In this American English pronunciation
video, we’re going to learn how to
pronounce the OW as in NOW diphthong.
Diphthongs are a combination of two
sounds, so they have a starting position
and an ending position.
To start this sound, drop the jaw. The
first sound is similar to the AA as in BAT
vowel. The tongue is wide and flat, the
back stretches up a little bit. The tongue
tip touches the back of the bottom front
teeth. The upper lip might lift a little, or
it will be relaxed.
To transition into the second position,
the lips round and the jaw drops less.
The back of the tongue stretches up
more. This second position is considered
the same as the UH as in PUSH
vowel. But when it’s a part of a
diphthong, the lips round more than
when it occurs as a pure vowel.
Let’s see this sound up close and in slow motion.
Jaw drops. Here, the upper lip pulls a
little bit. The tongue lifts in the back.
Now the lips come in and round as the
jaw comes up.
The word ‘wound’. The lips start in a
tight circle for the W, but then open out
for the first position of the diphthong
before rounding again for the second
position of the diphthong.
In a stressed syllable, the OW diphthong
curves up then down. Wound, OW. In
an unstressed syllable, it’s lower and
flatter in pitch, as well as quieter and
quicker, ow, ow. The diphthong is
unstressed in the word ‘shutdown’, ow.
Let’s take a look at this word.
Jaw drops, but notice the top lip is
relaxed, it doesn’t pull up. Tongue is
lifted in the back. In the ending position,
the lips aren’t quite as rounded as they
were in the stressed version of this
diphthong.
Here you see the jaw drop in the first
position of the diphthong, stressed
version on top. Notice that the jaw
doesn’t drop as much for the unstressed
diphthong.
Here’s the second position. The lips
don’t round as much for the unstressed
diphthong; they’re more relaxed.
Generally, the unstressed version of a
vowel or diphthong is more relaxed and
often doesn’t take the full mouth
position, in this case, less jaw drop and
less lip rounding. This is because we
don’t take as much time with unstressed
syllables. They’re shorter, so we simplify
the mouth movements.
The OW diphthong, stressed: wound, OW
Unstressed: shutdown, ow
OW, ow, OW, ow.
Example words. Repeat with me:
about, sound, house, letdown, blackout, found.
I hope this video helps you understand
this sound. That’s it, and thanks so
much for using Rachel’s English.