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HOW TO PRONOUNCE DIPHTHONGS - Vowel Sounds - British English — Transcript

by English with Liz · 2,199 words · 517 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00an essential part of making English
0:03sound more English is pronouncing
0:06diphthongs correctly
0:09so today I'm going to share with you my
0:12special tricks on how to make all eight
0:16diphthong sounds and I'm also going to
0:20teach you the difference in the sounds
0:22when native speakers use them in fast
0:25speech
0:26that will be really useful
0:29so let's get started
0:33let's start with a simple explanation of
0:36a diphthong
0:37diphthongs are vowels where two vowel
0:41sounds are combined into one
0:45syllable
0:46the sound is made by smoothly gliding
0:50from one vowel sound to another without
0:53any pause or break
0:57now this is important
0:59although there are two sounds the
1:03diphthong is perceived as one sound and
1:07the first sound is slightly longer than
1:10the second
1:12there are eight diphthongs as shown on
1:16this phonemic chart
1:19and we are going to start with the
1:21diphthongs ear
1:24and Air
1:28so what do these diphthongs have in
1:30common
1:31the answer is that they're all Glide
1:35towards the schwa sound ah
1:38watch my mouth
1:41ear
1:43uh
1:47that schwa sound at the end is so
1:51important as it is the one sound that
1:55really makes your English pronunciation
1:57sound English
2:00did you notice what happened to my mouth
2:03at the end of each one watch again
2:07ear
2:15well because they all finished on the
2:18schwa sound uh
2:20my mouth and jaw relaxed at the end and
2:24returned to a central position
2:27my tongue just rested in the center of
2:31my mouth
2:32let's now practice each of these
2:34diphthongs starting with ear
2:38the first sound is the short vowel sound
2:42e
2:43with the tongue High and the lips
2:46slightly spread
2:49e
2:51you say it
2:54now relax your mouth and tongue and just
2:58say
2:59uh
3:02uh
3:04now put them together so they make just
3:07one syllable like this
3:09ear
3:11not a
3:13but
3:15ear
3:17notice how I'm putting slightly more
3:20emphasis and length on the first e sound
3:25ew
3:28not
3:30yeah
3:32now you try
3:37ear
3:38that sound is the word for this
3:42ear now to help you make the sound right
3:45we'll say the following word pairs the
3:48first word of each pair has the vowel
3:50sound it followed by a word with the
3:53diphthong ear
3:55say with me each pair noticing the
3:58change of movement of your lips and
4:01tongue
4:02fit
4:04fear
4:06Yin
4:08yeah
4:10bit
4:12beard
4:13got that
4:16now listen again I'm going to say them
4:18quickly more like you would hear them in
4:21everyday conversation
4:24fit fear
4:27Yin
4:28year
4:29bid
4:30beard
4:32it's hard to hear the difference isn't
4:35it to say that diphthong-sun correctly
4:38the trick is to always say the schwa
4:40sound at the end of the diphthong
4:44this way you will keep the familiar
4:46sound of ear no matter how fast you
4:48speak
4:50now let's move on to uh
4:52as in pure
4:55let's start with the short vowel sound
4:57uh
4:59notice how my mouth is rounded like I'm
5:02blowing a kiss
5:04and my tongue which you can't see is
5:07high with a hump towards the back of my
5:10mouth
5:11oh
5:13now you try
5:16oh
5:17that's right
5:19now let's Glide quickly from uh to uh to
5:24make it one syllable but remember for uh
5:27the mouth opens a little more and the
5:30tongue is lower and flatter
5:33uh
5:35now all together
5:37uh
5:43well done
5:44did you notice my lips changing shape
5:46from round to neutral
5:50watch again
5:52uh
5:56the first sound U is slightly longer and
5:59stronger than a
6:01now practicing these word pairs first
6:04with just the vowel sound and then with
6:08the diphthong uh
6:10when saying each pair notice the change
6:13of movement in your lips and tongue
6:17put
6:19pure
6:20could
6:22cure
6:24you may hear a lot of people smoothing
6:27this diphthong especially in fast speech
6:30like this
6:33pure
6:35cure
6:37it's the schwa sound at the end that
6:40gives it its distinctive sound because
6:43the mouth and tongue will always come
6:45back to neutral no matter how fast you
6:48say it
6:49okay
6:51let's move on to air
6:53as in the word hair
6:57starting with the short vowel sound e
7:00the mouth is slightly open and the lips
7:03are smiling a little
7:06say
7:07eh
7:09good
7:10now say uh
7:13now I want you to Glide quickly from E
7:16to uh with more emphasis and slightly
7:20more length on the first sound e like
7:24this
7:25air
7:28air
