Kool Study

Linking the F/V and W sounds

I got an email recently from a frequent visitor of the website asking me to explain something. He says, I’m still at a loss to understand how Americans link the F/V and W sounds … Can you point out what needs to be done? Absolutely. Let’s review the F and V sounds.

To make these sounds, the bottom lip moves up and touches the front top teeth. To make the W, the lips round into a very tight circle. The teeth are almost closed, but not quite closed, behind the lips. Now let’s take some of those phrases and say them slowly, drawing out the sounds. /// Five ways. Safeway. So you can see, the lip needs to move from this position into the rounded position. It’s that one gesture. ffww, vvww. Let’s practice that. ffww, vvww. Here are some phrases in slow motion, so you can study how the mouth moves when linking sounds.

Five ways. The bottom lip comes up here for the V, and immediately they point into the W sound. Of which. Bottom lip up, lips point to make the circle for the W. Safeway. Bottom lip moves up and the lips form the tight circle pointing out for the W. Five phrases that link these two sounds to help you practice are: five ways, of which, Safeway, enough wind, I’d love one.

I hope this helps clear up the movement of the mouth between these two sounds for you, thank you so much for your question.

V and F Practice

I want to practice a bit more with the F and V sounds. To begin, the word ‘of’. It is spelled O-F, and it is a common mispronunciation to say uh-ff or oh-ff, ff, because it is spelled with an F at the end. But it is, in fact, pronounced as a V. Of, of. And that brings me to the next thing I want to talk about, and that is: the V, when it is not pronounced by itself as a sound, vv, but rather, when it’s used in word. Of, of. It’s so quick (ever, every), that sometimes the bottom lip here doesn’t actually have time to vibrate, to make that vv sound. But it is important that you still make sounds with your vocal cords. Otherwise, it will sound just like the F sound. So, it may be just as simple as vuh, vuh. Do you see how my lip moves so slightly up into the position? Vuh, and sound is produced here with the vocal cords. Ever, every, everything.

Some of my students have problems hearing the difference in these sounds when speaking at a normal pace – when I or someone else is speaking at a normal pace. So, I am going to contrast two words, fast and vast. And I am going to, at the beginning, very much exaggerate the beginning consonant sound, and eventually I will speed it up to normal conversation. [fast – vast] Did you hear a difference there towards the end? What the difference is, is that, as I said, a sound has to start here. So fast, ff, when you’re just letting air escape, the sound is made with the ff, the air coming through the lips. So, the sound is here. When you’re saying vast, the consonant vv, the sound starts here because it starts with the vocal cords. So it quickly comes and moves up. Ff, vv, ff, vv, fast, vast. When I say fast, it feels like it comes from here. When I say vast, it feels like it comes from here.

Let’s practice some words starting with the ff sound: fast, friendly, financial, flower, free. And a few words starting with the vv sound: vague, vehicle, victory. And now, some longer words, where these sounds come either at the middle or at the end: even, ever, effort. Do you hear the difference in those two words? Ever, evvver, effort, efffffort. Active, sensitive, vv, vv. The sound at the end, when it is a V, is so subtle. If the sound at the end is an F, it tends to be a little more strong. Staff, staff. Active, vv. It’s so short. Everything, everything, different, different, solve, solve.

[f] ‘f’ as in ‘fan’

The F and V consonant sounds. These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position. FF is unvoiced, meaning only air passes through the mouth, and vv is voiced, meaning, uh, uh, vv, you’re making a sound with the vocal cords. To make this sound, the bottom lip raises and touches the very bottom of the top front teeth. Ff, vv. You don’t want to see your bottom lip disappear like that. It’s actually the back side of the lip that’s making contact with the teeth, ff, vv.

Here is a photo of the F and V consonant sounds on the right compared with the mouth at rest. Here parts of the mouth are drawn in. The soft palate is raised for these consonant sounds. The bottom lip simply raises to touch the top teeth. The tongue touches lightly behind the bottom teeth. Sample words. Fan/van, fault/vault, photo/vote. Sample sentence: They served a very fresh oven-baked flounder fillet. Now you’ll see this sentence upclose and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.

