Kool Study

[ə] ‘uh’ as in ‘supply’

The ‘uh’ as in ‘supply’ vowel sound, also known as the schwa. This is the most commonly occurring sound in English, uh, uh. It only happens in unaccented syllables, like the first syllable of supply or about. To make this sound, the mouth remains very neutral and relaxed, uh, but the lips have the part. And the teeth, uh, will be close but not quite touching, uh, uh. The tongue remains flat and forward, very relaxed, uh, lightly touching behind the bottom front teeth. Uh, supply.

Here we see the ‘uh’ as in ‘supply’ vowel on the right, compared with the mouth at rest. Here, parts of the mouth are drawn in. The soft palate, as in all vowels, is raised. Note also that the tongue is slightly pressed down in the back. This means that the tongue, though very relaxed, is slightly lower than when it is at rest. You can see at rest, that the tongue comes up to where the top teeth are, whereas in the ‘uh’ as in ‘supply’, it is slightly lower. Sample words: sofa, about, occur. Sample sentence: Today and tomorrow we’ll walk around the city. Now you will see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, you so can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.

Today, the first syllable is the schwa, the teeth make the T, and you can see the jaw dropped just a hair. -Day, and, the jaw drops again for the aa. Tomorrow. Again, tiny jaw drop on the schwa sound. -Morrow. Lips form the W. We’ll, and again, W for walk. Around, the first syllable is a schwa, around. The, quick schwa. City, teeth come together to make the ss sound and the tongue up to make the D sound which is how we pronounce that T. City. Again from an angle. Today, teeth come together to form the T and then separate very slightly, there it is, for the schwa.

Today, tongue forms the ‘aa’ as in ‘bat’, and the jaw drops a bit more to make that sound for ‘and’. Tomorrow. Again the teeth part just a bit to make that schwa sound. -Morrow. We’ll walk, the lips form these two W’s. We’ll walk, and now when it comes in from this sound, it’s going to hit the schwa. Around. Tongue through the teeth for the, another schwa, the jaw dropped just a bit. City. The tongue touched up to make that D sound in city. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

[ð] ‘th’ as in ‘this’

The two TH consonant sounds.  These sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.  Th is unvoiced, meaning, only air passes through the mouth, and th is voiced, meaning you make a sound with the vocal cords.  To make this sound, the very tip of the tongue comes through the teeth, th, th, thanks, th, th, this.  The rest of the mouth remains relaxed.  For the THR consonant cluster, the lips will begin to move into position for the R while the TH is being made.  Three, three.  In some cases, these sounds will be replaced with a similar sound, when the tongue does not quite come through the teeth.  Instead it presses against the closed teeth.  This will happen in an unstressed word only, when there isn’t enough time given to the word for teeth to part and the tongue to come through.  For example, ‘What’s in the car?’  What’s in the car?  The tongue isn’t coming all the way through the teeth.

Here we see the TH sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left. And with parts of the mouth drawn in. The soft palate is raised for this sound. You can see the tongue through the teeth, just the tip comes through. The TH consonant sounds. Sample words: thin/this, thief/these, birthday/worthy. Sample sentence: I thought of using these Lily of the Valleys rather than those thorny roses. Now you will 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 these sounds.

I, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Thought, tongue tip through the teeth, TH, thought. ‘Aw’ as in ‘law’, tongue up to make the T which is a D here, thought of. Using, the ‘ew’ as in ‘few’ diphthong. These, tongue tip through the teeth. Lily of the Valleys, tongue up in the L position, comes down, ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’, back up for the second L, lily, of, bottom lip up for the V sound, and again for the V sound of Valleys. Tongue up for the L, that was an L, not a TH. Rather, lips take the R consonant shape, and the tongue comes through the teeth again for the TH, one more time quickly for than. Those, ‘oh’ as in ‘no’ diphthong, and again for thorny, thorny roses, R consonant shape, ‘oh’ as in ‘no’ diphthong. Teeth together for the Z sound, then part slightly for the schwa, and together again for the final Z sound.  And now from an angle. I thought, tongue tip through the teeth, tongue up to make the D sound, bottom lip up for the V. Using, with the ‘ew’ as in ‘few’ diphthong. These, tongue tip through the teeth. Teeth together for the Z sound and tongue up to make the L. Lily, up again for the second L. Lily of, bottom lip up for the V. And you don’t even seen the tongue for the TH there because it’s so quick. Of the Valley, Valleys. Rather, mouth takes the R consonant shape and the tongue tip comes through for the TH. Rather. The tongue tip comes through quickly to make than and those, than is very short there. ‘Oh’ as in ‘no’, teeth together for the Z sound. Thorny, tongue through the teeth for the TH, tongue up to make the N, roses. R consonant shape, teeth together for the Z sound, part for the schwa, and together again for the Z sound. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

International Phonetic Alphabet symbols: [θ] (as in thin), [ð] (as in this)

See Wikipedia’s pages on these voiced and unvoiced sounds for technical descriptions and their occurrences in other langages.

