Today, we’re putting together every video we have that focuses on the vowel and diphthong
sounds of American English.
This is your one-stop shop.
You’ll see photos, up-close slow-motion words, valuable comparisons.
We’re going to talk a lot about word stress too because that really affects vowel and
diphthong sounds.
You’re going to learn everything you need to know about these American English sounds.
We’ll start with the vowel AH like in father and UH like in butter and we’ll see a comparison.
AH as in FATHER.
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.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Honest AH, Honest
Occupation, ah, occupation
hot, AH, hot
clock, AH, clock
October, ah, October
Soft, Ah, soft
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.
Sometimes, UH, sometimes
money, UH, money
above, UH, above
untie, UH, untie
uphill, UH, uphill
Fun, UH, fun.
Here we have the AH and uh vowels in profile.
You can see for the Ah vowel the jaw might drop a little bit more.
Also the tongue position has a little bit of tension in it.
That’s because the tongue is flattened a little bit.
In the uh vowel the tongue is completely relaxed.
Now you’ll see the mouth from the front alternating between the AH and the uh sounds.
Watch the subtle change in jaw drop.
And see if you can notice the subtle change in tongue position as well.
AH
Uh
AH
Uh
AH
Uh
Now we’ll do two other vowel sounds that I’ve noticed can be tricky for my students.
Set.
Sat.
I’m talking about the EH as in bed vowel and the AA vowel like in bat.
We’ll go over each sound in-depth and have a comparison.
the EH as in BED vowel.
To make this sound, the jaw drops, eh, and the tongue remains forward with the tip touching
lightly behind the bottom front teeth.
Eh.
The mid/front part of the tongue lifts a little bit towards the roof of the mouth while the
back of the tongue feels like it stretches wide.
Eh.
In a stressed syllable, the voice has a little curve up, then curve down.
Eh, eh.
It’s stressed in the word ‘said’.
Let’s watch up close and in slow motion.
The jaw drops.
The tongue tip touches the back of the bottom front teeth, and the middle part arches up
towards the roof of the mouth.
Said, eh, said.
In an unstressed syllable, the vowel is lower and flatter in pitch, as well as quieter and
quicker, eh, eh.
The vowel is unstressed in the word ‘employ’, eh.
Let’s take a look up close and in slow motion.
Relaxed jaw drop.
The middle part of the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth.
Here we compare the stressed EH from ‘said’, on top, with the unstressed version from ‘employ’
on the bottom.
Notice the jaw drops more for the stressed version of this vowel.
Because the unstressed version of the vowel is shorter, there isn’t enough time to make
the full jaw drop.
EH stressed: said, EH
EH unstressed: employ, eh
EH, eh.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Red, EH, Red
Never, EH, never
embrace, Eh, embrace
enter, EH, enter
embody, EH, embody
Desk, EH, desk.
The AA as in BAT vowel.
This is a sound that changes depending on the following sound.
So, it can either be a pure vowel or a modified vowel.
We’ll go over both in this video.
To make the pure AA vowel, the jaw drops quite a bit, AA.
The tip of the tongue stays forward; it’s touching the back of the bottom front teeth,
AA.
The back part of the tongue stretches up.
The tongue is wide, AA.
Because the tongue is high in the back and low in the front, you can see a lot of it.
This is different from the 'ah' as in 'father' vowel, for example, where the tongue presses
down in the back and you see more dark space in the mouth.
AA, AH.
You can also see the corners of the mouth pull back and up a little bit.
AA.
Let’s take a look at the pure AA vowel up close and in slow motion.
The tongue tip is down and the back of the tongue lifts.
Here’s the word ‘sat’.
The tongue position is easy to see because of the jaw drop needed for this vowel.
When AA is in a stressed syllable, the vowel will go up and come down in pitch, AA.
Sat, AA.
In an unstressed syllable, the vowel is flatter and lower in pitch, quieter, aa.
This vowel is unstressed in the second syllable of ‘backtrack’.
Let’s look up close and in slow motion.
In the first, stressed syllable, the jaw drops, and we see the corners of the lips pull back
and up for the stressed AA.
In the unstressed syllable, the jaw drops less.
Let’s compare them.
On top is the stressed AA.
You can see the jaw drops more.
For the unstressed AA, the corners of the lips are a little more relaxed than in the
stressed version, where they pull slightly back and up.
Generally, the unstressed version of a vowel or diphthong is more relaxed and doesn’t
take the full mouth position, in this case, a little less jaw drop, and relaxed lips.
This is because unstressed syllables are shorter, so we don’t take the time to make the full
position.
At the beginning of this video, I said the AA vowel is not always a pure AA.
