Mate versus made.
Why is it that certain vowel sounds get squashed in length when they're used in certain words in English?
It's the same vowel sound, it's a one-syllable word
what is it that makes this vowel sound get squashed and pronounced in a shorter way in English?
Well, in this English Pronunciation tutorial we're going to use the British Accent Method
to speak English more clearly, more confidently and more like a native
so that you can do better in meetings, presentations, and job interviews
by understanding this one simple concept.
It applies to all of your English and by applying this one simple concept to your English Pronunciation;
it's going to improve your English listening, which means you're going to be able to hear more clearly;
and it's going to improve your English Pronunciation so that you can speak English more clearly.
If that sounds like the kind of help that you're looking for then you're in the right place.
Let's dive in!
So, 'mate' versus 'made' versus 'May.'
Why is it that the /eɪ/ diphthong in all three of these words is one length in the word 'May' and 'made'
and another length shorter in the word 'mate?'
The reason is because when a vowel sound in English is followed by a voiceless consonant
the length of the vowel sound is reduced, alright.
Here's how you can very very simply feel this for yourself.
I want you to start by saying the word on the screen now:
'May'
Now I want you to add a voiced consonant onto the end of that word. We're going to add the 'D' consonant.
Now I want you to say this word:
'Made'
The length of the vowel sound is the same.
Now I want you to add a voiceless consonant onto the end of it, the 'T' sound, and say the word again:
'Mate.'
The length of the vowel sound is reduced.
'May,' 'made,' 'mate.'
Understanding this concept is vitally important if you want to improve your English listening
and also if you want to speak English more clearly because English is difficult enough already because it has:
Short vowel sounds, long vowel sounds, diphthongs, tripthongs, and weak vowel sounds.
But then what can make it even more difficult and more confusing is that there are certain elements that can be
applied to those vowel sounds that can change the length of them even more.
So by the end of this video, you're going to understand a little known concept called 'pre-fortis clipping'
and that's going to enable you to recognize why vowel sounds get squashed in length and how to apply it for yourself.
You already know now that it's a voiceless consonant that squeezes the length of these vowel sounds
and as a result of the squishing of the vowel sound what you usually get in place of that is a pause in airflow.
Let's take those two words again; 'made' and 'mate.'
Listen out now for the pause between the 'A' vowel sound in the 'D' diphthong
The pause is barely there at all, it just simply happens whilst the tongue goes into the
position to make the 'D' sound.
Now listen if I say 'mate':
The pause is much longer.
You don't need to over-exaggerate it, but you should be able to hear there that the pause is much longer.
So now what I'm going to do is, I'm going to give you some other examples
of how when a word ends in a vowel sound without a consonant after it
it is the normal length; when the voiced consonant comes after it, it stays that normal length;
when two or even three voiced consonants comes after it, it stays that normal length;
but then when the voiceless consonant comes after it the vowel sound gets squished, okay.
So this time let's look at the word 'my,' okay.
Very simply the 'M' consonant followed by the /aɪ/ diphthong.
/aɪ/ as in 'my eye' and 'I' as in 'I am Michael' /aɪ/, okay.
Make sure when you're pronouncing that vowel sound on its own, you're giving it enough length.
And just on that note: in the video you're about to watch after this
you're going to learn the fastest and most effective way to be able to feel
how long vowel sounds and diphthongs should feel in your pronunciation using a simple
hack that will give you an immediate boost in confidence, okay.
We'll get to that in a second, but now let's get back to the example.
So 'my.'
Feel the length as you say it for yourself.
Now let's add the consonant 'N' to the end of it. So we're now going to say 'mine.'
Make sure you're following along with me here.
Now we're going to add the 'D' sound to the end of mine so we're going to get mind as in
'My mind is thinking.'
Now let's add a 'Z' sound to the end of that to make that plural. We're going to say 'minds,' okay.
'All of our minds are aching because we're focusing so hard on this English Pronunciation tutorial'
The length of the vowel sound is the same whether there is no voiced consonant after it
or one, two, or three voiced consonants after it.
However, now let's put a voiceless consonant after it and see how that changes the length:
Now I changed the intonation pattern on those two words. I said 'my' and then 'might.'
