Oriental English Linguistic

■ Short Vowels | Sounds

● Spoken English contains 6 short vowel sounds.

Plosive Consonants | Sounds

Plosives are made by fully blocking the flow of air as it leaves the mouth.
Sound is produced when the blocked air is released in an explosion.
There are 6 plosive sounds in spoken English.
In many English accents a seventh plosive - the glottal stop is common

Fricative Consonants | Sounds

Fricatives are made by squeezing air between two articulators.- There are 9 fricative consonant sounds in English (see chapter 5 for /h/):

Consonant Types | Sound

Consonant sounds are produced by blocking air as it leaves the mouth.
✦ This course shows you how to pronounce all 25 consonant sounds of English.

The sound /ɑː/ is an open back unrounded long vowel.

How to make it:

1. Tongue position: Tongue is low and pulled back in the mouth.

2. Lips: Neutral and relaxed, slightly open. Don’t round them.

3. Length: Long vowel, so hold it out.

Sound description:
It’s the “ah” sound in British English words like car /kɑː/, start /stɑːt/, father /ˈfɑːðə/, bath /bɑːθ/.

In American English, this same sound is used in car, father, and often in bath, dance, plant. Some American accents use /æ/ for those words instead.

Minimal pair example in British English:

/ɑː/: calm /kɑːm/ - long, low, back

/æ/: clam /klæm/ - short, low, front

/ɔː/: call /kɔːl/ - long, mid, back with rounded lips

Tip to practice: Open your mouth wide like a doctor checking your throat, and say “ahhh”. Keep it relaxed and low in the back of your mouth.

■ A neutral English accent has 19 vowel sounds.
✦ There are 3 types of English vowel sound - short, long and diphthong.
✦ English spelling does not always show us which sound to pronounce.
✦ We will learn how to pronounce each individual vowel sound on this course.