This vowel changes when it’s followed by a nasal consonant.
When it’s followed by the M or N sounds, the tongue relaxes in the back, making an
UH sound after AA.
AA-UH.
It’s not a pure AA sound.
Unfortunately, this change is not represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
It’s still written with the same AA symbol.
So, you just have to know when it’s followed by m or n, it’s different.
We don’t say ‘man’, aa, ‘man’, with a pure AA.
We say ‘man’, aa-uh, aa-uh, relaxing the tongue and corners of the lips before the
consonant.
You can think of this UH relaxation as the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound or schwa
sound.
Let’s look up close and in slow motion at the word ‘exam’.
First we see the familiar shape of the mouth, when the AA is in a stressed syllable.
Watch how the relaxation that happens: the corners of the lips relax in.
The tongue will relax down in the back.
And the lips close for the M consonant.
This relaxation of the corner of the lips and back of the tongue happens when the AA
vowel is followed by the N consonant as well.
For example, the word ‘hand’.
Haa-uhnd.
Hand.
So, when you see this symbol followed by this symbol or this symbol, it’s no longer a
pure AA.
Think of relaxing out of the vowel, AA-UH.
If the next sound is the NG consonant, it’s a little different.
Rather than ‘aa-uh’, the vowel changes into AY.
It’s really like the AY as in SAY diphthong.
First, the middle part of the tongue lifts towards the roof of the mouth, then the front
part of the tongue.
Let’s watch ‘gang’ up close and in slow motion.
The position for the first sound looks a lot like AA, but the part of the tongue lifting
up is more forward.
Gaaaang.
Then the front part of the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth, while the tongue
tip remains down.
When you see this symbol followed by this symbol, it’s no longer a pure AA.
It’s more like AY.
Gang.
Thanks.
Pure stressed AA: Sat, aa
Pure unstressed AA: backtrack, aa
AA, aa, AA, aa.
AA vowel modified by M: exam, aa-uh
AA vowel modified by N: man, aa-uh
AA vowel modified by NG: gang, ay
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Chapter, AA, Chapter
can, AA, can
act, AA, act
last, AA , last
bank, ay, bank
Bypass, aa, bypass
Here you’ll see the EH as in bed vowel on the left and the AA as in bat vowel on the
right.
For the AA vowel, you can see that it’s the back part of the tongue that raises up
towards the roof of the mouth.
For the EH vowel, it’s the mid front part of the tongue that is stretching up.
Also for the AA, you can see that the jaw drops just a little bit more.
So, for the AA vowel, the tongue is raising here.
AA
And for the EH vowel, the tongue is raising more here.
EH
So here for the AA and here for the EH.
AA
EH
When comparing the two sounds in isolation, you’ll also notice that the jaw does not
drop as much for the EH sound as the front part of the tongue is raising towards the
roof of the mouth.
AA
EH
There’s a difference in the lip position as well.
For the AA vowel, you may find that you may get a more accurate sound if you lift a little
bit here with the top left.
AA, AA.
Whereas for the EH sound the lips remain very relaxed and neutral.
EH, EH.
Now we’ll see the two alternating upclose.
AA
EH
AA
EH
To close, a few minimal pairs.
Bat
Bet
Capped
Kept
Jam
Gem
Tack
Tech
Rack
Wreck
Next we have another pair that’s tricky for my students.
EE like in seat and IH like in sit.
We’ll go over each sound in depth and then I’ll talk about length when it comes to
vowel sounds.
The EE as in SHE vowel.
This vowel is common to many languages.
To make it, the jaw drops just a little bit.
The tongue tip stays behind the bottom front teeth.
The middle/front part of the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth, diminishing
the space between the tongue and the roof of the mouth.
The corners of the lips pull a little wide, ee.
They’re not quite relaxed.
Let’s see this sound up close and in slow motion.
A little jaw drop, tongue tip down and forward while the top front of the tongue arches towards
the roof of the mouth.
The corners of the lips pull out.
In the word ‘please’, the EE vowel is stressed.
Same position.
When stressed, the vowel has the up-down shape of a stressed syllable: EE.
When unstressed, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, quieter, and faster, ee.
This is a very common ending unstressed vowel in American English because of all of the
words that end in Y, like the word ‘busy’.
Let’s see this word up close and in slow motion.
Jaw drops, top front of tongue arches up, and the corners of the lips pull out.
Let’s compare the stressed EE in ‘please’, on top, with the unstressed EE in ‘busy’,
on the bottom.
You can see the mouth position for the unstressed EE is a little more relaxed.
The jaw doesn’t drop as much.
A more relaxed mouth position for the unstressed version of a vowel or diphthong is very common
because they are shorter.
