Transcription
Plosives are consonant sounds that let out a little burst of air. I like to think about explosives. Explosives.
The plosive sounds in American English are bilabial, which means two lips. You bring your two lips together and let air out between them. The difference is that /b/ is voiced and /p/ is voiceless. This means that with /b/, I use my voice box. If I hold my throat here, I can feel it vibrating when I say "ba, ba." There is no vibration here when I say "pa, pa." You'll notice that it's hard for me to say /p/ without adding a little "uh" sound, while I can say /b/ all day long. That's another way of telling whether or not you're using a voiced or voiceless sound. It's very difficult to say a voiced sound without some sort of vowel afterwards.
You can also use toilet paper or tissue paper to test. When we say /b/, it moves a little, but when we use the voiceless /p/, it'll go flying. Practice these two sounds with me by reading this sentence: "Pete's pet pig is big, but it's a big pig, not a big bug." Very good.
And our alveolar, which means we put the tip of our tongue at the roof of our mouth, behind our teeth, on this little area called the alveolar ridge. Let me show you real quick. /d/, /t/. You can see my tongue or behind my top teeth are touching the roof of my mouth with these two. /d/, /d/. Not nearly as much action as with our /b/, /p/, but you can still tell that the voiceless /t/ will move the toilet paper more than the voiced /d/. And I have a hard time saying /t/ without that "uh" vowel sound afterwards. Practice /t/ and /d/ sounds with me by reading this sentence: "Tim told Dan to tan. Dan tanned till Tim did tricks and drove to the trove." One more time: "Tim told Dan to tan. Dan tanned till Tim did tricks and drove to the trove."
And our velar, which means we place the back of our tongue in between our hard and soft palate. Your hard palate is the front of your gums. You can feel it's hard. And the soft palate is the soft part in the back, which I will not poke because it will make me gag. But you want to place the back of your tongue between those two points on the roof of your mouth, and you will get the /g/, /k/. I can feel a vibration with /g/, and the voiceless /k/, no vibration. And of course, the toilet paper moves a little bit more there when I make these sounds. My tongue curls, and the front of my tongue lands behind my bottom teeth. Practice /k/ and /g/ with me by reading this sentence: "Could you give Ken his gun again? Give the kid his kit and kindly get going." One more time: "Could you give Ken his gun again? Give the kid his kit and kindly get going."
And those are all of the plosive consonants in American English.
Fricatives are consonants that let out air slowly between a small space, usually making a hissing or buzzing sound. The hissing sounds are voiceless, and the buzzing sounds are voiced. The fricative consonants in American English are /f/ and /v/, and /θ/ and /ð/.
/f/ and /v/ are both labiodental, which means lip teeth. You put your top teeth on your bottom lip. /v/ is voiced, that means you use your voice box. You can feel your voice vibrating if you touch your throat while saying /v/. /f/ is not voiced, it is voiceless. We do not vibrate, we simply let out air. You will also notice that if you have a piece of toilet paper, the voiced sound /v/ will not make the toilet paper move very much. You're not letting out as much air, whereas the voiceless /f/ sound will make the toilet paper move quite a lot more. Practice /f/ and /v/ with me by reading these sentences: "First, give a lift to verify the left vocals for value. Feed a very funny offer to a vet over coffee." One more time: "First, give a lift to verify the left vocals for value. Feed a very funny offer to a vet over coffee."
And /θ/ and /ð/ are interdental, which means we put our tongue between our two teeth. We actually do this. We actually bite down very, very, very, very softly on our tongue for these two. /ð/ is voiced. [Music] /θ/ is voiceless. Practice with me by reading this sentence: "I think this thing is like that thing, but with mother's bathing suit in the bath. I loathe those thoughts." Let's do that one more time, a little faster: "I think this thing is like that thing, but with mother's bathing suit in the bath. I loathe those thoughts."
