American English has five letters known as vowels but there are at least 11 simple vowel sounds and 3 diphthongs (although there are some regional differences).
As an example let’s examine the sound of the vowel ‘a’ in two different words.
Say the word ‘apple’. Listen to the sound of the /ae/ The sound of the ‘a’ in ‘apple’ is a lax vowel sound. Your face should feel relaxed and your jaw should drop down a little when you say this sound. Put your hands lightly on your face and say ‘apple’. Your face and jaw should feel relaxed.
Now say the word ‘cake’. Listen to the sound of the /ey/. The ‘a’ in the word ‘cake’ is a tense vowel sound. When you say this sound your face should feel tense and your mouth should be pulled back. Put your hands lightly on your face and say ‘cake. Your face and jaw should feel tense.
Most American English vowels have more than one sound. In order to improve your accent you should try to learn all 14 vowel sounds.
on Sep 20th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Hi Ms.Susan,
This is kuwar chand ,I have been in constant touch with your English programme confident voice right from the day I saw ,I have been a goverment school student somewhere in the east part of delhi in India.When I started off to course;I was very much unkown of the correct pronounciation of this globle language ,It was very hard to get used to be of the things those I learnt from this sort of course early on ,But later on,I proceeded with the lessons provided by you on weekly basis practice and got off to a flying start to grab the things very fast and smoothly in very short span of time ,Soon after having corrected the stress and picth of the words ,I began to learn how to become very clear and sound in vowel and consonant picthing so that whenever I speak to anyone on line or front , can get me not by the whole word but by the initial start of the picth of any word ,I am very much gratefull to your course and contents till now and want to learn the power of english language being taken by you ,I did go through the video and found it more subsantial and more self tought ,I am ready the find my way in this course right from the scretch ,please tell me the course fee and ,If I can get it with books home ,I will appreciate your help and the whole team.
Thanks &Regards
kuwar