So, there is less time to make the full mouth position.
Stressed EE: need, EE Unstressed: busy, ee
EE, ee.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Keep, EE, Keep
Early, EE, Early
Police, EE, police
Coffee, ee, coffee
meet, EE, meet
Each, EE, each
The IH as in sit vowel.
This vowel can be a challenge for non-native speakers.
The tendency is to replace it with the EE vowel.
But for the IH vowel, the jaw drops more, so the tongue isn’t as close to the roof
of the mouth.
Let’s study the mouth position.
There’s a relaxed jaw drop.
The tip of the tongue stays forward, lightly touching the back of the bottom front teeth.
The top, front part of the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth.
Let’s see this vowel up close and in slow motion.
Relaxed jaw drop.
Tongue tip forward.
Top, front part of the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth.
This vowel is stressed in the word ‘fix’.
Same mouth position.
When this vowel is in a stressed word or syllable, like ‘fix’, it has an up-down shape, IH,
fix, IH.
When it’s in an unstressed syllable, it will be flatter and lower in pitch, quieter:
ih, ih.
It’s unstressed in the word ‘office’, ih.
Let’s take a look.
The mouth position is the same, but a little more relaxed.
Let’s compare the stressed IH in ‘fix’, on the top, to the unstressed IH in ‘office’.
Notice that the jaw is more dropped for the stressed syllable.
For the unstressed IH, the jaw is less dropped.
This is typical.
Unstressed vowels are shorter, so there isn’t as much time to make the full mouth position.
Stressed IH: fix, IH
Unstressed IH: office, ih
IH, ih, IH, ih
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Which, IH, which
instead, Ih, instead
begin, IH, begin
divorce, Ih, divorce
busy, IH, busy
Print, IH, print
Here along the Hudson River for fleet week, they are bringing out some old-time replica
ships.
Like the ones taken in this photo by my friend Jovan.
And this made me think about the vowels IH and EE.
Ships has the IH as in sit vowel and fleet, week both have both have the EE as in she
vowels.
Now I just did a video on the IH vowel versus the EE vowel, a comparison.
And I didn’t talk about length at all.
That’s because I don’t think length really comes into play when we’re talking about
a vowel on its own.
But since a lot of people teach length when they teach these two vowels, I thought I should
talk about it.
A lot of people will say that EE is a long vowel and Ih is a short vowel.
But I feel like vowels themselves don’t have a length.
To me the length of a syllable depends on is a distressed syllable or is unstressed.
So if the Ih vowel is in the stressed syllable of a content word, then it would be long even
though some people would call it short vowel.
Another thing that can affect vowel length is the ending consonant.
If everything else is the same and the ending consonant is voiced, then that vowel will
be a little bit longer than if the ending consonant is unvoiced.
So, for example the word cap will be a little bit shorter than the word cab.
Cap
Cab
So in looking at the EE vowel and the IH vowel in the word beat.
An unvoiced consonant there at the end, that EE vowel is short.
Beat.
But in the word bid, the ending consonant there is voiced so IH will be a little bit
longer.
So don’t think about the length of the vowel being tied to the vowel itself.
It’s tied to the syllable and the sentence position and maybe the ending consonant.
This ship was interesting.
Because instead of raising their sails, they had people standing where the sails would
have been.
Notice how been spelled with two e’s is actually pronounced with the IH as in sit
vowel.
Listen again.
where the sails would have been.
Hey Jovan
Yeah
Nice socks.
Thanks.
I really like them.
Thanks, that means a lot.
Now you’ll see videos that go into the details of all the remaining vowel and diphthong sounds.
Then we’ll compare the mouth positions for the different sounds.
the AW as in LAW vowel.
This vowel sound, when pure, is quite similar to the AH as in FATHER vowel.
In some areas of the United States, we don’t even make this sound.
We always use the AH as in FATHER sound instead.
Also, when this vowel is followed by the R consonant, it changes.
We’ll go over that.
First let’s study the mouth position.
To make this vowel, the jaw drops and the tongue shifts back.
The tip of the tongue doesn’t touch anything.
The lips flare a bit.
AW.
One technique that might help you make this sound is to think of the cheeks coming in
and shifting forward just a little bit, aw.
This is a way to make it different from the AH as in FATHER vowel, where the lips and
cheeks are totally relaxed.
AW, AH.
Let’s watch up close and in slow motion.
The jaw drops, the lips flare out a little bit, and the tongue pulls back.
Let’s compare with the AH as in FATHER vowel, on top.
In AH, the lips are relaxed.
In AW, the lips flare.
Also notice how the tongue pulls back in the AW vowel.
In a stressed syllable, this vowel has the up-down shape of stress.