/s/ and /z/ are alveolar, which means our tongue will interact with the alveolar ridge, just like with the /t/ and /d/ sounds. With the /t/ and /d/ sounds, we put our tongue, the tip of our tongue, on the alveolar ridge, which is the hard part of your gums right behind your teeth. But with the fricatives, we are not putting the tip of our tongues up there. We are putting the middle of our tongues up there. [Music] For me, the middle of my tongue presses up against that ridge, and then the front of my tongue curves down and lands behind my bottom teeth. Some people place the tip of their tongue a little bit higher, so you can experiment and find what works for you. As long as you're getting the /s/ and /z/ sounds, you're good. You'll also notice that my teeth are closed, but they're not closed tightly. I'm not clenching or biting, and the air that travels down and makes the sound slides down my tongue like a slide. [Music] /z/, /s/. Because my tongue is curled for these two. /z/, /z/. /z/ is the voiced sound. /z/, /z/. I can feel that vibration. And /s/ is the voiceless sound. There's no vibration. Let's see if I can get this to move. [Music] Okay, yeah. The air is blowing down a little bit, so it's not as easy to get it to move. But /z/ is voiced, /s/ is voiceless. The snake is voiceless. Okay. Practice /z/ and /s/ with me by reading these two sentences: "It seems these zippers are sipping on something. Are they also hissing about his business?" Let's do that one more time, a little faster: "It seems these zippers are sipping on something. Are they also hissing about his business?"
/ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often represented by the combination of "sh" in a word like "fish" or "ship," and the /ʒ/ sound is often represented by an "s-i" usually "s-i-o-n" in a word like "vision," "vision." But the "s-i" combination gets that sound. Let's talk about the difference between the /ʃ/ sounds compared to the /s/, /z/ sounds. While I showed you that my teeth were closed but not clenched, not biting down at all for /s/, when we do the /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ sounds, we actually do want to clench our teeth a little bit, very lightly. So take a look. First /s/, so my teeth are actually touching here. The second difference is that while my tongue rests behind the bottom teeth when I say /s/ and /z/, we actually want to pull our tongue back into our mouth when we say /ʃ/ and /ʒ/. [Music] So what you could do is just bite down and then make sure you pull your tongue back and then let out air. You'll also notice my lips are pursed into a little hole. And /ʃ/ is your voiceless sound. /ʒ/ is the voiced sound. Practice /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ with me by reading this sentence: "She's not sure if she can measure pleasure, but she should treasure her visions like wishes." One more time, a little faster: "She's not sure if she can measure pleasure, but she should treasure her visions like wishes."
The last fricative is the /h/ sound. This is a voiceless sound, and I think this one is pretty easy for most people. It's the sound that we make when we warm our hands, or if we pant or breathe heavily. And you can also think about laughing. Ha. Just be sure not to make that "ah" sound. The /h/ sound is simply just letting out air from the back of your throat. Practice the /h/ sound with me by reading these two sentences: "His hair has hilarious mishaps behind his head. He hisses and holds his hamburger with hot hands." One more time, a little faster: "His hair has hilarious mishaps behind his head. He hisses and holds his hamburger with hot hands."
So there you go. Those are the fricatives in American English.
Affricates start as plosives and end as fricatives. So if you haven't watched the video on plosives and the video on fricatives, make sure to watch those first. I'll leave a link in the description for you. The two affricates in American English are /tʃ/ and /dʒ/. Usually represented by "ch" in words like "chair," or "j" in words like "jar." For these two sounds, /tʃ/ is voiceless, which means we do not use our voice box, and /dʒ/ is voiced, which means we do use our voice box. To say /dʒ/, you'll feel your throat vibrating. You're just letting out air. You'll also notice with this toilet paper, it will only move slightly with /tʃ/, but I let out a lot more air with /dʒ/, so it moves quite a bit. If you look at the IPA symbol for /tʃ/, you'll notice that you have a /t/ sound next to a /ʃ/ sound. That's because /tʃ/ is the combination of those two sounds. Those two voiceless sounds make the voiceless /tʃ/. Likewise, you'll see that /dʒ/ is the combination of the /d/ sound and the /ʒ/ sound. Those two voiced sounds make the voiced /dʒ/. If trying to combine those two sounds is confusing or difficult for you, you can think of them as one sound. Most native speakers don't think of them as these two sounds combined. We just think of them as their own sounds. So when I make these sounds, I put my teeth together, and then I open my mouth and let out air. /tʃ/, /tʃ/. When I do this, my tongue starts curled up against my teeth. /tʃ/, /tʃ/, /tʃ/, /tʃ/. Practice the affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ with me by reading these sentences out loud: "Check the cheddar. Judge Jill just changed it too much. Don't dodge the question. Just watch me smudge this fudge on that witch." Let's do that once more, a little faster: "Check the cheddar. Judge Jill just changed it too much. Don't dodge the question. Just watch me smudge this fudge on that witch."
