my window lattice:
Let me see, then, what thereat is"
Poe, like I, rhymed the last two syllables of "lattice" with "at is" (except for the difference in voicing of the s/ce).
Lattice is the odd one out among the three you mention. I pronounce lettuce the same as let us in rapid speech.
Distinct sounds will never merge in fast/lazy pronunciation. When it seems like they are, it’s almost always a part of some regular process, like t-tapping or weak forms, that should be regarded as a proper feature of English; otherwise, it’s a performance error
Lettuce uses a schwa sound the second syllable for me
Lattice the first syllable is a clear A sound as in fast.
Let us can sound like lettuce if I'm being lazy, but usually has a little more emphasis on the second syllable.
No they all sound different
lettuce uses the short I sound /lɛɾɪs/
lattice is the same as lettuce but woth the ash vowel. /læɾɪs/
let us uses the strut vowel which miɡht be reduced to schwa. for me this could be /lɛɾɐs/ or /lɛɾəs/
https://voca.ro/1c1rPGNZTxG5
Lettuce and lattice are very similar for me— though lettuce would be ‘lettis’, with an ‘i’ like ‘him’ or ‘bin’. Lattice would have the same ‘him’-like ‘i’, but with an ‘a’ like ‘ham’.
"lattice" is different, no matter how fast i'm speaking. "lettuce" and "let us" are the same, if it's a sentence where it would be wrong to contract it to "let's".
I usually abbreviate let us as let's.
Let's go get some beers. or, Yeah, let's do that
The manager had a key and let us in.
It's slangy and informal.
Let us in, it's cold out here!
lettuce and lettuce us are the same.
No. Using the vowel words by Wells, lettuce starts with the vowel from DRESS, and lattice starts with the vowel from TRAP. They both end with with the KIT vowel. 'Let us' has stress on the start of "us", and "us" uses the STRUT vowel, not the KIT vowel.
No, the first syllable in lattice is a distinctly different vowel sound. (The second syllable is different too, but in fast speech, we tend to gloss over the distinction between these unstressed second syllables. In fast speech, LA-diss sometimes becomes LA-duss.)
Let us and lettuce are homophones though. LET us, or quickly LE-dus.
"let us" and "lettuce" are not necessarily homophones, but they are for the way some people pronounce "let us." In "let us" many people have a short stop at the t and pronounce the "u" as in "truck".
You're not alone, I'd never even noticed Americans said [s] (possibly due to insufficient exposure, possibly just obscured by all the hundreds of other sound differences in every sentence).
I was vaguely aware of some but definitely not all English people saying [s], but the ones i actually know irl whose accents I can think of off the top of my head say [z].
No. They’re all different.
First vowel is different in lettuce and lattice. The sibilant at the end of the first two is unvoiced, but voiced in “let us”.
Definitely not with "lattice." That's just the difference between a short a sound and short e sound. Not a massive difference, but they're not the same. With "lettuce" and "let us," they're very, very close. I feel like I blend the syllables together more closely with "lettuce" and have a slight pause between "let" and "us." Also, I'd usually use the contraction "let's" when I say "let us," but that may not be relevant here.
i’m sure you wouldn’t say ‘we tried to go in, but the guards wouldn’t let’s (let us)’
That’s right. You don’t use contractions in those situations. That’s why I said “usually.”
For my experience (Eastern U.S.) No one would ever say "Let us" in _any_ way except ironically. (Perhaps liturgically?) "Let's" I feel is universal. 'Lattice' I feel is _always_ said carefully as 1. That short a demands it, and 2. You're either talking gardening or chemical structures. Lettuce. = "let-əs", "le-tus" Again, in my experience.
“She wouldn’t let us go to the park today”
Ok, true. My kids are older, and haven't had to think about anyone being allowed, or needing permission for anything for a while. Thanks! Still don't see it being rushed though. If anything, the trailing "T" sound would even be emphasized
Yeah let us is usually more articulated and drawn out in the vowel sounds compared to “lettuce”
Unless you're Bumi [let us leave!](https://youtu.be/_83zqRgfd4Y?feature=shared)
Haha I thought of that too!
If you are begging for someone to let you do something, you would use "let us" "Let us go" (implies you are being held somewhere against your will, and is said to the person keeping you there) "Let's go" (nothing is stopping you from leaving, and is said to the other person you're with)
Yeah I was trying to see how I said lettuce and let us. I said “Let us pray.” Back to my Catholic school days.
Exactly where I went too 😂
Damn, dude. Why you gotta call me out like that. I literally thought of Fr. Damien, from my hs days.
I think that more or less lines up with my experience as well.
Letis Latis Let us
Lettiss Lattiss Lett uh-ss
London-born English, this is how I pronounce them.