AW.
For example, in the word ‘saw’.
Jaw drops, lips flare, tongue shifts back.
In an unstressed syllable, the voice will be lower in pitch, quieter, and flatter.
Unstressed syllables won’t be as long, aw, aw.
AW, aw.
The voice is unstressed in the word ‘on’, a function word, on.
Function words are unstressed, aw, aw.
Note, this word can also be pronounced with the AH as in FATHER vowel.
The vowel here is extremely quick since it’s in an unstressed syllable.
The tongue tip isn’t quite forward.
The tongue is in position just an instant before the tongue flips up to make the N.
Let’s compare the stressed AW in SAW, on top, with the unstressed AW in ‘on’, on
the bottom.
You can see the jaw drops less, the lips are more relaxed, and the tongue doesn’t shift
back as much.
Unstressed syllables are shorter than stressed syllables, so often the unstressed version
of a vowel or diphthong doesn’t take the full mouth position of the stressed version.
This vowel can be affected by following consonants.
When the AW vowel is followed by the R consonant, the sound does change.
The lips flare more, and the tongue pulls back more, and up a little bit.
This is because we blend the position for the R with the position for the AW when the
R follows the AW.
Instead of AW, the sound is aw, core, aw, aw, AW.
Let’s look at another word.
Sore, aw, aw, sore, aw, AW.
Let’s compare the pure AW with the AW followed by R, in the word ‘quarter’, on the bottom.
You can see for the AW followed by R, the lips round more and the jaw drops less.
Because of the lips, it’s hard to see the tongue, but it pulls back and up more than
in a pure AW vowel, above.
Pure stressed AW: saw, AW
Pure unstressed AW: on, aw
AW, aw, AW, aw
AW modified by R: core, aw, aw.
Example words.
Repeat with me.
Boss, AW, boss
long, AW, long
runoff, aw, runoff
lifelong, aw, lifelong
login, AW, login
wrong, AW, wrong
Daughter.
AW, daughter
The schwa vowel sound.
This vowel is always unstressed.
The mouth position is a lot like the UH as in BUTTER vowel, but that vowel can be and
usually is stressed.
But just like that vowel, everything in your lips, jaw, and neck should be relaxed for
this sound.
Just slightly drop your jaw to make this sound.
The trick is to keep everything else relaxed.
Let’s look at the vowel up close and in slow motion.
It’s possible to make this sound on its own with just the slightest jaw drop.
But in actual words, you will likely see a bit more jaw drop, like here, on the word
‘sofa’.
Lips relaxed, cheeks relaxed, tongue forward and relaxed.
As I said, this vowel can only be in an unstressed syllable.
All other vowel and diphthong sounds can either be stressed or unstressed.
So the schwa will always be really fast and low in pitch.
Uh, uh.
Sofa, uh.
Ability, uh.
The schwa goes with the syllabic consonants L, M, N, and R. That means when you have a
syllable with a schwa followed by one of these consonants, you don’t need to make the schwa.
It gets absorbed by the next sound.
For example, the word ‘father’: th-rr, th-rr.
Just go from the TH sound right into the R sound without trying to make a separate schwa.
Father, -ther.
The schwa: always unstressed.
Uh, sofa, uh, uh, ability, uh.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Allow, uh, allow
extra, uh, extra
data, uh, data
again, uh, again
visa, uh, visa
About, uh, about
The OO as in BOO vowel.
This sound is a little different from all of the other vowel sounds.
Other vowel sounds have one mouth position, EE, for example.
And it’s the position of the tongue, lips, and jaw that make the sound.
For this vowel, the movement into and out of the position is just as important as the
position itself, ih-oo.
We’ll talk about that in a second.
First, let’s take a look at the mouth position.
To make this sound, the back part of the tongue stretches up towards the soft palate.
The front part of the tongue remains down, lightly touching, or just behind, the bottom
front teeth.
I'm sure you can see the lips round a lot.
We want to begin this sound with lips that are more relaxed to move into this tighter
lip position.
Let’s take the word ‘do’ as an example.
The lip position doesn’t matter for the D sound.
The lips can start moving into the position for the next sound when making the D, like
in the consonant cluster ‘drop’.
Did you see how my lips were already forming the R when I made the D?
Drop.
So what happens when we make the lip position for OO as we make the D sound?
Du, du.
That’s not the right sound, do, du.
To make the right American OO sound, the lips have to start out, more relaxed, and then
come into this tight circle.
This transition into position for the sound is just as important as the position itself.
Let’s see up close and in slow motion.
Lips start in a bigger flare, more relaxed, before moving into the tighter circle.
Look at how much the corners of the lips come in for this sound.
Now let’s take a look at the word ‘do’.