And there you go. Those are the two affricates in American English.
Nasals are sounds that we make with our noses. And the three nasal sounds in American English have the same shape in our mouths as the plosives. So if you haven't watched the video I made about plosives, make sure to watch that one first. You're going to put your tongue and your lips and your mouth in the same exact place. The three nasal sounds in American English are /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/. [Music] And you can probably hear that all three of those are voiced. So we use our voice box. /m/. I can feel a vibration, a buzzing in my voice box when I hold my throat. I can feel it here on the sides of my throat.
/m/ is bilabial, which means we put our lips in the exact same shape as we do with /p/ and /b/. Except instead of letting air out, we will keep our lips closed and hum. [Music] Practice that /m/ sound with me by reading this sentence: "My mom makes me my movies and eat mummified limes when I'm meddlesome." One more time, a little faster: "My mom makes me my movies and eat mummified limes when I'm meddlesome."
/n/ is alveolar, which means we're going to make the same shape we make with /t/ and /d/, placing our tongue on that ridge behind our teeth at the top of our mouth on our gums. Again, instead of letting out a burst of air, we're going to sort of hum and let that sound vibrate with our tongue in that position. [Music] Read these sentences with me to practice the /n/ sound: "Natalie is never neat enough to know when her hen is fun again. No one needs naps now." Let's say it one more time, a little faster: "Natalie is never neat enough to know when her hen is fun again. No one needs naps now."
/ŋ/ is velar, which means we will place our tongue in the exact same position as the /k/ and /g/ sounds, with the back of our tongue pressed up between our hard and soft palates. [Music] Again, we will vibrate and hum our voice box. We will not let out a burst of air. So we will /ŋ/. [Music] And this sound is a bit difficult to make on its own because we don't actually start any words in English with this sound. And this sound always comes in the middle or at the end of words. Practice the /ŋ/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Think about things. Think about banks and gangs. Think about fingers singing long songs about hungry fungus." Let's do that one more time, a little bit faster: "Think about things. Think about banks and gangs. Think about fingers singing long songs about hungry fungus."
There you go. Those are the nasal sounds in American English.
Approximants are consonant sounds that almost block airflow from the mouth, but not quite. So we end up getting some sound coming out of our nose and out of our mouth. The four approximants in American English are /l/, /r/, /j/, and /w/.
To make the /l/ or /r/ sound, place the tip of your tongue up on your alveolar ridge, that hard space of gum behind your top teeth, like we do for an /n/ or /ŋ/ nasal sound. But this time, instead of blocking the airflow completely, let the sides of your tongue come out a little bit and touch against the sides of your teeth. So we have an /n/ sound here, and then the /l/ sound. You can see that my tongue is spilling out the sides of my mouth a little bit, whereas with the /n/ sound. So I hope you can see that my tongue was spilling out the sides of my mouth a little bit. Oh, that relaxed tongue is what you need to get the /l/ sound. If you're having trouble relaxing your tongue in this way, try smiling. If you're making an /n/ sound and then you smile, it makes a lot of room for that /l/ sound. Practice the /l/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Let's allow all left-leaning lilies to learn the low level of lullabies. Lovely moles and hollow holes love to listen to those lullabies." Let's do that one more time, a little faster: "Let's allow all left-leaning lilies to learn the low level of lullabies. Lovely moles and hollow holes love to listen to those lullabies."