The Word SOMETHING

This video is by request, from one of my Facebook fans, Renata. The subject: how to pronounce the word ‘something’.

This word is mispronounced by a lot of non-native speakers. One of the things that makes it tough is the TH sound. So in this video, we’re going to break it down step by step, first talking about the sounds, then talking about stress.

The first sound is the S consonant sound. Teeth are together, ss, ss, ss, to make that unvoiced sound. Then the first vowel is the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound, so there’s a very relaxed drop of the jaw, so-, so-, so-, and the tongue remains very relaxed. Some– then the lips have to come together to make the M sound. Some. If your lips don’t come together, you’re probably making the NG sound, a common substitution. Sung, sung. So make sure they do come together to get the M. Some, some, some.

Next is the tough part: the TH sound. It’s unvoiced. Someth–. So the lips part, and just the very tip of the tongue comes out. Th, th, th. And we let air pass through there, with no voice underneath it. The next sound is the IH as in SIT vowel. Now, when this sound is followed by the NG consonant, it does tend to go a little bit more towards the EE as in SHE vowel. Somethi–. So the tongue tip is now down, but the front part of the tongue is raising towards the roof of the mouth. Something. And finally, the NG consonant, where the back part of the tongue will reach up and touch the soft palate here. Something, something.

So now, stress. If you’ve noticed, something, stress is on the first syllable. Something, -thing, -thing. So, the second syllable, -thing, -thing, will be flatter, lower in pitch, and a little quieter. The first syllable will have more shape to it. Something, something.

Ok, so now you understand how to pronounce the word. How to integrate it into conversation? Well, just the knowledge is never going to be enough. You have to drill it repetitiously to bring it into your habit. So, start out slowly. Never do it so fast that you’re no longer doing it the correct way. Something. Take your time to make sure that your tongue is coming through the teeth for that unvoiced TH sound. Something. Eventually, when you’re comfortable with that, you can speed it up, slowly, until you get it to a normal conversational pace. I can’t stress enough the importance of repetition. It’s the only way to make it habit. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

Linking the TH

In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to talk about linking and the TH sound. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about this recently. Understandable, since the TH sound is in some very common words, and linking is such an important concept in American English.

Of course, I can’t go over every combination of linking with the TH. But in this video, we’re going to take 10 examples. We’ll watch them in slow motion, and we’ll discuss what the mouth is doing to link the sounds. Let’s get started.

This thing. Here we’re linking the S with the TH. Here the tongue comes through for the first TH sound, tongue tip stays just behind the bottom teeth as they come together for the S, and the tongue comes through again for the TH. So the movement from the S to the TH is quite simple. Teeth go from being closed, with the tongue just behind the bottom teeth to parting with the tongue coming through. Let’s watch again. This thing.

Here we’re linking the Z with the voiced TH. Was that. Even though the sounds are different than the previous example, the mouth position is the same for both sounds. However, in this case there’s going to be a difference. Teeth close for the Z sound, but the tongue tip doesn’t really come through the teeth for the TH. That’s because you can get away with making the voiced TH sound, especially at the beginning of an unstressed syllable, by pressing the tongue behind the closed teeth. So, the tongue tip will press behind where the teeth come together, but not actually come all the way through like it doesstraightforward for the unvoiced TH. Let’s watch again. Was that.

Here I’m linking a stop T with the voiced TH. Something interesting happens here. Sit there. Rather than the tongue going up into the stop T position, it simply comes out of the vowel, straight into the TH position. However, I don’t leave the stop T out. I still stop the sound before voicing the TH — sit there, sit there — so that we get the feel for the stop T. But rather than taking the tongue tip to the roof of the mouth, I make the stop while bringing the tongue tip through the teeth. Let’s watch again. Sit there.

Here we’re linking the V sound with the voiced TH. It’s quite straightforward. You will clearly see both mouth positions. Of these. The bottom lip comes up making contact with the top teeth for the V sound, then the lip pulls down and the tongue comes through the teeth for the TH sound. Let’s watch again. Of these.

Here we’re linking the P with the voiced TH. Again, it’s quite straightforward. You’ll clearly see the mouth position of both sounds. Hope the. The lips come together to make the P, and as they part, the tongue tip comes through the teeth to make the TH. Watch again. Hope the.