Remember, we don’t want to start with the lips in a tight circle, but in a more relaxed
position so they can move into the tight circle.
Then lips move from the flare into the tighter circle.
It might help to think to think of this sound as ih-oo, starting with a more relaxed lip
position.
Ih-oo.
In a stressed syllable, you have an up-down shape in the voice, OO, OO.
In an unstressed syllable, the pitch will be flatter and lower, and it will be quieter
and quicker, oo, oo.
The OO vowel is unstressed in the word ‘visual’, oo.
Let’s take a look up close and in slow motion.
Often, unstressed vowels have a more relaxed lip position.
Notice that, for the oo vowel, the lips do still come into a tight circle.
The OO vowel stressed: do, OO
The OO vowel unstressed: visual, oo
OO, oo, OO, oo.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Blue, OO, Blue
issue, oo, issue
suit, oo, suit
move, OO, move
influence, oo, influence
Two.
OO, two
The UR as in BIRD sound.
I sometimes say this is the vowel version of the R consonant.
It's always followed by R, and there's no distinction between the sounds in American
English.
This sound will always be written with two different International Phonetic Alphabet,
or IPA, symbols, but will be pronounced rrrrrr, just one sound, bird.
To make this sound, the corners of the lips come in, pushing the lips away from the face.
The middle part of the tongue lifts towards the roof of the mouth in the middle.
The front of the tongue hangs down, but it's drawn back a bit.
So, it's not touching anything.
As the tongue lifts in the middle, it may be close to the roof of the mouth without
touching it, or it may touch the sides of the roof of the mouth, or the insides or bottom
of the top teeth, here, ur, ur.
This, along with the R consonant, is one of the hardest sounds to make in American English.
It’s especially hard because the lip position hides the tongue position.
Let’s take a look.
From the side, we can’t even see the tongue.
The front view doesn’t help much either.
This is because the tongue goes back, but the lips flare forward.
Here’s the word ‘hurt’.
Watch the tongue pull back and up
before coming forward for the T.
In a stressed syllable, the UR vowel curves up then down.
Hurt, ur.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower in pitch, as well as quieter and quicker, ur,ur.
The vowel is unstressed in the word ‘research’, ur.
Let’s take a look at this word up close and in slow motion.
The lips flare, but the jaw doesn’t drop as much.
Let’s compare the stressed UR in ‘hurt’, on the top, with the unstressed vowel in ‘research’,
on the bottom.
The lips flare for both, but in this case, there was much more jaw drop for the stressed
version of this vowel.
This is typical.
Unstressed vowels are shorter, so there isn’t as much time to make the full mouth position.
The UR vowel, stressed: hurt, UR
Unstressed: research, ur
UR, ur, UR, ur
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Earth, UR, Earth
search, UR, search
circle, UR, circle
thirteen, us, thirteen
return, UR, return
Outburst, ur, outburst.
The UH as in PUSH vowel.
To make this sound, the corners of the lips come in a little so the lips flare away from
the face, UH.
The back of the tongue lifts towards the back of the roof of the mouth.
The front of the tongue remains down, but it might be pulled slightly back, so it’s
not quite touching the back of the bottom front teeth.
Let’s look at this sound up close and in slow motion.
The lips flare and the tongue inside the mouth is a little darker than on other vowels because
the tongue is pulled back.
Here’s the word ‘took’.
The corners of the mouth come in to flare the lips.
The back of the tongue lifts, and the front pulls back a little.
In a stressed syllable, the vowel curves up then down.
Took, uh.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, as well as quieter and quicker.
The vowel is unstressed in the word ‘good-bye’, uh, uh.
Let’s look at this word up close and in slow motion.
Again, the lips flare and the tongue lifts in the back, pulling back the front of the
tongue.
Let’s compare the stressed version on top with the unstressed version on the bottom.
Notice the lips flare a little less for the unstressed vowel, hiding the bottom teeth.
Generally, the unstressed version of a vowel or diphthong is more relaxed and doesn’t
take the full mouth position, in this case, a little less lip flare, and possibly less
jaw drop.
This is because unstressed syllables are shorter, so we don’t take the time to make the full
mouth position.
The stressed UH: took, UH
Unstressed: good-bye, uh
UH, uh.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Could, UH, could
Book, UH, book
Firewood, uh, Firewood
Sugar, UH, sugar
Childhood, uh, Childhood
Woman, UH, woman
The AY as in SAY diphthong.
Diphthongs are a combination of two sounds, so they have a starting position and an ending
position.
In the first position, the jaw drops and the tongue tip touches the back of the bottom
front teeth.
The top of the tongue pushes forward and lifts a bit.
