diff --git a/packages/audio/espeak-ng/package.mk b/packages/audio/espeak-ng/package.mk
index 82b5193bd7..7c1970fe31 100644
--- a/packages/audio/espeak-ng/package.mk
+++ b/packages/audio/espeak-ng/package.mk
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ make_host() {
   (cd dictsource; ln -s ../../dictsource/* .)
   (cd phsource; ln -s ../../phsource/* .)
   cp -aP ../espeak-ng-data .
-  make DESTDIR=`pwd` -j1
+  make DESTDIR=$(pwd) -j1
 }
 
 make_target() {