When I make the /r/ sound, I tend to put my top teeth behind my bottom lip. [Music] This is always what I do when I start a word with an /r/ sound, like in my name, Robert, Robert, Roberts. While I'm doing this, my tongue is bunched up at the top of my mouth, and the sides of my tongue are touching against the sides of my back teeth. [Music] The /r/ sound in the second part of my name is actually part of an r-controlled vowel. So my teeth are not behind my bottom lip. They're actually lifted up a little bit. "Robber." You can see that they're actually separated, but my tongue is in the same position, bunched up at the top of my mouth with the sides of my tongue touching the sides of my teeth. So that first sound, "raw." That second sound, "Robert." Don't worry too much about the second sound right now. You can learn more about that when we talk about r-controlled vowels. When you think about the /r/ sound, think about an angry dog growling. Read these sentences with me to practice the /r/ sound: "Robert rarely rolls robots into the river. Really, the rear road wriggles around in a weird route." One more time, a little faster: "Robert rarely rolls robots into the river. Really, the rear road wriggles around in a weird route."
To make the /j/ (yeah) sound, act like you're going to make the /ŋ/ (ng) sound, that velar nasal sound, in words like "gang" or "thing." But instead of completely closing off air from coming out of your mouth, leave a little bit of room. Let your tongue drop just a little bit. So if I start with /ŋ/, I relax my tongue again. I'm starting with an /ŋ/ sound, like "hang" or "thing," and I'm letting my tongue drop down a little. Read these sentences with me to practice the /j/ (yeah) sound: "Yes, you, you young yellow youth. The yummy yak must yawn and yelp at you." One more time, a little faster: "Yes, you, you young yellow youth. The yummy yak must yawn and yelp at you."
To make the /w/ sound, act like you're going to make an /m/ sound, but instead of keeping your lips together, open them and round your mouth like you're going to whistle. Wow. Practice with me. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] To practice that /w/ sound, read these sentences with me: "With wild wonder, we wore warm women's wigs and wiggled while we were well aware. We swam away from awakened switches and swore to twist until we quit." Let's do that one more time, a little bit faster: "With wild wonder, we wore warm women's wigs and wiggled while we were well aware. We swam away from awakened switches and swore to twist until we quit."
So there you go. Those are the approximants in American English.
The short vowels in American English. [Music]
/æ/ is the short "a" sound in words like "hat" or "apple." I suggest you start with a smile for this sound. Make sure your mouth is open. The tip of your tongue will rest behind your bottom teeth, and the body of your tongue will curve upward to make a slide. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] To practice the /æ/ sound with me, read these sentences: "Has Adam added his bad apples to the basket? Can Dad have that sad hat, or is that a bad habit?" Let's try that a little bit faster: "Has Adam added his apples to the basket? Can Dad have that sad hat, or is that a bad habit?"
/ɛ/ is the short "e" sound in words like "egg" or "bed" or "forever." The shape of the mouth is similar to the /æ/ sound, but this time you don't have to smile. [Applause] So your mouth is longer, longer. [Applause] [Music] Make that /æ/ mouth for the short "a" sound. The tip of your tongue will be behind your bottom teeth. It will be arched up into a slide, and you should be able to feel the side of your bottom [Music] teeth because your tongue will spill out a little bit more. Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about the tongue position for this one. It might just frustrate you. Focus on your mouth. [Music] To practice the /ɛ/ sound with me, read these sentences: "Get to bed, Ed. Let your neck and head rest in your nest. Never ever forget, bed is the best." Let's try that a little bit faster: "Get to bed, Ed. Let your neck and head rest in your nest. Never ever forget, bed is the best."
/ɪ/ is the short "i" sound in words like "big" or "if." Your tongue will be in a similar position as /æ/. Your tongue will be arched, making a slide with the tip of your tongue behind your bottom teeth. Unlike the /æ/ and /ɛ/ sounds, with the /ɪ/ sound, you don't need to open your mouth as big. So just open it this much. You don't even really need to move your teeth from where they normally rest. [Music] It also helps to focus on your nose. Scrunch up your nose like you smell something stinky, and then let your mouth match that shape. Okay, let's practice the /ɪ/ sound by reading these sentences: "His hips shiver and give him big itchy lips. This is iffy, but is it wicked?" Let's do that one more time, a little bit faster: "His hips shift her and give him big itchy lips. This is iffy, but is it wicked?"
/ɒ/ is the short "o" sound in words like "offer" or "Robert" or "boss." When you make this sound, your tongue will not arch up. With this sound, your tongue will rest low in the back of your mouth. Your mouth will open into this shape. Your shape of an "o." /ɒ/. /ɒ/. And you will feel a little bit of tightness in your jaw. /ɒ/. /ɒ/. In the United States, it is common for a doctor or a dentist to tell you to open your mouth and say "ah" when they need to look inside of your mouth. Say "ah." /ɒ/. So keep that in mind as well. To practice the /ɒ/ sound with me, read these sentences: "Bob thought of hot pot and sobbed. Bob bought hot pot and offered some to his dog. It was not a shock." Let's do that a little faster. [Music] "Bob thought of hotpot and sobbed. Bob bought hotpot and offered some to his dog. It was not a shock."
/ʌ/ is the short "u" sound in words like "under" or "butt" or "butterfly." When you make the /ʌ/ sound, your tongue will be low and toward the back of your mouth, just like with the /ɒ/ sound, but it won't be quite as far back. Your mouth will also be slightly less rounded than an /ɒ/. So the /ɒ/, your circle. /ʌ/. It's not as open. There's not as much roundness. /ʌ/. And you don't need to use your jaw as much. With /ɒ/, there's a tightness in your jaw. Remember, you're opening /ɒ/ for the dentist. /ɒ/. /ʌ/ is just /ʌ/. /ʌ/. I think of /ʌ/ as the lazy /ɒ/. It's /ɒ/ without as much work. Your jaw just sort of drops. /ʌ/. /ʌ/. I like to think of this as the "I don't know the answer" sound. "Ricky, who came up with the quadratic formula?" "Uh, I don't know." To practice the /ʌ/ sound with me, read these sentences: "What does Uncle Gus want? Just to have fun under the one wonderful sun. Sun, but what fun? But what fun?" Let's try that one more time, a little bit faster: "What does Uncle Gus want? Just to have fun under the one wonderful sun. Sun, but what fun? But what fun?" Good job.
/ʊ/ is what we might call the short double "o" sound. You'll see it in words like "good" or "book." However, it can also be spelled with a "u" in words like "push" or "put," and it can be spelled with an "o-u-l" in words like "could," "should," and "would." When you make this sound, your tongue will be low and in the back of your mouth, and your lips should look something like this. [Music] So this, you look at the side, I'm sort of pursing my lips and pushing them out, /ʊ/, as if I'm a monster spitting an egg. Oh, the corners of your lips will come inward a little bit, but not nearly as much. /ʊ/. I like to remember this one as the caveman sound. This is the stereotypical sound that cavemen made by grunting with this noise. Practice the /ʊ/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Should a good book look good? Would you read it if you could, or put it down near the woman's foot?" Let's try that a little bit faster: "Should a good book look good? Would you read it if you could, or put it down near the woman's foot?"
So there you go. Those are the six short vowel sounds in standard American English. I guess my work here is done, unless you had any questions.
"Hello, Rabbit."
"Hey, it's Bamadel from TruVac. What's up, Bamadel?"
"You forgot to mention the schwa sound. Can you please tell us about the schwa sound?"
"You're right, Bamadel. I didn't cover the schwa sound, but that's only because the schwa sound is basically the same sound as the short "u" or /ʌ/ sound. I told you that the /ʌ/ sound is a lazy sound, and the schwa sound is an even lazier version. In fact, it's the laziest sound in English and the most common sound. I think that's why a lot of teachers get excited about it because it's the most common sound in the English language. However, I feel they get too excited about it. They go into too much detail about it, and they end up confusing people. Let me keep it simple for you. Basically, the schwa sound is a short version of the /ʌ/ sound. It happens quicker, and it often replaces other sounds in words when we speak quickly with reduced or connected speech. For example, the word 'president.' 'President.' When I speak naturally, I make the schwa sound. 'President.' 'President.' Uh. So again, that's just the /ʌ/ short /ʌ/ sound in words like 'but' or 'under.' But I say it for a shorter amount of time. It replaces the sound "i" if I spoke really clearly, slowly, I enunciated 'president,' 'president,' it would be an "i" sound, but it gets converted into the schwa. 'President.' 'President.' When you speak naturally. Also, when you write words phonetically using the International Phonetic Alphabet, the symbols that I show you in these videos, we write the schwa sound instead of the /ʌ/ sound when it is unstressed. When it is unstressed. So in the word 'uncle,' 'uncle,' the first sound is /ʌ/, and that is the stressed sound. 'Uncle.' 'Uncle.' In another word like 'banana,' however, the stressed syllable is 'na.' 'Banana.' 'Banana.' So the /ʌ/. [Music] Those would both be written as schwa sounds simply because they're not stressed. So we don't say them for as long. They're not emphasized as much. So as you can see, the schwa sound is pretty much just the short "u" sound. I would just think of them as the same sound. There's no reason to complicate things or confuse yourself just because your English teacher is way too enthusiastic about the schwa sound. And by the way, I think that word 'schwa' is gross. I don't like the sound of it. It makes me uncomfortable. Okay, I'm done. But sorry, Bamadel, that's why I did not talk about the schwa sound. Anyway, I hope that helps. Those are the short vowels in standard American English."