The second sound is the IH as in SIT vowel.
To transition into this position, your jaw will lift as the top, front part of the tongue
arches towards the roof of the mouth.
Let’s look at a word with this sound, ‘pay’.
The jaw drops, and you can see a lot of tongue as the front and middle push up and forward.
As the top, front part of the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth, the jaw
comes up.
Lips are relaxed for this diphthong.
AY, pay.
In a stressed syllable like ‘pay’, the AY diphthong curves up then down.
Pay, ay.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, as well as quicker and quieter,
ay, ay.
The diphthong is unstressed in the word ‘driveway’, ay.
Let’s take a look at this word.
Just as before, the jaw drops, and you can see a lot of tongue as the front and middle
push up and forward.
Then the top, front part of the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth, and the
jaw comes up.
Jaw drop may be a little less when this diphthong is in an unstressed syllable, as we tend to
simplify mouth movements in unstressed syllables, which are shorter.
The AY diphthong, stressed: Pay, AY
Unstressed: driveway, ay
AY, ay, AY, ay.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Okay, AY, Okay
Play, AY, Play
Operate, ay, Operate
Gain, AY, Gain
Separate, ay, Separate
Pain, AY, Pain
the AI as in BUY diphthong.
Diphthongs are a combination of two sounds, so they have a starting position and an ending
position.
In the first position, the jaw is more dropped than the second position.
The back of the tongue stretches up a little bit.
As the mouth moves into the second position, the jaw drops less as the front part of the
tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth.
For both the beginning and the end of this diphthong, the tongue tip touches the back
of the bottom front teeth.
Let’s watch up close and in slow motion, where you can really see the front part of
the tongue arching up.
The jaw drops and the front part of the tongue stays down, with the tip touching the back
of the bottom front teeth.
Immediately the tongue moves into the second position, the top front arching up towards
the roof of the mouth.
As the tongue arches up, there’s less jaw drop.
Here’s the word ‘hi’.
Jaw drops with the front of the tongue down, then the jaw lifts as the front of the tongue
arches towards the roof of the mouth.
In a stressed syllable, the AI diphthong curves up then down.
Hi, AI.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, as well as quicker and quieter,
ai, ai.
The diphthong is unstressed in the word ‘idea’, ai.
Let’s take a look at this word.
The jaw drops, but just a little bit less than it would in a stressed syllable.
Then the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth before the tip goes to the roof
of the mouth for the D.
The AI diphthong, stressed: hi, AI
The AI diphthong, unstressed: idea, ai
AI, ai, AI, ai.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Exercise, AI, Exercise
Wine, AI, Wine
Bright, AI, Bright
Guy, AI, Guy
Allies, ai, Allies
Sky, AI, Sky
The OH as in NO diphthong.
Diphthongs are a combination of two sounds.
They have a starting position and an ending position.
The jaw drops for the beginning position, tongue shifts back a little bit.
The lips may start relaxed, or may start rounding right from the beginning.
After dropping the jaw, immediately start moving into the ending position: the lips
round, and the back part of the tongue stretches up.
Focus on the movement of the jaw and the lip rounding.
Let’s see this sound up close and in slow motion.
Jaw drop for the first position, and rounded lips for the second.
The word ‘slow’.
Notice how the lips are not relaxed in the first position of this diphthong, with the
jaw drop.
They’re flared, which does not affect the sound, as they prepare to round for the ending
position.
Rounded lips.
In a stressed syllable, the OH diphthong curves up then down.
Slow, oh.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, as well as quieter and quicker,
oh.
The diphthong is unstressed in the word ‘okay’, oh.
Let’s take a look at the word ‘okay’.
The jaw drops, but not quite as much as it did on the stressed syllable of ‘slow’.
The lips begin to round for the transition into the ending position.
The lips round, but not quite as much as for the stressed OH in ‘slow’.
Here we compare the first position of the stressed OH on top with the unstressed version
on the bottom.
Less jaw drop for the unstressed version.
And here, the second position.
You can see that for the stressed OH, on top, the lips round more than they do in the unstressed
version.
Generally, the unstressed version of a vowel or diphthong is more relaxed and often doesn’t
take the full mouth position, in this case, less jaw drop and less lip rounding.
This is because we don’t take as much time for unstressed syllables, they’re shorter,
so we simplify the mouth movements.
The OH diphthong, stressed: slow, OH
Unstressed: okay, oh
OH, oh, OH, oh.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Alone, OH, Alone
Tomorrow, oh, Tomorrow
Home, OH, Home
Window, oh, Window
Phone, OH, Phone
Social, OH, Social
The OW as in NOW diphthong.
Diphthongs are a combination of two sounds, so they have a starting position and an ending
position.
