In this American English pronunciation
video, we’re going to learn how to
pronounce the AH as in FATHER vowel.
This vowel needs a lot of jaw drop. Ah.
The tongue tip lightly touches behind
the bottom front teeth, and the back
part of the tongue presses down a little bit.
Ah. The lips are neutral, very relaxed.
Ah. Because the tongue presses down
in the back, you can see further into the
dark space in the mouth. Let’s see
that by watching this vowel up close
and in slow motion.
The lips are relaxed, and the tongue is
lowered in the back. The inside of the
mouth is dark.
The word ‘job’. The jaw drops, and the
tongue presses down in the back.
Ah. When this vowel is in a stressed
syllable, the voice will go up and come
down in pitch, ah, job, ah. When it’s in
an unstressed syllable, it won’t be as
long, and it won’t have the up-down
shape of the voice, ah, ah. For example,
in the word ‘blockade’, ah, ah, blockade.
The mouth position looks the same: jaw
drop, relaxed lips, and tongue pressed
slightly down in the back. But because
the pitch is flatter and the syllable is
quicker, it sounds unstressed. Ah, ah.
Stressed AH: job, AH.
Unstressed ah: blockade, ah.
AH, ah. AH, ah.
Example words. Repeat with me: