[h] ‘h’ as in ‘hi’
The H consonant sound. This sound is simply made, hh, by passing air through the mouth. Hhh, if you hear a sound like that, and you feel the soft palate bouncing against the tongue, it’s not a correct H sound, hh. It’s very quiet, just air coming though, hh, hh. The rest of the mouth position depends on the sound that comes next. For example, the word how, how. The lips and the tongue are both taking the position of the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong. Hh, hh, how. Another example, who, who. You can see the lips are already rounding for the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ vowel even before the H sound is made, who.
Here we see the H consonant sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest. The only thing that must happen for this sound is that the lips be open to let the air through. The teeth will also be slightly parted. You can see the rest of the mouth is just as the mouth at rest, except for the soft palate which is raised in preparation for the vowel that follows. The lip position will also take the position of the vowel that follows. Sample words: happen, have, home. Sample sentence: He said hello to her when he got here. Now you’ll see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.
He, the H is made as the mouth takes the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ position. Said, teeth together for the S, ‘eh’ as in ‘bed’ and the tongue up for the D. Hello, which happens here as the mouth transitions from the eh into the dark L. To her, H made in the ‘ur’ as in ‘her’ vowel shape. When, lips make the W. Tongue up for the N. He, the H in the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ shape. Got, tongue up to make the T which is a stop. Here. And the H is made in the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ which goes quickly into the R consonant shape position.
And now from an angle. He, the H is made in the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ position. Said, teeth together for the S. Hello, the H is made as the ‘eh’ as in ‘bed’ mouth [position] transitions into the dark L. The ‘oh’ as in ‘no’ diphthong. Tongue tip up for the T. To her, H happens in the ‘ur’ as in ‘her’ vowel shape. When, tongue up for the N, and the H is made here in the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ position. He got. Tongue tip up here for the T which is a stop. Here, and the H is made as the mouth transitions into the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ and then the R consonant sound shape. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.