To start this sound, drop the jaw.
The first sound is similar to the AA as in BAT vowel.
The tongue is wide and flat, the back stretches up a little bit.
The tongue tip touches the back of the bottom front teeth.
The upper lip might lift a little, or it will be relaxed.
To transition into the second position, the lips round and the jaw drops less.
The back of the tongue stretches up more.
This second position is considered the same as the UH as in PUSH vowel.
But when it’s a part of a diphthong, the lips round more than when it occurs as a pure
vowel.
Let’s see this sound up close and in slow motion.
Jaw drops.
Here, the upper lip pulls a little bit.
The tongue lifts in the back.
Now the lips come in and round as the jaw comes up.
The word ‘wound’.
The lips start in a tight circle for the W, but then open out for the first position of
the diphthong before rounding again for the second position of the diphthong.
In a stressed syllable, the OW diphthong curves up then down.
Wound, OW.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, as well as quieter and quicker,
ow, ow.
The diphthong is unstressed in the word ‘shutdown’, ow.
Let’s take a look at this word.
Jaw drops, but notice the top lip is relaxed, it doesn’t pull up.
Tongue is lifted in the back.
In the ending position, the lips aren’t quite as rounded as they were in the stressed
version of this diphthong.
Here you see the jaw drop in the first position of the diphthong, stressed version on top.
Notice that the jaw doesn’t drop as much for the unstressed diphthong.
Here’s the second position.
The lips don’t round as much for the unstressed diphthong; they’re more relaxed.
Generally, the unstressed version of a vowel or diphthong is more relaxed and often doesn’t
take the full mouth position, in this case, less jaw drop and less lip rounding.
This is because we don’t take as much time with unstressed syllables.
They’re shorter, so we simplify the mouth movements.
The OW diphthong, stressed: wound, OW
Unstressed: shutdown, ow
OW, ow, OW, ow.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
About, OW, About
Sound, OW, Sound
House, OW, House
Letdown, ow, Letdown
Blackout, ow, Blackout
Found.
OW, Found
The OY as in TOY diphthong.
Diphthongs are a combination of two sounds, so they have a starting position and an ending
position.
This diphthong begins with the AW as in LAW [ɔ] vowel.
As a part of the diphthong, the lips round more than they do for the pure vowel by itself,
like in the word ‘law’.
Oy.
The tongue is slightly lifted and shifted a bit back, so the tip of the tongue is not
touching anything.
The ending position is the 'ih' as in 'sit' vowel.
The lips relax and the tongue comes forward.
The tip lightly touches the back of the bottom front teeth, and the top, front part of the
tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth.
This brings the jaw back up.
Let’s look at this sound up close and in slow motion.
At the beginning of the diphthong, the lips are rounded.
The space inside the mouth is dark because the tongue has shifted back.
For the second position, the corners of the lips have relaxed out and the front, top part
of tongue reaches up towards the roof of the mouth.
There is still some jaw drop.
Here’s the word ‘toy’.
Again, lips round for the first sound, and relax for the second sound as the tongue arches
towards the roof of the mouth in the front.
In a stressed syllable, the OY diphthong curves up then down.
Toy, OY.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, as well as quieter and quicker,
oy, oy.
The diphthong is unstressed in the word ‘tabloid’, oy.
Let’s take a look at this word.
The diphthong looks the same: lips rounded for the beginning position, then relaxing
out for the ending position, before the tongue tip flips up for the D.
But because the pitch is flatter and the syllable is quicker, it sounds unstressed.
The OY diphthong, stressed: toy, OY
Unstressed: tabloid, oy
OY, oy, OY, oy.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Oil, OY, Oil
Coin, OY, Coin
Joyful, OY, Joyful
Steroid, oy, Steroid
Loyal, OY, Loyal
Boy, OY, Boy
The EW as in FEW diphthong.
Diphthongs are a combination of two sounds.
They have a starting position and an ending position.
The first sound is the Y consonant.
Diphthongs are normally made up of two vowel sounds, but in this case, the Y consonant
is acting as a vowel.
For example, in the word ‘music’ the Y sound goes with the OO vowel to make a diphthong
rather than with the M consonant to make a consonant cluster, music.
To make the Y sound, the jaw drops a little bit.
The lips may be relaxed, or they may begin rounding for the ending position.
The tongue tip is down, lightly touching the back of the bottom front teeth.
The mid/front part of the tongue lifts and touches the roof of the mouth about here.
It pushes forward against the roof of the mouth before pulling away.
As we move the tongue on the roof of the mouth, we close the vocal cords to get this sound:
yy, which we add to the sound.
Yy, yy.
We release it the same time we release the tongue.
