hello there this is the sounds American
channel in this video we're going to
talk about the American vowel sound I as
in the word like you can also hear this
sound in words like child hi sky or
height will be using special phonetic
symbols I for this sound
let's start with a small experiment take
a look at these two words spa and spy
they differ by their vowel sounds the
awe-inspiring compare what happens when
you pronounce these vowels
I do you see the difference in how your
tongue and jaw move when you pronounce
the oo sound your tongue and jaw move
into one position only when you
pronounce the I vowel they move from one
position to another
the our is what is called a mono thong
which means a single sound so you
pronounce only one sound
the eye however is a diphthong it means
that it's made by merging two single
sounds into one
that's why your jaw and tongue change
their positions as you make the first
sound and then connect it to the second
there are three diphthongs in American
English the eye the OI and the owl
as in the words by boy and bow
we'll cover the oi and the ow in our
future videos as for the eye let's find
out how to pronounce this sound to make
the AI diphthong correctly you need to
pronounce two sounds and make a smooth
connection between them this is how you
do that start with making the ah sound
open your mouth as wide as possible
relax your lips and allow them to rest
in a neutral position
flatten your tongue
and place it very low in your mouth
the tip of your tongue should be
touching the back of your bottom front
teeth
next connect the aw to the e sound
smoothly move your jaw up until your
mouth is almost closed and push your
tongue forward raising it high in your
mouth
the first sound in a diphthong is
typically longer and louder so make sure
that you pronounce a nice full aw and
then connect it to the ear
now let's glide from the aw to the air
and blend the two sounds together
I
when you pronounce words with the I
sound try to avoid the most common
pronunciation mistake many non-native
English speakers reduce the e sound in
the eye as a result the whole sound gets
distorted and it may lead to
misunderstandings compared not night
Sun Sign
fond fine
remember even though the is more relaxed
and the shorter part of the diphthong
you need to pronounce it completely now
let's practice the I sound in some words
this is how the practice works
you'll see word on the screen and hear
its pronunciation like this I you'll
have a few seconds to pronounce the word
make sure you complete this part as this
is the only way to learn to speak with
an American accent
let's begin
I
ice
idea
I earn
item
Ivy
arrived
a sign
kind
kite
knife
life
my
mind
nice
9
pilot
polite
prize
quiet
remind
style
by
cry
drei
fly
Frye
guy
hi
July
hi
reply
shy
sigh
sky
spy
pi
try
why
you're done congratulations
at the beginning of this video we said
that there are three vowel diphthongs in
American English you may ask what about
the vowels a and O great question
there's a debate among linguists about
whether these sounds are monophthongs or
diphthongs here's what we think the
vowels in diphthongs are connected with
a long gliding movement on the one hand
the a and the O sounds are pronounced
with similar gliding movements so they
are kind of like diphthongs and we even
represent them with two symbols each on
the other hand this movement with the a
and the O is not as noticeable as with
the other diphthongs so they are
somewhere in between we admit they can
be diphthong ish but it would be more
logical to consider them as single
vowels
you
let us know in the comments if you have
any questions
come back soon and stay tuned on our
sounds American Channel
you