You may have heard that the long vowels in English are the vowels that say their name: for example, A, E, I, O, U. There's also an "oo" sound made by a double "o." For this video, I'm just going to focus on what I think of as the pure vowel sounds. That's because the other vowel sounds are technically diphthongs, meaning they are two sounds brought together, and I'll cover those in the next video. So the two pure sounds in American English are /iː/ and /uː/.
/iː/ is the long "e" sound in words like "bee," "eat," or "very." It is the way the letter "e" sounds. When you make the long "e" sound, your tongue will arch up higher than in any other sound in English, making a very steep slide. Way. You should also smile for this sound, I think more than any other sound in English. This is the smiling sound. /iː/. It is very common in the United States for photographers to ask you to say "cheese." Say "cheese" before a picture because it will make you smile. Say "cheese." [Music] /iː/. Practice the /iː/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "We see feet. We need to eat these feet to feel serene. We feed on feet and meat. We aren't clean." Let's try that one more time, a little bit faster: "We see feet. We eat." Sorry, I screwed up. Well, one more time, a little bit faster: "We see feet. We need to eat these feet to feel serene. We feed on feet and meat. We aren't clean."
/uː/ is the long double "o" sound in words like "food" or "boot." Although you will also see it spelled with an "o" in the word "do," you in words like "uber" or "duke," and even "ui" in "fruit." So this sound appears in different places, but it is the "oo" sound. When you make this sound, your tongue will arch a little, making a small slide, and the front of your tongue will rest on the bottom of your mouth. When I make this sound, my lips go into almost the same shape as a "w" or /r/ sound. The end of that sound for me almost sounds like a "w," and it's very easy to go into it from that sound. I think of this as the impressed sound. Watch this. Watch this. I can take my thumb off. Huh. Practice the /uː/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "When you blew on the new food, it was rude, and you knew who do you lose to? You lose to this crew." Alright, one more time, a little bit faster: "When you blew on the new food, it was rude, and you knew who do you lose to? You lose to this crew." Good job.
There you go. Those are the pure long vowels in American English.
Diphthongs are vowels made up of two sounds brought together. The diphthongs in American English are /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /oʊ/, /juː/, /ɔɪ/, and /aʊ/.
/eɪ/ is the long "a" sound in words like "fake," "ape," or "hey." It's the way the letter "a" sounds. When you start the /eɪ/ sound, your tongue will be arched a little, and your mouth will be open. [Applause] When you end the sound, your tongue will arch higher in your mouth, and your mouth will close into a little smile. [Music] Practice the /eɪ/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Hey, wait for Jake. He may be late, but he did say he would stay at the lake today." Let's try that a little faster: "Hey, wait for Jake. He may be late, but he did say he would stay at the lake today."
/aɪ/ is the long "i" sound in words like "goodbye," "hi," and it is this "my eye." It's the way the letter "i" sounds. Start this sound with your jaw dropped and the back of your tongue slightly raised. /aɪ/. /aɪ/. /aɪ/. And finish the sound by closing your mouth and raising the front of your tongue up. /aɪ/. /aɪ/. You're gonna see the front of my tongue really goes up when I switch to the second part of that sound. /aɪ/. /aɪ/. /aɪ/. Practice the /aɪ/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Hi, guy. Why so shy? I like to fight, and I like your eye. I might fly and buy supply now. So bye." Let's try that a little faster: "Hi, guy. Why so shy? I like to fight, and I like your eye. I might fly and buy supply now. So bye."
