In this American English pronunciation
video, we’re going to learn how to
pronounce the UH as in BUTTER vowel.
This is a very relaxed sound. You can
see, uh, the jaw drops but the rest of
the mouth remains very neutral, uh.
The tongue is relaxed: the back presses
down just a little bit, and the tip is forward.
Uh. Keep your face really relaxed.
Let’s look at this sound up close
and in slow motion.
A very relaxed jaw drop with relaxed lips.
The tongue presses down just a bit in
the back. Here’s the word ‘stuff’.
Again, everything looks nice and relaxed.
The tongue presses down just
a bit in the back.
In a stressed syllable, the vowel curves
up then down. Stuff, uh. In an unstressed
syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, and
a little quieter and quicker, uh, uh. The vowel
is unstressed in the word ‘undo’, uh.
Let’s take a look at this word up close
and in slow motion.
Easy jaw drop. Lips and cheeks remain
very relaxed. Tongue presses down
slightly in the back.
Compare the stressed vowel above
with the unstressed vowel below.
Notice the jaw may drop a bit more
for a stressed syllable.
This is typical. Unstressed vowels and
diphthongs are shorter, so there isn’t
as much time to make the full mouth position.
The UH vowel, stressed: stuff, UH
The UH vowel, unstressed: undo, uh
UH, uh, UH, uh.
Example words. Repeat with me.