Here we’re linking the unvoiced TH with the ST consonant cluster. North star. The tongue comes through the teeth, to make the TH. Then the tongue tip pulls back and touches just behind the bottom of the front teeth while the teeth close to make the S sound. Then the tongue tip will go up to the roof of the mouth to make the T. Let’s watch again. North star.

Here we’re connecting the unvoiced TH with the F consonant. You’ll be able to clearly see both mouth positions. With funny. Tongue comes through the teeth for the TH, and the bottom lip raises to touch the bottom of the front top teeth for the F sound. Watch again. With funny.

Here we’re connecting the unvoiced TH with the W consonant sound. Both will. Tongue comes through the teeth for the TH, then pulls back and the lips form the tight circle for the W while the tongue tip is just behind the bottom front teeth. Watch again. Both will.

Here we’ll see the unvoiced TH linking to the K consonant sound. Health code. Tongue tip comes through the teeth for the TH. For the K, the tongue tip comes back in the mouth and goes down, touching behind the bottom front teeth. The back part of the tongue raises and touches the soft palate, which is why you see a dark space in the mouth. Watch again. Health code.

Here we’ll see the unvoiced TH linking with the S sound. South side. Tongue tip comes through the teeth for the TH. Then the tongue tip comes back into the mouth and lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth while the teeth close to make the S sound. Watch again. South side.

I hope this study in linking words with the TH will make it easy for you to link any word with the TH that you may come across. Practice word pairs like the 10 here, or other word pairs, and do them slowly. And practice them over and over. Repetition really will help you become more comfortable linking with the TH sound.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

I’d like to take moment for a quick plug for a new course I’m developing. It’s going to be an 8-week conversation course that runs in April and May of 2012. It will bring together videos, audio clips, and exercise PDFs that I’ve made for my private students. So, I’ll be pulling in the topics that I find I work on the most with my students. Each week is structured with certain topics. There will be a lot of drilling practice, and also opportunity for you to record yourself and upload it for my comment. There will also be group projects, where you’ll be engaging in conversation with one another. Because this is my first time running such a course, I am offering it at a discount, and I’m also limiting the number of students to 30. So visit my website for more information, and do consider signing up. I really think it will take you a long way in your pronunciation practice.

N+TH, Z+TH Sounds

I recently got an email from someone asking me to clarify a few points on pronunciation, specifically, some consonants followed by TH, such as S and N. This person says, because their position in the mouth is so different from that of the TH, sometimes I find it difficult to shift from one to the other. For example, ‘can you return them?’ ‘Where is the car?’ Also, do you pronounce the TH at all times or are there exceptions, like when you talk fast? Because sometimes when an American is talking, I hear a TH sound but I don’t actually see the tongue come through the teeth. This is a great question and thank you for your email.

Let’s start with the first sample you gave, and that is an N followed by a TH and the sample sentence ‘can you return them?’ Now, in this case the TH of ‘them’ is voiced, so make sure that you’re continuing to make noise with your vocal cords. So, how does the tongue move? Can you return them? The tongue, to make the N, has the position of this part of the tongue raising and touching the roof of the mouth about here. Nn, nn, them. So in order to see them through the teeth, it’s just a subtle movement of pulling the tip from here down through the teeth. Can you return them? Can you return them?

The second example, ‘Where’s the car?’ has the voiced zz followed by the voiced TH. And I do notice when I say this phrase that my tongue does not come through my teeth: where’s the car? Rather, the tongue presses against the teeth. This part of the tongue presses right where the teeth come together, without actually coming through. Where’s the car? This would only work on a voiced sound. Th, th. For the unvoiced TH, the tongue must come through. The difference in tongue position between the zz and th consonant sounds is very slight. The tongue on zz is behind almost closed teeth very lightly touching, zz, zz, or almost touching. For the TH, the tongue comes through the teeth or, in my case, in this particular phrase, presses against the closed teeth. So the tongue, the tip of the tongue, has an extremely slight movement forward. Zz, zz the car. Where’s the car?

Thanks for your email.

Ths Sound

The combination of the th [θ] and ss consonant sounds can be tricky. I often hear it pronounced ‘th,’ simply without the S, as in ‘month,’ when it should be ‘months.’ For example: 2 month, 3 month. Well that’s singular and of course we need to say the plural, thss. Both of these sounds are unvoiced. That means you make the sound only by passing air, no sound actually produced in your vocal cords. For the th sound, the tongue comes through the teeth. Th, th. So to make this sound, you simply pull your tongue back into your mouth while you keep the pressure of air coming through. Thss, thss. Months, months.