They, tongue comes through the teeth for the TH sound. Served, here is the R consonant sound, and now watch the bottom move up for the V. A very, again, the V sound, bottom lip up. Fresh. The bottom lip once again makes the F sound, and the SH lip position. Oven, with the V sound. Baked, lips together for the B. Flounder, bottom lip up for the F. And fillet. Again, the bottom lip up for the F position. The ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong. They, tongue through the teeth for the TH sound, and the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong. Served, R position and then the bottom lip for the V. A very, bottom lip up for the V. Fresh, bottom lip up to make the F sound, Fresh. Mouth takes the SH position. Oven, bottom lip up to make the V sound. Lips together for the B in baked. Back of the tongue up to make the kk sound. Flounder, bottom lip up for the F sound. The ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong. And again the bottom lip up to make the F in fillet. Fillet with the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

[u] ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’

The ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ vowel sound.  To make this sound, the back part of the tongue stretches up towards the soft palate, oo, oo.  The front part of the tongue remains down, lightly touching, or just behind, the bottom front teeth, oo.  And I’m sure you can see the lips round, oo, into a very tight circle for this sound, oo, boo.

Here is the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ vowel sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left. You can see the corners of the mouth are pushed forward to round the lips. This pushes the center part of the lips away from the face. And here are the inside parts of the mouth drawn in. As with all vowels, the soft palate is raised. More importantly, note the tongue position: it is raised very high in the back. The tip of the tongue, however, is still touching the backside of the bottom front teeth.  Sample words: spoon, tool, food. Sample sentence: Who’s in the mood for fruit? 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.

Who, the mouth forms the oo sound. It’s spelled with a W but the two sounds are hh, the H and oo, the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’. Who’s, the teeth come together to make the zz sound. In the, tongue comes through the teeth. Mood, another ‘oo’ vowel sound where the lips round, but the bottom lip begins already to move up to make the f sound, for, and again for the ff fruit, which has the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ vowel sound. And the lips come in and round. And the teeth come together – tt – to make the T sound.

And now from the angle. Oo, the tight circle of the lips, who’s. Teeth come together to make that Z sound, In the, lips come together for the M. And then the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ vowel, mood. And the bottom lip moves up to make the F, for, and one more time, fruit, with the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ vowel sound. The lips again make the tight circle and the teeth come together to make the T in fruit.  That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

International Phonetic Alphabet symbol: [u]

This sound exists in many languages. See Wikipedia’s page on it.

[ʌ] ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’

he ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ vowel sound.  This is a very relaxed vowel sound.  You can see, uh, the jaw drops but the rest of the mouth remains very neutral, uh, uh.   The tongue is also very relaxed.  The back presses down just a little bit, and the tip is forward, lightly touching behind the bottom front teeth.  Uh, butter. Here we see the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left.

Here we see the inside parts of the mouth drawn in. As with all other vowels, the soft palate is raised in this vowel. But more importantly, note the position of the tongue. It is forward and relaxed, and slightly pressed down in the back. The ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound.  Sample words: mother, sudden, lucky, ton. Sample sentence: I love my younger brother, but sometimes he bugs me. 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.

I, the jaw drops to make the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Tongue comes up to make the L and comes through the teeth, love and the jaw drops. This is the ‘uh as in ‘butter’ sound. Bottom lip comes up for the V, and the lips come together for the M, my. Younger, another ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’, but it’s very fast. We’re already now into the R, younger. Brother, another uh vowel sound. The tongue comes through the teeth for the TH. Er, brother. But, another uh vowel sound. Teeth come together for the S, sometimes, uh, another ‘butter’ sound. -Times, he bugs – lips come together for the B and again, the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound. The tongue comes up in the back to make the G. Me, with the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound.

Again from an angle. The jaw drops for the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong, I love, the tongue forms the L, jaw drops for the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’. Bottom lip up to the teeth to make the V sound, my. The tongue moves up to make the Y consonant sound: younger. There’s the R consonant sound. Brother, a quick ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’. Tongue through the teeth to make the TH. Lips together for the B. But, another quick ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’. The teeth together to make the S, sometimes, a quick ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’, -times, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Lips together to make the M. He bugs, with the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound. You can see the tongue moved up in the back to make that G sound. Me, with the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel and the corners of the lips pulled back. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

International Phonetic Alphabet symbol: [ʌ]

This sound occurs in just a handful of other languages. For a list, see Wikipedia’s page.