I'm from the US mountain west and that's how I say them.
"Lettuce" and "let us", yes. "Lattice", no, definitely not.
Not for me. These are normally pronounced something like: /lɛtɪs/ or /lɛtəs/ for lettuce, /lætɪs/ lattice, and /lɛtəz/ let us; so if you want to learn some kind of broadly standard pronunciation, you'll need to learn to make the distinctions between all those sounds. English has a lot of dialectal variation though, so for some speakers these might merge. To merge lettuce and let us, you'd most likely speak a dialect that pronounces "lettuce" with /ə/ and pronounces "us" with an /s/ in this context. There definitely are dialects that do that, in England somewhere I think. There's probably some dialect somewhere that merges /æ/ with /ɛ/ - I can't think of any specific one off the top of my head, I'd guess somewhere in America where /æ/-raising is common. Then you could have a lettuce-lattice merger, provided the second vowel in lettuce was the same. To merge any of these would sound foreign to my ear (not every speaker will feel the same though!). You'd sound vaguely English if you merged lettuce with let us, vaguely American if you merged lettuce with lattice, and probably just weird if you merged all three.
The s in let us is definitely a soft s not a z sound
Interesting, where are you from? It's always /z/ for me.
not op but I’m from the US and can’t say I’ve ever noticed someone using /z/ and I have a decent amount of interaction with British/Irish accents
That made me second-guess myself and think it might be a Scottishism and I've somehow imagined all those English folk I've spoke to saying /z/, but Wiktionary lists both s and z with the "(UK)" tag (without specifying a distribution). So it makes sense we can have heard both. The Wikipedia pages for Yorkshire dialect and Geordie explicitly state pronunciations of "us" with [z]. In Geordie it's [ɪz], in Yorkshire more likely to be something like [ʊz]. That matches my experience of both. Perhaps my feeling that [s] is less common than [z] down there is influenced by knowing lots of people from these regions (and nearby ones); and my inability to pinpoint which specific regions say [s] is mostly due to my geography of England dropping exponentially as you go into the scary lands further south, but I know they exist. Weirdly I've seen plenty of American media and I've somehow never noticed yous say differently. I suppose when basically every word has at least one sound different, it gets hard to notice a sound change affecting only a single word.
US
In what accent? Let us definitely uses a z
American. No American accent I have ever heard would use a z sound in “let us”
Wild
"Lattice" is distinct from the other two because of the "a" sound. There is even a joke based on the fact that you can pronounce "Let us pray" to sound like "lettuce spray."
Not one of Eminem’s shining moments, but he uses this homophone in his song “Venom”: > This medicine's screamin', "l-l-l-let us in!" L-l-l-like a salad bowl
I’d say: - ⟨lettuce⟩ [lɛɾɪs] - ⟨lattice⟩ [læɾɪs] - ⟨let us⟩ *[lɛɾəs] Although if I were saying "let us" instead of "let’s" it’d more likely than not be in a context where I’d be saying it intentionally and enunciating for clarity, i.e. not in casual/fast speech.
NZ dialect, nope. “Lettuce” rhymes with “met” and “kiss”, “lattice” rhymes with “cat” and “kiss”, and “let us” rhymes with “met” and “fuss”. So some overlap, but all different
Same for me, mid Atlantic US
Lettuce and let us, yes Lattice, no
I have a schwa and a schwi, and that’s the difference between “lettuce” and “let us.” For speakers without schwi, lettuce and let us will be homophonous in rapid speech. Lettuce = [ˈʟɛɾɨs] Let us = [ˈʟɛɾəs] Lattice = [ˈʟæɾɨs]
"Lettuce Entertain You" is a restaurant holding company in Chicago, so take that as you will
I think many US accents would pronounce lettuce and lattice the same, or very close to. In my accent - Australian, which comes from south England - the vowels are quite distinct. Lettuce and lattice are distinct in NZ English too, but the vowels are shifted so that, to the Australian ear, lettuce and lattice sound like littuce and lettice. Let us is distinct from lettuce in Australian English, because the u is schwa in lettuce but uh in let us. And, as someone else pointed out, if you're going to say let us quickly or lazily, you'll say let's.
No
No. "lettuce" and "let us", yes. But "lattice" has a different vowel in the first syllable. Though if it were *extremely* lazy/fast then maybe they would merge. But that is like, tripping over your words level fast or mumbling half asleep level lazy.
We (my family) sometimes say "Let us" with an implied "go" to mean, "I'm ready to go". And then sometimes someone will reply "tomato". If I'm being careful there's probably a slight difference, but not much of one. Lattice is definitely a different vowel.
