--- title: "How to pronounce arkansas | Murmur" description: "The final s in Arkansas is silent: CMUdict gives AA1 R K AH0 N S AA2, AR-kun-saw, not a reading that rhymes with Kansas." canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/arkansas" --- [Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/arkansas Pronunciation · Science and learning # How to pronounce arkansas The final s in Arkansas is silent: CMUdict gives AA1 R K AH0 N S AA2, AR-kun-saw, not a reading that rhymes with Kansas. [Buy $49](https://murmur-licenses.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/checkout)[Download free for Apple Silicon (3-day Pro trial)](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/latest)Intel Mac? [Download here](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/intel).Not sure? Apple menu > About This Mac shows your chip. Free plan with Kokoro voices, 3,000 characters a day · 3-day Pro trial, then $49 once ## The dictionary sound sequence CMUdict lists this North American English pronunciation for **arkansas**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed. Dictionary variant 1 `AA1 R K AH0 N S AA2` **Syllable estimate** 3 vowel nuclei **Primary stress** 1st vowel position **Secondary stress** 3rd vowel position [Check arkansas in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arkansas). Syllable counts come from vowel tokens; CMUdict does not supply syllable boundaries here. Variant order follows the dictionary and does not rank correctness. This lexicon does not represent every accent or context. ## Use arkansas in context Arkansas shares its last six letters with Kansas but not its ending sound. The state name is stressed on the first syllable and closes on "saw", with no final s. Geography lessons, news reads and travel scripts can all trip here if the reader pattern matches the neighboring state. 1. The river forms part of the border between Arkansas and Tennessee. 2. Her grandparents still live on a farm in Arkansas. ### A practice cue Say "Kansas" and then Arkansas back to back so you can hear the difference in the ending. Keep that contrast in mind when both states appear in the same script. ## Read the sound tokens Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of arkansas. Unstressed vowels may sound reduced. These cues follow the [CMU phoneme-set key (Appendix A)](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~aria/Papers/MastersThesis.pdf#page=115). `AA`sound in **odd**vowel`R`sound in **read**consonant`K`sound in **key**consonant`AH`sound in **hut**vowel`N`sound in **knee**consonant`S`sound in **sea**consonant Take it to your next recording ## Make an audition worksheet Select a dictionary variant for your checklist. The two original sentences retain their normal spelling; this worksheet helps you review a recording rather than forcing a speech engine to use phonemes. Copying and downloading happen in your browser. No script upload or audio generation is needed. ## Dictionary source The phonemes on this page come from [CMU Pronouncing Dictionary](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict). The dictionary maintainers acknowledge that errors and omissions can remain; check another source or a speaker when the pronunciation matters. 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