[ʤ] ‘j’ as in ‘jar’

The CH and JJ consonant sounds.  These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.  CH is unvoiced, meaning only air passes through the mouth, and JJ is voiced, meaning, uh, uh, jj, you’re making a sound with the vocal cords.  These consonants have a stop consonant component, but unlike stop consonants, they’re always released.  The stop consonant is when the front part of the tongue raises and touches the roof of the mouth in the front in the T/D tongue position.  The mouth takes the position of the SH and DJ sounds, where the teeth are together, the corners of the lips are in, and the rest of the lips are flared.  Ch, jj.  So the tongue will move up and press the roof of the mouth, air builds up, and when the tongue releases, the air comes through, ch, jj, making the sound.

Here is the sound on the right, compared with the mouth at rest on the left.  Notice how the lips in this sound come away from the face.  Here parts of the mouth are drawn in.  The soft palate is raised in this consonant sound.  Notice how high the tongue reaches.  It presses against the roof of the mouth before pulling away to release the air.  The ch/jj sounds. Sample words:  char, jar, chump, jump.  Sample sentence:  I was on the edge of my seat watching each match of the major tournament.  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, lips circle into the W, was.  On the edge, now here we have the jj consonant sound.  Watch the lips as the teeth come together.  Of my seat.  Lips pull wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’.  Watching, lips make the W.  Ch, here is the ch sound.  Watch the lips.  Each, lips pull wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ and again, the ch.  Match, again it ends in the ch consonant sound.  Of the major, with the jj consonant sound, jj. Tournament.  Lips together for the M, tongue up for the N position, and the T.

And now from an angle.  I, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong.  Was on the edge, watch the jj sound.  Jj.  Of my seat, corners of the mouth pulled wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’.  Watching, lips make the W.  Watch-, here’s the ch sound.  Watching.  Each, corners pull wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’, and now form the ch.  Match, again ends in ch.  Of the major, watch for the jj – there we are – major, tournament.  Lips together for the M, tongue up to make the N, and the teeth together for the T. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

International Phonetic Alphabet symbols: [ʧ], [ʤ]

As you can see, the IPA uses two symbols to represent each one of these sounds. For more information, and to see these sounds’ occurrences in other languages, see Wikipedias pages (voiced, unvoiced).

Conversation Study: Breakfast!

Topics covered: ordering, y+d as CH, -ED endings, pronunciation of the letter T.

JJ in the Phrase Could You?

Do you hear a J sound in this phrase? Could you? Could you? There’s no J sound written, but that does happen sometimes in American English pronunciation. In this video, we’ll look at why.

I’ve had several people ask me about when the word ‘you’ follows a T or a D sound. First, let’s look at some examples. Could you, could you. Could you be there? Want you, want you. I want you to come. Do you notice the JJ sound in ‘could you’, or the CH sound in ‘want you’? The JJ and CH sounds that you’re hearing are coming in because of the mouth position. The shape of these sounds — JJ, CH — is similar to the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ sound. So what’s happening is the lips are beginning to move for the oo vowel sound, even as they’re making the T and the D consonants. And these things blending together make more of a JJ or CH sound. Let’s look at some more examples. What would you do? [3x] It doesn’t have to be pronounced this way. Could you? Could you? Where you make a separate D and Y sound: totally appropriate, and you will hear that. However, in more casual conversation, the JJ and CH sound does tend to come into play. Let’s look at some more examples. I want to know what you thought. I want to know what you — I want to know what you thought. Would you hand me that? Would you, would you. Would you hand me that? I hope this helps to clear up what many of my students hear and find confusing. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

Regular Past Tense Verbs: -ed ending

Today I’m going to talk about how to pronounce the past tense of regular verbs. Regular verbs take the -ed ending in the past. There are three different ways to pronounced the -ed. How you pronounce it depends on the final sound of the verb in the infinitive form.