/oʊ/ is the long "o" sound in words like "boats," "own," or "photo." When you start this sound, your mouth should be slightly rounded, and the back of your tongue should be raised up a little bit. Then when you finish this sound, your lips will become fully rounded, and the back of your tongue will arch up. So you see, I start slightly rounded, more open, more of an oval, and then I come down into that small rounded position that you make with like the "w" sound. /oʊ/. /oʊ/. /oʊ/. I like to think of this as the bad news sound. "Son, I've got some bad news." "What is it, Dan?" "We're not going to eat pizza tonight." "Oh." Practice the /oʊ/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "No, don't go home. Home has no hope. Stay on the boat and float with Bruno so he can show us his yoga pose." Let's try that a little faster: "No, don't go home. Home has no hope. Stay on the boat and float with Bruno so he can show us his yoga pose." [Music]
/juː/ is the long "u" sound in words like "cute," "phew," or "music," and it is also "you." It's "you." To make this sound, simply combine the /j/ (yeah, yeah, yeah) sound with the long double "o" /uː/ sound. If you aren't familiar with these sounds, make sure to practice them first and then bring them together again. It's the /j/ and /uː/ sounds. I'll leave a link for you in the description to a video where you can learn those sounds. Let's practice the /juː/ sound by reading these sentences: "You are too cute. There are fewer cute people who play music. Can you use me as your muse?" Let's try once more, a little faster: "You are too cute. There are fewer cute people who play music. Can you use me as your muse?"
/ɔɪ/ is the diphthong we hear in words like "boy," "noise," and "oil." It's often represented by "oy" or "oi." When you start this sound, your mouth will be rounded, and your tongue will be shifted in the back of your mouth. When you end, you will smile and your tongue will arch up into a slide. So I would focus on the shape of your mouth again. It's the rounded, that rounded shape, and then you smile. /ɔɪ/. Practice the /ɔɪ/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Oh boy, the noise is coming from that toy. Let's boil the toy and cover it in oil and soil." Okay, let's try that a little faster, a little more naturally: "Oh boy, the noise is coming from that toy. Let's boil the toil and cover it in oil and soil."
/aʊ/ is the diphthong in words like "how," "mouth," and "loud." It's often represented by "ou" or "ow." To start this sound, your mouth should look like this: open slightly and a little bit of a smile, like you would with the short /ɒ/ sound. /aʊ/. And then you will finish with your lips rounded. The back of your tongue will start slightly raised, and then it will really recede and end up in the very back of your mouth for the final sound. Again, /aʊ/. You can almost think of it as the opposite of /ɔɪ/. With /ɔɪ/, we start rounded, /ɔɪ/, and then we smile. With /aʊ/, we can start with a slight smile and then we end rounded. Now you can say /aʊ/. I like to think of this as the pain sound. This is the sound we make when we feel pain. Practice the /aʊ/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Did the couch get so far south now? My mouth hurts. Ow! Wow, how lousy! Now I can't chow down." Let's try a little bit faster: "How did the couch get so far south now? My mouth hurts. Ow! Wow, how lousy! Now I can't chow down."
So there you are. Those are the diphthongs in American English.
R-controlled vowels are the vowels that end with an "er" sound. Most of them are two sounds: one sound and then "er." The r-controlled vowels in American English are /ɜːr/, /ɔːr/, /ɛər/, and /ɑːr/, /ɪər/.
/ɜːr/ is the only r-controlled vowel that is just the one sound. /ɜːr/. /ɜːr/. It's the sound in words like "bird," "early," and my name, Robert, Robert. When I make this sound, /ɜːr/, my lips are pursed. You can see them poking out like I'm going to shoot an egg from my mouth. /ɜːr/. And my teeth are showing and slightly separated. And if you could see my tongue, the front of my tongue is raised way up in my mouth. /ɜːr/. /ɜːr/. I don't know if you can see that, but if I got the bottom of my tongue because it's just way up there. /ɜːr/. And that is how I make the /ɜːr/ sound. Some people do make different shapes with their tongues, so if you're making a different shape but you still get the /ɜːr/ sound, do not worry. That is common. If it helps, you can also think about a dog growling. Practice the /ɜːr/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Sir, that bird sure hurt us. It doesn't have fur, but feathers. Let's not hurt it or burn it. Don't worry about a bird curse." What did I write? Oh my goodness. Okay, let's try that a little bit faster: "Sir, that bird sure hurt us. It doesn't have fur, but feathers. Let's not hurt it or burn it. Don't worry about a bird curse." Really though, don't worry about a bird curse.
