Hi everyone. In today's video, you'll learn how to pronounce the EE and IH vowels. American English
has a higher than average number of vowels when compared to other languages. Some English vowels
are quite common, like the EE vowel in seat, heat, and me. Other English vowels are not as common,
like the IH vowel in sit, is, and dinner. I'll talk about both of these vowels today. Let's
start with the EE vowel represented by this symbol in the IPA. The EE sound is a tense vowel meaning
there is more tension in the lips, face, and tongue when you say this sound. Try this out:
Put your hands underneath your chin as you say the EE sound. You should feel more tension in
the muscles just below your jaw as you say the sound. EE, EE, EE. The jaw is closed, and the
lips are spread out. The tongue is tense and flat in the mouth, and the sides of the tongue should
touch the insides of your upper molars as you say this sound. EE. EE. EE. Here are some practice
words with the EE sound: seat, bead, seen, we. Now I'll contrast that with the IH vowel represented
by this symbol in the IPA. The IH vowel is a lax vowel meaning your muscles are more relaxed when
you say this sound. Try the same experiment: Put your hands underneath your chin as you say
the words hit, lit, and mitt, and hold out the IH vowel. You should feel less muscle movement,
less tension, as you say the IH vowel as compared to the EE vowel. Hit. IH. IH. IH.
The jaw is more open, and the lips are also partially open
and more neutral. The tongue is also more relaxed and neutral.
IH. IH. IH.
Here are some practice words with the IH vowel. Sit, bid, pill, sin. If this is a bit difficult,
don't worry. This particular vowel combination, EE verses IH, is very challenging for many non-native
English speakers because the IH vowel might not occur in your native language, and it might
be challenging to hear and see the difference between these two sounds. Watch as I say these
two vowels side by side and pay attention to my lip and jaw positioning. EE. IH. EE. IH. EE. IH.
One other important feature that makes these two vowels different is the length of the vowel. In
general ,the tense vowel EE is pronounced just slightly longer than the IH vowel. Let's take
the examples bead and bid, transcribed here in the IPA. When you pronounce the word bead,
you should hold out the EE vowel just slightly longer than the IH in bid. Watch
and listen to how I pronounce these two words side by side. Bead, bid, bead, bid.
Bead, bid. Here are more practice words and sentences with the EE and IH vowels. Seat
,sit. Please have a seat. Please sit down. Reach, rich. I used a ladder to reach the apple. That
chocolate cake is very rich. Green, grin. Green is my favorite color. The Grinch has an evil
grin. Thanks for watching, and let me know if you would like some help with the EE and IH vowels.