When the final sound of the verb in infinitive form is an unvoiced consonant sound, then the -ed is also pronounced as an unvoiced consonant, and that is the tt, T sound. For example, the word ‘pack’. When you add the -ed, it becomes packed because the kk sound is unvoiced. Other unvoiced sounds are pp, ff, ss, ch [?], sh [?], and th [?]. So any regular verbs that ends in one of these sounds will have the -ed pronounced as the tt T sound.

The second case is when the final sound of the infinite verb is a voiced consonant or a vowel or diphthong sound. In this case the -ed is pronounced as the dd D sound, a voiced consonant. For example, the verb ‘to save’. The final sound is the vv V, voiced consonant sound, so the -ed will take the dd, voiced D sound ending. Saved, saved. Other unvoiced sounds are vv, bb, gg, th [ð], zz, dj [?], rr [?], mm, nn , ng [?], ll. So any regular verb ending in one of these consonant sounds, or a vowel or diphthong sound, will take the dd sound when the -ed is added.

The final case is when the verb in the infinitive form ends in either a D or T sound. In this case, the ending is pronounced with the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ [?] vowel and the D sound. For example, the verb ‘to land’. It ends with the D sound, so the past tense of this regular verb is landed. -ed, with the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ and the D sound. Landed.

Now we will look at some regular verbs. Based on the information you just heard, you should now be able to tell how the -ed will be pronounced. How do you pronounce this word? The final sound of the verb in the infinitive form ‘to bake’ is the K sound. It’s unvoiced. Therefore the -ed is pronounced tt, unvoiced, with the T sound. Baked, baked. How do you pronounce this word? In the infinitive, the final sound is the dd D sound. Therefore it is case three, ended, where the -ed is pronounced with the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ and the D sound. Ended. How do you pronounce this word? The final sound of the verb in infinitive form is the N consonant sound. This is a voiced consonant. Therefore it is case two where the -ed is pronounced as the D sound. Leaned, leaned.

How do you pronounce this word? The infinitive form ‘to believe’ ends in the vv V consonant sound, which is voiced. Therefore it is again case two, where the -ed is pronounced as the D sound. Believed. How do you pronounce this word? The final sound in infinitive form is sh, the unvoiced SH sound. Since it is unvoiced, it is case one, where the -ed is pronounced as the T. Washed, washed. How do you pronounce this word? In the infinitive, the final sound of the verb is pp, P, which is unvoiced. Therefore it is case one, and the -ed is pronounced as a T. Flipped, flipped.

How do you pronounce this sound? The final sound in the infinitive is the N consonant sound, nn, which is voiced. Therefore it is case two, where the -ed is pronounced as the D sound. Turned, turned. How do you pronounce this verb? The final sound in the infinitive is the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound. Since it is a vowel, it must be case two, where the -ed is pronounced as the D sound. Carried, carried. How do you pronounce this verb? The final infinitive sound is ss, the S sound. That is unvoiced, so it is case one where the -ed is pronounced as the T sound. Missed, missed.

How do you pronounce this word? The final infinitive sound is the tt T sound. This means it is case three where the -ed is pronounced as the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ with the D sound. Punted, punted. How do you pronounce this word? The final sound in the infinitive is the M consonant sound, mm; it is voiced. Therefore it is case two and the -ed is pronounced as the D. Bummed. Bummed. How do you pronounce this sound? The final sound in the infinitive is ff, the unvoiced F sound. Since it is unvoiced, it is case one, where the -ed is pronounced as the tt T sound. Laughed, laughed.

How do you pronounce this word? The final sound in the infinitive is the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Therefore it is case two and the -ed is pronounced as the D sound. Shied, shied. How do you pronounce this word? The final sound of the infinitive form of the verb is the tt, T sound. Therefore it is case three, where the -ed is pronounced as the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ with the D sound. Rested, rested. How do you pronounce this word? The final sound of the verb in infinitive form is ch: that is an unvoiced consonant sound. Therefore it is case one where the -ed is pronounced as the T sound. Watched, watched. How do you pronounce this word? The final sound of the verb in the infinitive form is the dd, D sound. Therefore it is case three where the -ed is pronounced as the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ with the D sound. Needed, needed. Congratulations! Now you know how to pronounce regular verbs in the past tense.

