7/31/2019 English Phonemes - Vowels

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English Phonemes - vowels

aa as in bat cat habit apple that blast vowel

Tongue streches up in the back towards roof of the mouth

Front of the tongue stretches forward and presses at bottom front teeth

Tongue flattens wideTongue raises, then come forward you can see a lot of tongue

Corners of the mouth pull back a little exposes some of the top teeth

ah as in father bother mom bottle collar vowel

Sound has more jaw drop than any other vowel make sure you get a nice drop

The tongue presses down and is horizontally flat you see more dark space in the mouth

Tip of tongue is forwards lightly touching just behind bottom teethRest of mouth has a neutral position

/ e

eh as in bed feather spend benefit vowelJaw dropsTongue remains forward

Tip of tongue touches behind bottom front teeth

Mid/front part of tongue raises a bit towards roof of mouth

Back of tongue feels like it streches wide

ih as in sit fix miss stick vowelMid/front part of tongue is raised quite high

Tip of tongue remains down and lightly touches back of front bottom teethFront part of the tongue also stretches wide

Corners of the mouth pull back slightly

i:

ee as in she please ski even vowelMid/front part of tongue raises very high towards roof of mouth it doesnt touch it but its very closeTip of tongue remains down and lightly touches behind bottom front teeth

Corners of mouth are pulled slightly back

u:

oo as in boo spoon tool food vowelBack of tongue raises up very high in the back

Front part remains down, and tip of tongue touches just behind the bottom front teeth.

Lips form very tight circle, corners of mouth are pushed forward to round the lips

7/31/2019 English Phonemes - Vowels

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also written as r (because its always followed by letter r same sound as the letter)

ur as in her learn person earn third vowel soundCorners of mouth come in to round the lips a bitMid part of tongue raises towards roof of the mouth. It is also flattened so that it touches the top teeth on either

side. It presses against them

Tip of tongue hangs down but its drawn back it doesnt touch anything

aw as in law bought crawl wrong vowel soundJaw drops

Whole tongue raises horizontally a bit towards roof of mouth, and shifts back a bitTongue is not touching anything in the mouth

Cheeks come in a bit and force corners of the mouth to come in a bit as well.

uh as in pull would should put vowelBack of tongue raises up and back to the back part of roof of mouth

This pulls the tip of the tongue back so that the tongue is not quite touching the bottom teeth

Lips round a little bit, so the corners come in a little bit

uh as in butter mother sudden lucky ton vowelJaw drops

Rest of mouth is neural very relaxed vowel sound

Tongue is flat, forward and relaxed. Tongue lightly touches bottom front teethTongue is also slightly pressed down in the back this means that it is slightly lower than when it is at rest

(schwa)

uh as in supply sofa about occur vowel soundsonly happens in unaccented syllablesJaw drop is minimal

Mouth remains neutral, relaxed

Lips have to part

Teeth closed but not quite touchingTongue remains flat, forward, very relaxed and lightly touches behind bottom front teeth.

Tongue is also slightly pressed down in the back. This means that it is slightly lower than when it is at rest.

Note: r (shwa-r) and r same sound but 1 exception: the first is for unstressed syllables

(father) and the second is for stressed syllables (earth). When its stressed, the pitch is higher

and maybe a little longer.

www.rachelenglish.com/mouth_positions