/ɔːr/ is the sound in words like "for," "court," or "just," or the first part of this sound is very similar to the short /ɒ/ sound, but it's a more rounded version. So think about the /ɒ/ in "dog" and then round it more. /ɔːr/. /ɔːr/. Your tongue will start low and in the back of your mouth, and your lips will start rounded. /ɔːr/. /ɔːr/. Then you simply shift to the /ɜːr/ sound. /ɔːr/. /ɔːr/. For "poor," "more." Practice the /ɔːr/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Four lords tore floorboards in a storage room for sport. Now those poor lords can't afford to shut the door." Let's try a little faster: "Four lords tore floorboards in a storage room for sport. Now those poor lords can't afford to shut the door."
/ɛər/ is the sound in words like "bear," "chair," and "flare." [Music] "Aware." "I don't care." It is also the word "air." It is what we breathe. "Air." [Applause] If you look at the phonetic symbol, you'll see that this sound starts with the short /ɛ/ sound in words like "egg" or "bet." However, I think of it as more of a short /æ/ sound combined with a short /ɜːr/ sound. /ɛər/. /ɛər/. /ɛər/. Try to make the short /ɛ/ sound, but with a little bit of a smile. /ɛər/. Then simply shift into the /ɜːr/ sound. If you don't know how to make the short /æ/ and short /ɒ/ sounds, I'll leave a link for you in the description. You can watch a video to learn those sounds. Practice the /ɛər/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Where is there? Is there a bear there? Don't stare. Does the bear share its chair? How fair a bear it must really care." Let's try that a little bit faster: "Where is there? Is there a bear there? Don't stare. Does the bear share its chair? How fair of bear it must really care."
/ɑːr/ is the r-controlled vowel in words like "car," "start," and "far," and "argue." It is also the way the letter "r" sounds. This one starts with the short /ɒ/ sound. If you're not comfortable with the short /ɒ/ sound, I would learn that one first. I'll leave a link to a video in the description. But just take the short /ɒ/ sound and shift into your /ɜːr/ sound. /ɑːr/. So again, the short /ɒ/ in words like "hot" or "offer," shift into /ɜːr/. /ɑːr/. You can think of this as the pirate sound. It's the sound that the stereotypical pirate makes. /ɑːr/. /ɑːr/. Practice the /ɑːr/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "The cars parked too far. It's hard to start that car too. Let's walk to the bar and char some gnarly meat. The bar's not too far." One more time, a little bit faster: "The cars park too far. It's hard to start that car too. Let's walk to the bar and char some gnarly meat. The bar is not too far."
/ɪər/ is the r-controlled vowel in words like "beard," "fear," and it is also this "your ear." If you look at the phonetic symbol for /ɪər/, it says that it's a combination of the /iː/ sound and the /ɜːr/ sound. But when I try to combine these, I don't get the right sound. Let me try. /ɛər/. /ɛər/. So even though technically that's how the phonetic alphabet spells it, I would think of it instead of taking the long /iː/ sound and moving into /ɜːr/. /ɪər/. /ɪər/. /ɪər/. /ɪər/. Start with your tongue high, arched in your mouth, making a slide and a big smile, like you normally would with an /iː/ sound, and then shift into /ɜːr/. /ɪər/. /ɪər/. Practice the /ɪər/ sound with me by reading these sentences: "Here, dear, have a cup of cheer. It's weird, but I fear my beard is too near. You, is it dear? How queer." Let's try that a little faster: "Here, dear, have a cup of cheer. It's weird, but I fear my beard is too near. You, is it dear? How queer."
Alright, good work. Those are the r-controlled vowels in American English.