Gaze

Pronounce as /ɡeɪz/ — a single syllable with a long diphthong /eɪ/ starting mid-front and gliding up to a higher position, followed by a voiced /z/. Start with the hard /g/ from the back of the mouth, then smoothly transition into /eɪ/ (as in 'say') and end with /z/ voiced like 'zoo'. The mouth remains relatively relaxed, lips slightly spread, and the tongue stays high-mid for the diphthong before finishing with vocalic voicing. Practice at a natural speed, then slow down to feel the glide within the diphthong.

Two common mistakes are: 1) slowing the diphthong into two separate vowels, producing something like /geiɪz/ or /ɡeːz/. 2) voicing the final consonant too strongly, turning it into /z/ with staccato framing or a voiceless /s/. To correct: keep the /eɪ/ as a single glide from mid-front to higher tongue position, and finish with a light, continuous /z/ without adding a pause or extra vowel before the final /z/.

In General American, /ɡeɪz/ with a clear, rhotic-like vowel transition, final /z/ is voiced and the /eɪ/ tends to be a tighter glide. In UK English, /ɡeɪz/ remains similar, but some speakers have a slightly simpler onset and a crisper /z/ due to final syllable voicing differences. In Australian English, /ɡeɪz/ tends to be similar to UK/US, but with a slightly broader vowel quality and a more centralized vowel height for the first element in some speakers. Overall, rhoticity does not affect this word significantly, but vowel quality and flapped or alveolar-tap variation can appear in rapid speech.

The difficulty is primarily the precise diphthong /eɪ/ and the final voiced alveolar fricative /z/. The /eɪ/ requires a smooth glide from mid-front to higher tongue position without introducing a separate vowel element. The /z/ must be voiced clearly without voicing becomes indistinct. Lip rounding and tongue tension must be steady to avoid turning it into /geɪs/ or /ɡeːz/. In connected speech, coarticulation with surrounding consonants can blur the gliding, so you must isolate the diphthong for accuracy.

In 'gaze,' the 'a' participates in the single-syllable diphthong /eɪ/. There is no silent letter; the 'a' is part of the vowel nucleus shared by /e/ and /ɪ/ within the diphthong. The primary stress is on the entire word as a single syllable. You should feel the tongue start around mid-high position and glide toward a higher front position as you produce /eɪ/. IPA reference remains /ɡeɪz/.