To transition into the next sound, we release right into the position of OO as in BOO vowel.
The tongue tip doesn’t need to move; it remains touching the back of the bottom front
teeth.
The back part of the tongue lifts towards the soft palate.
The lips round.
Let’s study a word with this sound, ‘use’.
Jaw drops just a little bit as the tongue lifts and presses forward against the roof
of the mouth.
The lips flare in preparation for the rounding at the end of the diphthong.
Tongue releases, lifts in the back, and the lips round.
In a stressed syllable, the EW diphthong curves up then down.
Use, ew.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, as well as quieter and quicker,
ew, ew.
The diphthong is unstressed in the word ‘interview’, ew.
Let’s take a look at the word ‘interview’.
A little bit of lip rounding in the first position of the diphthong.
But in the ending position, the lip rounding is subtle.
Not like in a stressed EW diphthong.
Let’s compare the ending position of the stressed EW diphthong, above, with the unstressed
diphthong, below.
In the stressed version, the lips round much more.
Generally, the unstressed version of a vowel or diphthong is more relaxed and doesn’t
take the full mouth position, in this case, less lip rounding.
This is because we don’t take as much time for unstressed syllables, they’re shorter,
so we simplify the mouth movements.
EW stressed: use, EW
Unstressed: interview, ew
EW, ew, EW, ew.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Music, EW, Music
Continue, ew, Continue
Review, EW, Review
Unite, ew, Unite
Union, EW, Union
Future, EW, Future
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 AH, but the corners pull back and up for
AA.
Ah, aa, ah, aa.
Notice how there’s more jaw drop for ah.
Press your tongue down in the back for this vowel.
ah
uuh
Ah
uh
Notice how the corners of the lips pull back and up just a bit for the AA vowel.
This is the word ‘sat’.
The lips are more relaxed for EH.
This is the word ‘said’.
Sat
said
sat
said
Notice how the lips are totally relaxed for ‘ah’, but flared a bit for ‘aw’.
ah
aw
ah
aw
IH has more jaw drop.
The tongue arches closer to the roof of the mouth in EE.
ih
ee
ih
ee
EH has more jaw drop.
This is the word ‘said’.
In IH, the front part of the tongue arches closer to the roof of the mouth.
This is the word ‘fix’.
Fix
Said
Fix
Said.
The jaw drops less for EE.
Here, EE is in the word ‘please’.
Notice how much the jaw drops for the first sound of AY.
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 IH vowel is in the word ‘fix’.
The second half of the diphthong is the same sound as the IH vowel.
But here the jaw drops a little less.
pay
fix
pay
fix
The mouth position for the EH 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 AY diphthong.
Less jaw drop.
pay
said
pay
said
Notice how the lips and mouth are totally relaxed for the UH as in BUTTER vowel, but
for the UR vowel, the lips flare and the tongue is pulled back.
uh
ur
uh
ur
There’s more jaw drop for the UH as in BUTTER sound, which is usually stressed, than for
the schwa, which is always unstressed.
Here, it looks like there is no jaw drop.
Uh,
uh
Uh
uh
The lips round much more for the OO vowel.
Flare them for the UH as in PUSH vowel.
UH
oo
UH
oo
The lips flare a bit for the UH as in PUSH vowel, but are totally relaxed for the UH
as in BUTTER vowel.
Uh
Remember to start your lips in a relaxed position for OO.
For the OH diphthong the jaw drops a lot for the beginning sound.
Then the lips make a tight circle for OO, and round, but not as much, for the second
sound of OH.
oo
oh
oo
oh
The beginning position of OH looks a lot like the AH vowel, but the tongue pushes down in
the back for the AH vowel.
The ending position of the OH diphthong has lip rounding, but the lips are always relaxed
for the AH vowel.
OH
AH
OH
AH
Notice how the corners of the lips pull back for the first sound of the OW diphthong, but
the lips flare for the AW 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 AW vowel.
OW
AW
OW
AW
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.
Aa
ah
aw
ah
aa
sat
said
aa
ah
uh
aw
uh
oo
uh
ur
uh
sat, , , , , ee, ih, fix, said, ee, ih, pay, please, fix, ur, uh, oo, uh,
said
aa
ah
aw
ee
ih
fix
said
ee
eh
pay
please
fix
ur
uh
oo
Uh
uh
oh
oo
I'm so glad you’ve taken the time to watch this video.
Really understanding the mouth positions for the sounds of American English can help you
gain greater clarity in your spoken English.
We’ll have another video coming out in few weeks, a compilation of all the consonant sounds.
For now, keep your learning going with this video and don’t forget to subscribe with notifications,
I love being your English teacher.
That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.