In this American English pronunciation video, we'll look at English in action and take a
look at the 'aa' vowel followed by nasal consonants.
>> Hey Jovon, happy Easter. >> Oh, hey, happy Easter.
>> Hi Ben. >> Hello Rachel.
>> Happy Easter. >> Happy Easter.
>> Ben brought a ham for us to eat. >> I brought a ham.
>> Ben brings a ham every year because he's a dear. And I don't mean deer the animal,
I mean dear, D-E-A-R, a kind and thoughtful person. 'Dear' and 'deer' are homophones.
>> What is this, Ben? >> This is a ham. And it is made with pineapple
and brown sugar. >> Oh, delicious. Ham. This is a teachable moment.
>> Here comes the ham. Now the word ham -- >> (it's really hot)
>> -- is an interesting word because it's the AA as in BAT vowel followed by a nasal
consonant, in this case, M. So even though it's written in IPA just with the H consonant,
AA vowel, and M consonant, it's not actually pronounced that way. That would be "haam",
"haam". But we say, ha-uh-m. And there's that UH sound that's not accounted for in IPA:
aa-uh, aa-uh. Ham. So, if you add this UH sound to your AA vowel, you'll sound much
more American. Other examples, camera. AA-UH-M. Cam-, Camera. This is also true if the sound
after the AA is the N sound. For example, 'ant'. AA-UHnt. Ant. Now, one last thing.
If the AA vowel is followed by the NG consonant, then it changes also, but, in a different
way. In that case it becomes a sound more like the 'ay' diphthong, ay. For example,
in the word 'thanks': thanks. Or, bank, bank. So pronounce your AA vowel this way when it's
followed by N, M, or NG.
>> Michelle, what are you working on here? >> I'm making Eggs Benedict.
>> Ooo. >> So I'm poaching eggs --
>> Uh-huh. >> And then making them with salmon and spinach.
>> Oh, that looks delicious.
>> Jovon's always taking pictures. It's a good thing I'm used to the camera, right?
So this is what I made for our meal. Some green---it probably doesn't look as good under
plastic, eh? Some asparagus. I roasted it yesterday, gonna serve it chilled with a dijon
vinaigrette. Yum.
>> What did you make, Kate? >> I made Easter egg chocolate / peanut butter
candy. >> Oo, that looks good. Now these are special,
right? >> They're special: they're vegan.
>> They're vegan. >> No dairy.
>> Wow. Let me zoom up on that. Jovon's been trying to sneak one of those ever since you
made them yesterday.
>> I found the little ladle. That's a hard little phrase. Say that five times quickly!
Little ladle [x5].
>> Ben, this ham is delicious. >> Thanks.
>> You guys are so clear, such good actors for my Rachel's English audience. Totally
natural. >> They're hamming it up.
>> They are hamming it up. Thank you, Matthew, for brining up another use of the word 'ham'.
Matthew cleverly pointed out a second definition for the word 'ham'. An actor or performer
who overacts. As a verb: to act with exaggerated expression of emotion, to overact. So the
idiom, to ham it up, simply means, to overact. Example sentence: He really hammed it up for
the camera.
>> Happy Easter, guys. >> Happy Easter, Rachel.
>> Hope you're learning lots of fun vocabulary. >> They are.
>> We learned all about the word 'ham'. >> Ham.
>> Oo, ham. >> That's a good one.
>> It is a good one and -- >> It's a nasal one.
>> -- it's sort of an odd word because it's got this AA-UH sound.
>> haa, haaa. Like that. >> Yeah. If you had to explain how you pronounce
'ham', what would you say? >> Um, haa, aa. There's an H in there.
>> Yes? >> There's an A, with an aa, kind of an aa?
>> Very nasal aa sound. >> M, and then an M, mm, mm.
>> So if you had to say it in slow motion, say it in slow motion.
>> Haaauhm. >> There you go! I heard that good UH sound.
HaQuyen? >> Ham.
Let's watch this in slow motion. As you know, AA followed by M has an 'uh' sound. AA-uh,
AA-uh. You can see HaQuyen's tongue pull back to make that UH sound before her lips close
for the M.
>> Ham. >> Yeah, nice
>> Got that in the profile. >> Yep, she gave the profile so we can see
the movement of the tongue and everything. Thanks guys!
>> You're welcome Rachel. >> You're most welcome.
That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.
Don't stop there. Have fun with my real-life English videos. Or get more comfortable with
the IPA in this play list. Learn about the online courses I offer, or check out my latest
video.