Hi everyone Jennifer with Tarle speech welcoming you back once again for another
heteronym lesson. These are fan favorites and so I'm I'm loving this. We have two words today
invalid, which is a noun meaning an ill person; and invalid which is an adjective meaning not
valid, not truthful, and not in keeping with the law.
So to say invalid correctly we're going to start with that syllable in.
And to do this we're going to start with that short ih sound. To say an ih sound, that short i,
your mouth is slightly relaxed, your tongue tip is just behind the top front teeth, and your
tongue is relaxed. It is not tense in your mouth but it is high and it is somewhat flat ih ih ih
Next touch the tip of your tongue to the back of your top front teeth for that n. nnnn
Air moves out of your nose: in in in
This is the first syllable in both words, exactly the same. Next we're going to move to the vuh
syllable for invalid. And to say vuh you are going to gently touch your teeth to the inside
or the outside of your bottom lip, air moves out. And then you're going to just open and relax your
mouth for that short uh sound. Your tongue is just relaxed in the middle of your mouth.
Last we're going to end with
lid and to do this touch the tip of your tongue to the back of your top front teeth for that l.
Think about having your lips pulled back a little bit and not puckered. Then move to that short ih
again. You know how to do this. Relaxed mouth tongue is high but relaxed in the
mouth and it's just behind the top front teeth, not touching anything,
and then touch the tip of the tongue to the back of the top front teeth for that d, d.
invalid invalid invalid
Now for invalid, syllable number two is going to be val. To do this start with that
v and then move to that ah sound. To do that mouth is open wide, tip of the tongue is low,
back of the tongue is pulled high up, and then as you close your mouth move the tongue along
and touch the tip of the tongue to the back of the top front teeth for that l.
And then you're going to end with either ud or id whichever way you hear it, I don't care,
it just needs to be a short relaxed vowel, and then you're going to touch the tip of your tongue
to the back of the top front teeth for that d, d. In val id invalid
So you might be hearing one more difference and you are correct. It's syllable stress.
Syllables that are stressed are higher, louder, and longer.
The reverse is needed for those unstressed syllables: softer, shorter, and lower in pitch.
We're going to stress syllable number one in invalid invalid invalid invalid.
And we are going to stress syllable number two in invalid.
invalid invalid invalid invalid invalid invalid invalid invalid
And now for a sentence:
If the invalid votes is the ballot invalid?
Give it a try i know people are going to notice the difference! If you found this helpful
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