[d] ‘d’ as in ‘dime’

The T and D consonant sounds. These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position. Tt is unvoiced, meaning, only air passes through the mouth. And dd is voiced, meaning, uh, uh, dd, you make a noise with the vocal cords. These consonants are stop consonants, which means there are two parts. First, a stop of the airflow, and second, a release. The airflow is stopped by the tongue position. The tongue will come up and the front part will touch the roof of the mouth just behind the top teeth. It will then pull down to release the air. The teeth are together, tt, and as the air comes out, when the tongue releases, they part, tt, dd. Let’s take for example the word ‘pat’. Pat: the first part, the tongue has moved up into position, cutting off the flow of air. Pa-tt. And the second part, the tongue releases, and the air comes through the closed teeth.

A note about the teeth position for the D. As I said, the teeth are together, tt, and part when the air is released. This must happen for a release of the T. But the D can actually be made without the teeth coming all the way together: dad, dad. You can see there the teeth are not closing all the way, but you’re getting a D sound by the tongue coming up into position and pulling away.

Stop consonants are sometimes pronounced without the second part, without this release, when they come at the end of a syllable or a word. Let’s take for example the sentence ‘I bet you did’. I bet, you can see the tongue has moved up into position for the T. I bet you did. But rather than releasing air through the teeth, the mouth simply moves into the next sound, which is the ‘ew’ as in ‘few’ diphthong. I bet you did. I bet you did. No release. It’s important to note we’re not just leaving out the sound. I bet — the tongue is moving into position, which is cutting off the airflow. And that stop is part of the T. I bet you did. So even though we’re not releasing to give the complete full T, the idea is still there by the tongue going into position, cutting off the airflow. So T and D can sometimes be pronounced with the stop and the release, and sometimes just the stop.

The T has another pronunciation, it’s call the flap or tap T, and on my website in the International Phonetic Alphabet, I use the D symbol to represent this sound because it sounds and functions, and is made just like the D. This sound happens when the T comes between two vowel sounds. Let’s take for example, the word madder and matter. One is spelled with two D’s, and one with two T’s. But they’re pronounced the same: madder, matter. Let’s look at them in sentences. I’m madder than I’ve ever been. What’s the matter? It’s the same sound.

The lip position of these sounds is influenced by the sound that comes next. For example, dime, dime. You can see the mouth is taking the shape of the first sound of the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong, dime, even before the D is made. Drain, drain. Again, you can see the lips taking the position for the R, drain, even before the D is made. Do, do, again you can see the lips taking the circle for the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ vowel. Do, do. Here we see the T/D mouth position on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left. Here, parts of the mouth are drawn in. The soft palate is raised for these consonant sounds. The tongue position stretches up in the front and presses against the roof of the mouth to make the stop before releasing the air. The position is just behind the top front teeth. Sample words: time/dime, tad/dad, tote/dote. The last two word pairs ended with T’s and D’s. Did you notice that I did not release them? Sample sentence: Tom tasted Dad’s dark chocolate treats. 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 making these sounds.

Tom, with the T, you see the teeth close, the tongue raised behind them. And there’s the release. Tom. The lips will close for the M, and when they open you will see the teeth are still closed for the T in tasted. Then the ST consonant cluster, and there there’s a quick ih vowel, there, before the D, tasted. Dad’s. The tongue will come up here to make the D, there will be a quick Z before the D in dark, and you can see the lips already starting to take the form of the R even before the teeth release. Chocolate, tongue through the teeth for the L, and then up to make the T which is a stop here. Treats, and again you see the lips forming the R even before the teeth release the T. And the TS sound at the end.

Tom, you see the tongue tip up behind the closed teeth, releasing into the ‘ah’ as in ‘father’. Lips close for the M. Tasted, tongue up to make the T, quick ih sound and then the D, tasted, Dad’s. Tongue up again to make the final D. Dad’s. Dark, lips taking the form of the R. Chocolate, tongue up for the L and then to the roof of the mouth to make the stop of the T. And treats, where the lips form the R shape around the closed teeth. And tongue tip up to make the final T, and S sound. Treats. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.