7:30the sound is the same as the word air
7:34now say
7:36hair
7:38try these pairs and listen and practice
7:41the difference between e and ER
7:46head
7:48hair
7:50red
7:52rare
7:54dead
7:56dare
7:59shed
8:01share
8:03great now listen to this sentence spoken
8:06like many Native English speakers
8:10this meets rare
8:13I must do my hair
8:17like and share
8:20with this particular diphthong when it
8:22said quickly the mouth does not close to
8:26a neutral position for the schwa sound
8:29instead the e sound is pronounced as a
8:33slightly longer sound like this
8:37air
8:39and the mouth stays slightly more open
8:43watch
8:44rare
8:47share
8:50prayer
8:53now let's look at the three closing
8:56diphthongs a
8:59oi and I
9:02for each of these diphthongs the Glide
9:05starts in three different places in the
9:07mouth but all finish on the vowel sound
9:10e
9:12so let's begin with a as in the word
9:16Main
9:19for this one we Glide from E to E
9:23so let's just practice The Sounds
9:25separately first
9:27begin with your tongue mid front for e
9:32e
9:33now say the second part
9:36e
9:38with your tongue high and your jaw
9:41closed or slightly closed
9:45hey
9:46now join them smoothly like this
9:50a
9:53a
9:55did you notice my jaw closing at the end
9:58of the sound
9:59now watch again and repeat
10:02a
10:07now I say the word Main
10:12excellent
10:13now if you're ready let's compare the
10:16word men with Mane
10:18men has the monophthong E and as you now
10:23know main has the diphthong
10:26a
10:28both these words have only one syllable
10:32regardless of the Glide in the diphthong
10:36so what's the difference
10:39now as you know in diphthongs the first
10:42sound is slightly longer than the second
10:45sound and has more emphasis like this
10:49a
10:53copy me and say Maine
10:58Maine
11:00and now say
11:03men
11:05men
11:07can you hear the difference
11:09this is what happens when you shorten
11:12the diphthong to e instead of saying a
11:17it's a very common mistake and can be
11:20very confusing
11:23when the word main is said quickly by a
11:26native speaker it does become shorter
11:29but it still maintains its familiar
11:31Sound by closing the jaw at the end for
11:35the e sound
11:37listen to me and compare when the sound
11:41is set slowly and quickly
11:45Main
11:47and
11:49Main
11:52listen to this
11:54the rain in Spain stays mainly in the
11:58plane
12:00hahaha now listen to this
12:05the rain in Spain stays mainly in the
12:08plane
12:09that was a bit quicker wasn't it
12:11so I didn't open my mouth so much
12:14although I'm saying it quickly I am
12:16still maintaining the closure of my
12:19mouth for e at the end of the sound
12:22not this
12:26the ren in spend stays mainly in the
12:28plan
12:32practice these pairs
12:35debt
12:37date
12:39wet
12:41wait
12:44Peppa
12:46paper
12:48okay so now we look at the diphthong oi
12:52as in the word boy
12:55first we'll start by saying these sounds
12:57separately watch and repeat begin with
13:02your tongue mid back foot or
13:05or
13:07now it with your tongue high and your
13:10jaw more closed
13:13a
13:15good now let's join them together
13:18smoothly but make sure that all is a
13:23little shorter
13:24but still stronger like this
13:28or
13:30or
13:32watch and repeat
13:34oy
13:37oy
13:39oy
13:42now say
13:44boy
13:46did you notice what happened to your
13:47tongue and lips
13:49watch and copy me again
13:54oy
13:57oy
14:00oy
14:02my lips went from rounded to neutral
14:09and my tongue moved forwarded Upward at
14:12the same time as my jaw closed
14:16boy
14:21listen and practice the difference
14:22between these word pairs out loud
14:26ball
14:30jaw
14:32Joy
14:34tall
14:36toy
14:39more
14:41moist
14:44happy with that
14:45good now listen to the sound in fast
14:49speech
14:50the boy was full of joy when he found
14:52his toy
14:54although it said quickly like this
14:56boy joy toy
14:59the diphthong sound is still maintained
15:01by closing the jaw at the end of the
15:04sound
15:06now the third diphthong is I as in
15:11I
15:13let's say the sound separately first
15:16this sound
15:18does not exist as a phoneme on its own
15:23it only exists as part of a diphthong
15:27now as part of a diphthong it sounds
15:30more like ah
15:33so now say ah with the tong Lo Center
15:37and the jaw open
15:41ah
15:43ah
15:45now say the second part
15:48e with your tongue high and your jaw
15:51closed
15:53slightly closed
15:55e
16:00now join them smoothly like this watch
16:03and repeat
16:05I
16:08I
16:09this sound represents this diphthong
16:14I
16:16now let's practice some word pairs
