in this American English pronunciation
video we're going to compare the vowel
and diphthong sounds of American English
you've already seen my set of 33 videos
the sounds of American English in these
videos we went over the specifics of the
mouth position for each sound including
all of the vowel and diphthong sounds in
American English in this video we're
going to do side-by-side comparisons of
vowel and diphthong sounds that are
similar seeing how similar sounds are
different should help you solidify the
individual sounds let's get started
notice how the lips are completely
relaxed for all but the corners pull
back and up for ah
ah
Oh
notice how there's more jaw drop for all
press your tongue down in the back for
this vowel
uhh
ah
uhh
notice how the corners of the lips pull
back and up just a bit for the a vowel
this is the word sat the lips are more
relaxed for air this is the word said
at
sad sad sad
notice how the lips are totally relaxed
for all but flared a bit for all
uh-oh
ah ah ah
all
I has more jaw drop the tongue arches
closer to the roof of the mouth in E
a/e
ay-yi
ah has more jaw drop this is the word
said in a the front part of the tongue
arches closer to the roof of the mouth
this is the word fix
pics sad
fix sad
the jaw drops less for E here E is in
the word please notice how much the jaw
drops for the first sound of a this is
the word pay
pay please pay please
the jaw drops more for the first sound
of the diphthong in the word pay but the
tongue is forward for both sounds here
the vowel is in the word fix the second
half of the diphthong is the same sound
as the vowel but here the jaw drops a
little less
pay fix
the mouth position for the vowel in said
looks identical to the first half of the
diphthong in pay but look at the jaw for
the second position of the a diphthong
less jaw drop
pay
a sad
pay sad
notice how the lips and mouth are
totally relaxed for the UH as in butter
vowel but for the ERV owl the lips flare
and the tongue is pulled back
ah
uh-uh
uhh
there's more jaw drop for the UH as in
butter sound which is usually stressed
then for the schwa which is always
unstressed here it looks like there's no
jaw drop
uhh
uh-uh
uhh
the lips round much more for the avowal
flare them for the UH as in push vowel
Oh
ah-ooh ah-ooh
the lips flare a bit for the UH as been
push vowel but are totally relaxed for
the UH as in butter vowel
ah
uh-uh
ah
uhh
remember to start your lips in a relaxed
position for ooh for the Oh diphthong
the jaw drops a lot for the beginning
sound then the lips make a tight circle
for ooh and round but not as much for
the second sound of Oh
you
Oh
ohh ooh ohh
the beginning position of Oh looks a lot
like the OO vowel but the tongue pushes
down in the back for the OO vowel the
ending position of the Oh diphthong has
lip rounding but the lips are always
relaxed for the OO vowel
uhh
ah ah ah
notice how the corners of the lips pull
back for the first sound of the
diphthong but the lips flare for the all
vowel the jaw drops much less and the
lips flare a little for the second half
of the ow
diphthong the mouth position doesn't
change for the all vowel
you
ah
Oh Oh
all
Oh
all now we'll see and say all those
sounds and words again mixed up in a
different order say them with me in slow
motion
ah
all ah
i sat said
ah
uh-oh
oh uh
ah ooh ah
ah
ah sad sad
ah ah ah
all II fix said II pay please fix ah ah
ooh
uh-oh
ooh
this video is one of 36 in a new series
the sounds of American English videos in
this set will be released here on
YouTube twice a month
first and third Thursdays in 2016 and
2017
but the whole set can be all yours right
now the real value of these videos is
watching them as a set as a whole to
give your mind the time to take it all
in and get the bigger picture most of
the materials you'll find elsewhere just
teach the sounds on their own in
isolation it's a mistake to learn them
this way we learn the sounds to speak
words and sentences not just sounds move
closer to fluency in spoken English by
the video set today visit rachel's
english comm / sounds available as a DVD
or digital download if you liked this
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