[θ] ‘th’ as in ‘thin’

The two TH consonant sounds.  These sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.  Th is unvoiced, meaning, only air passes through the mouth, and th is voiced, meaning you make a sound with the vocal cords.  To make this sound, the very tip of the tongue comes through the teeth, th, th, thanks, th, th, this.  The rest of the mouth remains relaxed.  For the THR consonant cluster, the lips will begin to move into position for the R while the TH is being made.  Three, three.  In some cases, these sounds will be replaced with a similar sound, when the tongue does not quite come through the teeth.  Instead it presses against the closed teeth.  This will happen in an unstressed word only, when there isn’t enough time given to the word for teeth to part and the tongue to come through.  For example, ‘What’s in the car?’  What’s in the car?  The tongue isn’t coming all the way through the teeth.

Here we see the TH sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left. And with parts of the mouth drawn in. The soft palate is raised for this sound. You can see the tongue through the teeth, just the tip comes through. The TH consonant sounds. Sample words: thin/this, thief/these, birthday/worthy. Sample sentence: I thought of using these Lily of the Valleys rather than those thorny roses. Now you will 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 these sounds.

I, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Thought, tongue tip through the teeth, TH, thought. ‘Aw’ as in ‘law’, tongue up to make the T which is a D here, thought of. Using, the ‘ew’ as in ‘few’ diphthong. These, tongue tip through the teeth. Lily of the Valleys, tongue up in the L position, comes down, ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’, back up for the second L, lily, of, bottom lip up for the V sound, and again for the V sound of Valleys. Tongue up for the L, that was an L, not a TH. Rather, lips take the R consonant shape, and the tongue comes through the teeth again for the TH, one more time quickly for than. Those, ‘oh’ as in ‘no’ diphthong, and again for thorny, thorny roses, R consonant shape, ‘oh’ as in ‘no’ diphthong. Teeth together for the Z sound, then part slightly for the schwa, and together again for the final Z sound.  And now from an angle. I thought, tongue tip through the teeth, tongue up to make the D sound, bottom lip up for the V. Using, with the ‘ew’ as in ‘few’ diphthong. These, tongue tip through the teeth. Teeth together for the Z sound and tongue up to make the L. Lily, up again for the second L. Lily of, bottom lip up for the V. And you don’t even seen the tongue for the TH there because it’s so quick. Of the Valley, Valleys. Rather, mouth takes the R consonant shape and the tongue tip comes through for the TH. Rather. The tongue tip comes through quickly to make than and those, than is very short there. ‘Oh’ as in ‘no’, teeth together for the Z sound. Thorny, tongue through the teeth for the TH, tongue up to make the N, roses. R consonant shape, teeth together for the Z sound, part for the schwa, and together again for the Z sound. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

International Phonetic Alphabet symbols: [θ] (as in thin), [ð] (as in this)

See Wikipedia’s pages on these voiced and unvoiced sounds for technical descriptions and their occurrences in other langages.

[aʊ] ‘ow’ as in ‘now

The ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong. The first sound of this diphthong does not appear on its own as a vowel in American English. To make this sound, aa, ow, the back part of the tongue stretches a bit towards the soft palate, aa, and you can see the corners of the lips pull a bit and the top lip pulls up, showing a little bit more of the top teeth, aa, aa. The second half of the diphthong is the ‘uh’ as in ‘pull’ vowel sound. In this vowel sound, the back of the tongue will stretch even further up towards the soft palate, ow, ow. And you can see the lips will come in and round for the second part of the diphthong, ow, now.

Here we see both sounds of the diphthong. In the first sound, you can see the jaw is dropped more. Here are the two sounds in profile. Here parts of the mouth are drawn in. In the first sound on the left, the tongue is raised and pulls back, slightly higher in the back. In the second sound the tongue stretches up towards the soft palate. The tip of the tongue is touching the bottom front teeth in the first sound, but is not quite touching in the second sound. The ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong. Sample words: cow, bow, sound. Sample sentence: I found my flowers dead and brown when I came back to town. Now you will 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.

I, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Lip up to make the F in found, and here we have the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong. The space in the mouth gets darker as the tongue is moving back. My flowers, again, the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’, and again, you can see the tongue moves back as the space in the mouth gets darker. Teeth come together for the Z in flowers, also for the D in dead with the ‘eh’ as in ‘bed’ vowel sound. Tongue tip up for the D. And brown, lips together for the B and again the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong. Tongue up to make the N. The lips form the tight circle for the W, when, tongue tip up for the N. I came, lips together for the M sound. Back, the tongue up in the back to make the K sound. To town, with the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong, lips rounding at the end, tongue tip up for the N.