16:19Sun
16:21sign
16:23done
16:24dine
16:26fun
16:29luck
16:31like
16:33now remember when this sound is set
16:36quickly in Connected speech it becomes
16:39slightly shorter but the overall sound
16:42Still Remains the Same because the
16:45speaker maintains the closing diphthong
16:48e
16:50it's less obvious but because the jaw
16:53closes at the end the sound is still
16:56familiar
16:58listen
17:00die
17:02like
17:04fine
17:06dine
17:09I like fine dining
17:12now moving on to the last two diphthongs
17:15on the phonemic chart
17:17o and Al
17:20the O diphthong
17:22the O diphthong is created by smoothly
17:26transitioning from the uh
17:28schwa sound which is a short unstressed
17:31sound like the uh in sofa to the uh
17:34sound which is similar to the uh in book
17:39now this diphthong is commonly found in
17:42words like
17:43go
17:45no
17:46and slow
17:50to produce o as in the word no
17:54say the sound uh
17:57mouth and Jaws lightly open tongue
18:00relaxed
18:01and then Glide away to oh with the lips
18:05becoming slightly rounded with the
18:07tongue raised at the back like a hump
18:11like this
18:14oh
18:16oh
18:18now copy me
18:20oh no
18:23slow
18:25if you get it wrong it sounds like this
18:28oh no
18:32can you hear I'm not making the first uh
18:35sound here's an extremely important
18:38piece of information when some native
18:40speakers use the O diphthong especially
18:43in fast speech you will often hear it
18:47spoken like this
18:49oh
18:51listen to this
18:54can I borrow your car
18:57no
18:58please
19:00no you can't
19:03it's more relaxed because the mouth is
19:07less open
19:08in fact did you notice the word borrow
19:12on its own you would say borrow
19:15with the o sound at the end
19:17but when the word is spoken in Connected
19:20speech followed by a consonant you will
19:24often hear it pronounced as
19:27Borough
19:29listen again
19:30can I borrow your car
19:33it's all in the listening
19:36now for the owl diphthong
19:40this is formed by gliding from the first
19:42sound which sounds like ah
19:46ah
19:47as in cut
19:49to the uh sound as in book
19:54you can hear this diphthong in words
19:57like
19:58now
20:00cow
20:02how
20:04now this is my tip
20:06if you were previously taught to start
20:09this diphthong with the ah sound as in
20:12cat
20:13it can sound too exaggerated like this
20:17ow
20:18to pronounce
20:20Al
20:22begin with your mouth open and the
20:25tongue low for the first sound and say
20:28the sound
20:30ah
20:32then smoothly transition to the o sound
20:36by rounding your lips and lifting the
20:39back of your tongue to a hump at the
20:42back
20:45all
20:47now say the word
20:49now
20:51it's important to exaggerate this sound
20:54to begin with so that you can relax it
20:56later in Faster speech when you're more
20:59experienced
21:01it also helps you to recognize the sound
21:04when you hear it spoken by native
21:07speakers
21:08in fast speech that our diphthong is
21:12often a quicker transition between the
21:15two vowel sounds
21:17despite the faster Pace the up sound
21:21still starts with the mouth open and the
21:24tongue low
21:26and smoothly moves to the uh sound with
21:30rounded lips and a raised tongue
21:33but the mouth and jaw are more closed so
21:37that our sound is like this
21:41Al
21:43compare the two sounds with an open
21:46mouth
21:47all
21:48with a less open mouth
21:51Al
21:53the reason we do this is simple
21:55you can speak more quickly when the
21:57mouth is less open
21:59but don't fall into the Trap of doing
22:01this before you've mastered the correct
22:03sound remember it's far more important
22:07to be understood than to speak quickly
22:11if you are a slow speaker this is simply
22:14to help you to recognize the sound when
22:17you hear it spoken quickly
22:20listen to this
22:22first with the sound more exaggerated
22:26how now brown cow
22:29Now by a native speaker spoken more
22:32quickly
22:34how now brown cow
22:37simple tip when most people speak
22:39quickly they don't open their mouths so
22:42much
22:43now with the following words I want you
22:46to listen and practice the difference in
22:48O and Al
22:51now
22:53know
22:55loud
23:00found
23:04Rao
23:07row
23:09doubt
23:12don't
23:14when you practice all these sounds it's
23:17really helpful to do it using a hand
23:20mirror just watch the movements in your
23:23mouth as you do it
23:25so now you know all about diphthongs do
23:29you know how to pronounce trip thongs
23:32if not head over to my video here
23:36love and peace

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