Now let me use the same intonation pattern on them just so you can see exactly how this sounds
I'm going to use a downwards intonation pattern.
We've just applied pre-fortis clipping to a diphthong.
Now let's do it to a long vowel sound and then at the end, we'll do it to a short vowel sound
and that's where this concept can be the most difficult to hear.
But if you can hear that then you're going to be able to make the most of applying this concept to your English speaking, okay.
So the long vowel sound example will be 'see.'
'I see you,' okay.
Follow along with the length and in this example, we're going to apply the 2-Second Rule
to the long vowel sound here to really exemplify what I mean.
The 2-Second Rule, if you haven't seen it already, means that we're going to pronounce this long vowel sound for two seconds
so you can really feel that it is a long vowel sound, and that's especially important
if your native language doesn't have long vowel sounds, okay.
So we're going to say:
Yes we're over-exaggerating it, but this is going to really help you to see and feel this concept in use, alright.
So the vowel sound on its own normal length:
Now we're going to add the voiced consonant to the end of it which doesn't shorten the length:
Okay.
We could even add another voice constant to the end of that and say 'seeds.'
Ready?
But now, let's apply the voiceless constant to the end of it and see how that shortens the length.
Even when we're exaggerating it and applying the 2-Second Rule to the vowel sound
you're still going to hear that the length of the vowel sound gets shortened as a result of applying this concept to it.
Ready?
And listen out for the length of that pause there.
In this example with the 2-Second Rule, instead of the vowel sound being two seconds long
this time the vowel sound plus the pause is two seconds long, okay.
Ready?
Now if I compare the two, we'll compare 'seed' to 'seed.'
Okay, ready?
Can you hear the difference there?
And just before we get to the final short vowel sound example
which is the most important one for you to be able to recognize this in.
In the video you're about to watch after this, I'm going to show you how you can apply the 2-Second Rule to all of your vowel sounds
and that is one of the quickest and most effective ways to gain immediate confidence with your vowel sounds
because it enables you to identify the difference between many of the most confusing and similar vowel sounds in English.
So by all means keep watching for that, it's coming up in just a moment.
Now let's look at the short vowel sound example.
So in this example, we're going to use the words back and bag.
The reason why we're using this example is both of these consonants
the /k/ voiceless and the voiced /g/ come from the same position in the mouth.
I can't give you a short vowel sound example without a consonant after the short vowel sound
because short vowel sounds in English do not end syllables.
The only short vowel sound in English that can come at the end of a syllable without a consonant after it
is a weak vowel sound, which technically is a bit different to a short vowel sound.
Weak vowel sounds include the schwa sound /ə/ and the weak 'E' vowel sound like 'lovingly,' /iː/, okay.
I'm not gonna get into that now you can watch that in another video
But for now 'back' versus 'bag,' okay.
and I-- again, I'm going to slightly exaggerate the length of this here just to make this clear
then I'll say it at normal speed for you, okay.
So, first of all, we'll say 'bag,' 'my carrier bag.'
'G' sound at the end of it normal length:
Compared to 'my back is hurting.'
Now if I give you them both at normal speed, and I'm going to go between them
So in summary here, just before we get to the next video, what you need to know is that
the length of a vowel sound before a voiceless consonant gets shortened and what replaces that length is space.
When a vowel sound doesn't have a consonant after it it is the normal length.
When it has a voiced consonant or multiple voiced consonants after it it is the normal length.
But when it has a voiceless consonant after it, it gets shortened and that remaining space is just filled with space, okay.
It's as simple as that.
I'm here fighting for your confidence in English.
These tutorials are designed specifically to enable you to speak English; more clearly, more confidently, and more professionally
in meetings, presentations, and job interviews, so that you can grow your career and feel like you belong in English.
If you want one of my quickest and most effective and powerful tips to immediately start speaking more like a native in English
then you want to watch this video here where you're going to learn how to use the 2-Second Rule
to immediately feel and recognize the difference between long and short vowel sounds in English.
It's one of the most powerful tips I've ever taught and you can learn it right here in this video
and I'll see you here in just a moment!