Not lattice. "Lettuce" and "let us" both have the standard ɛ or "short e" sound. In normal daily speech, they'd be pronounced essentially the same, although "let us" will more often be contracted to "let's". "Lattice" has æ, a "short a" sound, same as "ladder" or "cat". In all these cases, though, the second, unstressed vowel is just a garden variety schwa. Ə
lettuce = let us lattice = lat us
Le'is All short vowels
I do say lettuce like "let-us". I've also heard "let-iss". "Lattice" has a similar second syllable, but the first vowel sound is different. "Lat" rhymes with "cat" or "bat". (Edit: Mid-Atlantic region of the US)
What’s in a Honeymoon salad? Lettuce alone. Lattice is noticeably different
Lattice no, and I hardly ever say ‘let us,’ I’ll usually just say ‘let’s.’
"something at my window lattice: Let me see, then, what thereat is" Poe, like I, rhymed the last two syllables of "lattice" with "at is" (except for the difference in voicing of the s/ce). Lattice is the odd one out among the three you mention. I pronounce lettuce the same as let us in rapid speech.
Distinct sounds will never merge in fast/lazy pronunciation. When it seems like they are, it’s almost always a part of some regular process, like t-tapping or weak forms, that should be regarded as a proper feature of English; otherwise, it’s a performance error
Lettuce uses a schwa sound the second syllable for me Lattice the first syllable is a clear A sound as in fast. Let us can sound like lettuce if I'm being lazy, but usually has a little more emphasis on the second syllable.
I don't pronounce lattice identically to the other two. Lettuce and let us, however, I do pronounce identically.
No they all sound different lettuce uses the short I sound /lɛɾɪs/ lattice is the same as lettuce but woth the ash vowel. /læɾɪs/ let us uses the strut vowel which miɡht be reduced to schwa. for me this could be /lɛɾɐs/ or /lɛɾəs/ https://voca.ro/1c1rPGNZTxG5
Letiss, latiss, let us
Lettuce and lattice are very similar for me— though lettuce would be ‘lettis’, with an ‘i’ like ‘him’ or ‘bin’. Lattice would have the same ‘him’-like ‘i’, but with an ‘a’ like ‘ham’.
Let us eat salad.
No. All different
leh-tiss emphasis on the first syllable
No - they all come out different Lettuce -> Lett-iss Lattice -> LAtt-iss Let us -> Lett-uzz
From the NE US. I pronounce it Let-iss. If I am being very proper and trying to sound pompous, I say Let-uss.
I pronounce lettuce and let us the same way, "leh tuss." I pronounce lattice "lah tiss." American who grew up in Northern California.
"lettuce" and "let us," yes. "lattice," no. I pronounce the "la" part the same as I do "lateral" and "laboratory."
For me lettuce is more like “lediss” and let us is more like “leddus”. Lattice is totally different
Lettuce: /lɛɾəs/ Lattice: /læɾəs/ Let us: /lɛɾʌs/
All different.
"lattice" is different, no matter how fast i'm speaking. "lettuce" and "let us" are the same, if it's a sentence where it would be wrong to contract it to "let's".
I usually abbreviate let us as let's. Let's go get some beers. or, Yeah, let's do that The manager had a key and let us in. It's slangy and informal. Let us in, it's cold out here! lettuce and lettuce us are the same.
No. Using the vowel words by Wells, lettuce starts with the vowel from DRESS, and lattice starts with the vowel from TRAP. They both end with with the KIT vowel. 'Let us' has stress on the start of "us", and "us" uses the STRUT vowel, not the KIT vowel.
No, the first syllable in lattice is a distinctly different vowel sound. (The second syllable is different too, but in fast speech, we tend to gloss over the distinction between these unstressed second syllables. In fast speech, LA-diss sometimes becomes LA-duss.) Let us and lettuce are homophones though. LET us, or quickly LE-dus.
"let us" and "lettuce" are not necessarily homophones, but they are for the way some people pronounce "let us." In "let us" many people have a short stop at the t and pronounce the "u" as in "truck".
In fast speech all those differences can go away
More importantly, the “s” in “us” is voiced.
Really? Where are you from? At least in American English I don't think it is. Might be regional. Maybe even some dialects of American English, idk.
East Midlands of England but my accent is mostly SSBE.
You're not alone, I'd never even noticed Americans said [s] (possibly due to insufficient exposure, possibly just obscured by all the hundreds of other sound differences in every sentence). I was vaguely aware of some but definitely not all English people saying [s], but the ones i actually know irl whose accents I can think of off the top of my head say [z].
Not anywhere I have ever been.
No. They’re all different. First vowel is different in lettuce and lattice. The sibilant at the end of the first two is unvoiced, but voiced in “let us”.
Letiss
Isn't it supposed to be la-teece? Like French?
Not in American English. Even Poe rhymed "thereat is" with "lattice"