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In this American English Pronunciation video, we're going to compare the vowel and diphthong
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sounds of American English.
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You've already seen my set of 33 videos, The Sounds of American English.
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In these videos, we went over the specifics of the mouth position for each sound
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including all of the vowel and diphthong sounds in American English.
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In this video, we're going to do side by side comparisons of vowel and diphthong sounds
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that are similar.
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Seeing how similar sounds are different should help you solidify the individual sounds.
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Let's get started.
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Notice how the lips are completely relaxed for AH but the corners pull back and up for AA.
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AH
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AA
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AH
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AA
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Notice how there is more jaw drop for AH.
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Press your tongue down in the back for this vowel.
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AH
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UH
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AH
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UH
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Notice how the corners of the lips pull back and up just a bit for the AA vowel.
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This is the word 'sat'.
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The lips are more relaxed for EH.
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This is the word 'said'.
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Sat
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Said
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Sat
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Said
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Notice how the lips are totally relaxed for AH but flared a bit for AW.
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AH
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AW
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AH
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AW
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IH has more jaw drop.
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The tongue arches closer to the roof of the mouth in EE.
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IH
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EE
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IH
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EE
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EH has more jaw drop.
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This is the word 'said'.
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In IH, the front part of the tongue arches closer tot he roof of the mouth.
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This is the word 'fix'.
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Fix
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Said
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Fix
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Said
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The jaw drops less for EE.
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Here, EE is in the word 'please'.
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Notice how much the jaw drops for the first sound of AY.
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This is the word 'pay'.
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Pay
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Please
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Pay
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Please
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The jaw drops more for the first sound of the diphthong in the word 'pay' but the tongue
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is forward for both sounds.
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Here, the IH vowel is in the word 'fix'.
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The second half of the diphthong is the same sound as the IH vowel.
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But here, the jaw drops a little less.
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Pay
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Fix
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Pay
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Fix
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The mouth position for the EH vowel in 'said' looks identical to the first half of the diphthong
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in 'pay' but look at the jaw for the second position of the AY diphthong.
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Less jaw drop.
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Pay. Said.
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Notice how the lips and mouth are totally relaxed for the UH as in Butter vowel
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but for the UR vowel, the lips flare and the tongue is pulled back.
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UH UR
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UH UR
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There is more jaw drop for the UH as in Butter sound which is usually stressed than for the
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schwa which is always unstressed.
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Here, it looks like there's no jaw drop.
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UH
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The lips round much more for the OO vowel.
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Flare them for the UH as in Push vowel.
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UH OO
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The lips flare a bit for the UH as in Push vowel but are totally relaxed for the UH as
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in Butter vowel.
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UH
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Remember to start your lips in a relaxed positionfor OO.
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For the OH diphthong, the jaw drops a lot for the beginning sound.
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Then the lips make a tight circle for OO and round but not as much for the second sound of OH.
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OO OH
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The beginning position of OH looks a lot like the AH vowel but the tongue pushes down in
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the back for the AH vowel.
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The ending position of the OH diphthong has lip rounding but the lips are always relaxed
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for the AH vowel.
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OH AH
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Notice how the corners of the lips pull back for the first sound of the OW diphthong
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but the lips flare for the AW vowel.
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The jaw drops much less and the lips flare a little for the second half of the OW diphthong.
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The mouth position doesn't change for the AW vowel.
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OW AW
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Now, we'll see and say all those sounds and words again, mixed up in a different order.
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Say them with me in slow motion.
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AA AH
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AW
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AH
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AA AH
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Sat
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Said
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AA
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UH UH
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AW
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UH
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OO
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UH
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UR
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UH
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Sat
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Said
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AA
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AH
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AW
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EE
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IH
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Fix
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Said
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EE
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IH
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Pay
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Please
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Fix
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UR
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UH
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OO
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UH
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OH
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OO
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This video is one of 36 in a new series, The Sounds of American English.
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Videos in this set will be released here on YouTube
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twice a month, first and third Thursdays, in 2016 and 2017.
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But the whole set can be all yours right now.
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The real value of these videos is watching them as a set, as a whole,
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to give your mind the time to take it all in and get the bigger picture.
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Most of the materials you'll find elsewhere
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just teach the sounds on their own in isolation.
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It's a mistake to learn them this way.
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We learn the sounds to speak words and sentences, not just sounds.
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Move closer to fluency in spoken English.
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Buy the video set today!
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Visit rachelsenglish.com/sounds Available as a DVD or digital download.