And now from the angle. I found, the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong. You can see the tongue moving back as the lips come forward and round. My flowers, again, the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’. The lips come in to round for the second half of the diphthong. Teeth make the Z position.Dead, tongue tip up for the D. And brown, again, the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong. The tongue there coming forward from being back for the R. When with the ‘eh’ as in ‘bed’, tongue up for the N. When I came, lips together for the M. Back, you can see the tongue moving up in the back for the K sound. To with the schwa, town. Again the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong, see the tongue moving back and the lips rounding. Tongue tip up for the N. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

Identify N vs. NG

In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to test your ability to identify the N and NG sounds.

I’ve already done some work on the N and NG, but, to recap: the N sound is made when the front part of the tongue reaches up and touches just behind the front teeth: nn, nn. The NG is made at the back of the mouth: ng, ng. The back part of the tongue reaches up and touches here. The soft palate comes down to meet it, ng. The tip of the tongue remains forward and down. So, the two positions are very different. N: nn, and NG: ng. In this video, you’re going to see words with no sound, and I want you to guess if it ends in an N or an NG. Because the positions are so different, it should be very easy to see.

What is the final position you see here? You see a good bit of the tongue with the tongue tip down, that means the tongue is up in the back, so it must be the NG. Watch again.

Wing.

What position is this? Looks like the tongue tip is up at the roof of the mouth. Let’s watch again, and see if you can see the tongue flick up at the end. It must be an N.

Tan.

What position is this? The mouth looks dark inside. That must mean what’s happening is happening at the back. So, it must be an NG.

Song.

Hmm. It’s hard to tell what’s going on here, as the jaw is quite closed. But, it does look like the tongue tip is down, and the tongue is raised in the back. That must be NG.

Feeling.

What sound is this? It’s pretty clear that the tongue tip is raised, touching the roof of the mouth. That must be an N. On.Again, it’s quite clear that the tongue tip is raised, touching the roof of the mouth. This must be an N.

Fun.

The space inside the mouth is dark, it’s a bit hard to see what’s happening. That must mean the tongue is raising in the back, and not in the front. So, this must be an NG.

Lung.

Here, after having said this would be an easy exercise, I see it’s not so easy. Again, there’s not much jaw drop here. Yet, it does look like the tongue is down in the front and raised in the back. So, it must be an NG.

Seeing

You can see the tongue tip raised in the front, touching the roof of the mouth. This is an N.

Done.Here it’s clear: tongue up in the back, down in the front. It’s an NG sound.

Strong.

Did you see the tongue tip come up? I think I did, too. In that case, it must be an N.

Let’s watch again. Fine.How did you do? If it was easy for you to tell the difference, then I hope it will be easy for you to pronounce them differently as well. A lot of people have difficulty with ending in an N vs. an NG. If you’re one of those people, practice with a mirror lists of words and watch your mouth to make sure it takes the correct position.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

Don’t stop there. Have fun with my real-life English videos. Or get more comfortable with the IPA in this play list. Learn about the online courses I offer, or check out my latest video.

NG without a Hard G

One of my regular blog users has sent of herself speaking to help work out some of her pronunciation problems. There was one thing that I noted that I wanted to add here, because I thought that other people might be able to benefit from it. This NG sound: ng [?]. When she makes it, it is often followed by a kk or gg, quick sound, which sounds like a bit of a click at the end of the word. For example: sing, wrong. It’s subtle, but it’s not necessary.

To make the NG sound, the middle/back part of the tongue is raising to touch the roof of the mouth. Ng, ng. To make the G/K sound, it is the back of the tongue that is pulling away from the soft palate, so it’s not very far from the NG sound. The NG sound is a little further up, where the tongue touches, the G/K sound is a little further back. But, if you allow any sort of pressure to build up while you’re making the NG sound, and then you pull the tongue down, when the tongue comes down it’s going to make that gg, kk sound. So what you need to avoid doing is letting there be pressure build up and then pulling the tongue away. After you make the ng, NG sound, that is it. That is the final sound. Sing, sing.

So, the sound stops here rather than letting it build up a little further back and then releasing the tongue. Sing. Now, I do want to note, that there are some cases where the G is enunciated on its own, after the ng sound. For example, in the word fungus. And this is because this ‘gus’ is starting the beginning of the next syllable, so the G is enunciated. Gg, gg. There are a few such cases. And I will do a blog on that to follow up. But in general, the NG is most commonly pronounced as the ng, NG sound, and should not be followed by the gg or kk.