In this American English pronunciation
video, we’re going to learn how to pronounce
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. UH, uh.
Example words. Repeat with me: