pronunciation of English vowel sounds
lesson 5 diphthongs
hello everyone it's finally time to talk
about the last group of vowels the
diphthongs they are I al boy I al boy
let me give you some key words I tie al
cow
boy toy
so what is a diphthong if you've never
heard this term before think about the
way it's written diphthong it's spelled
with di diphthong die means - we're
putting two sounds together - single or
pure vowel sounds together a single
vowel is like e or it you can see in the
phonetic transcriptions for the
diphthongs that there are two symbols
and we're putting them together what we
need to do is move from the first sound
to the second the first sound is going
to be louder and longer and then we
glide into the second this description
may sound familiar to you we've actually
done this kind of movement from one
sound to another over here Oh in that
sound we also had a beginning and an
ending sound a movement from one sound
to the other but these are the three
traditional diphthongs the movement from
one sound to another is more noticeable
it's less noticeable here and here
although you see that these sounds are
also written with two symbols two
symbols put together
which two sounds are we putting together
for each of our diphthongs there are
different explanations and our
explanations very partly because our
pronunciation varies but in general all
teachers agree that for these
traditional diphthongs were moving from
a more open position to a more closed
position I will explain more in detail
and more accurately but just so you get
an idea of what's happening let me tell
you at this point that I moves from here
to here generally and for owl we're
moving from here to here again speaking
generally and for oh we're moving from
here to here again from a more open
position to a more closed position the
first vowel sound being longer and
louder and then gliding into our second
sound now let me take the time to
explain how we produce each of the
diphthongs our first diphthong is I
I
as in Thai
tie we're moving towards this sound II
but where are we living from we need to
start from a more open position down
here I I remember the first sound is
going to be louder and longer we don't
fully move into E with our lips fully
spread but we come close start in a more
open position and then glide into e i i
i ty
let's talk for a moment about vowel
length if you recall at the beginning of
the series I explained how a consonant
can affect the length of a vowel that
comes before it there's a difference
between voiced and voiceless consonants
do you remember well T is voiceless D is
voiced if a vowel sound is followed by a
voiced consonant like D dip the valve
sound is longer if a vowel is followed
by a voiceless consonant like T the
vowel length is shorter so let's take
tight I'm going to make this tight very
tight
tight tight I have this vowel sound but
because the T follows it's shorter now
let's talk about time time ma ma is a
voiced consonant so the same cell now
becomes longer because it's longer in
the word time you're going to see more
movement in my mouth there will be more
noticeable movement from an open
position to a closed position
watch closely again tight time
tight
time
do you hear the difference in length and
do you see the difference in movement
it may help you to know that there's a
slight Y sound you that makes the Glide
possible I this long I sound is usually
spelled with an i or IE although there
are other spellings let's first say this
as an open sound tie hi
now let's say it followed by a voiced
consonant tied hide and finally we'll
follow it with a voiceless consonant
tight height
the next diphthong will practice is owl
owl as in
cow
again you'll see movement from a more
open position to a more closed position
this time we're moving from around here
to here so our lips are moving in to a
circle not a tight one as an ooh
but approaching that cow cow al al
it may help you to know that we're using
a slight W sound
wah to make the slide possible the owl
is often spelled as Oh W or oh you let's
practice it as an open sound first cow
how now let's practice it followed by a
voiced consonant noun love and finally
we'll practice the sound followed by a
voiceless consonant out house
the last diphthong will practice is boy
Oy as in toy toy
oi once again you'll see a more open
position move into a more closed
position boy boy we're moving into E
again not a full spread
E but close to that boy where we started
there's a lot of variation with
diphthongs you see this sound but we're
not really saying oh actually I'd argue
it's more around here but boy boy some
more of a mid position to a high
position
boy toy toy boy
it may help you to know that we're using
a slight wise sound here to make this
glide possible oi the sound is written
as o Y or oh I
let's first practice oi as an open sound
as in toy boy
and now let's follow the sound with a
voiced consonant noise join and now
we'll practice the sound followed by a
voiceless consonant voice
exercise one answer the questions one
say aye
when is your tongue in a higher position
aye it should be in a higher position at
the end of the word I move from a more
open to a more closed position I to say
owl when are your lips in a smaller
circle owl your lip should be in a
smaller circle at the end of the word
you're moving again from a more open to
a more closed position a smaller circle
happens at the end
l-3 say joy when are your lips more
spread joy
your lips should be more spread at the
end of the word joy again you're moving
more towards e at the end so you're
pulling your lips outward not into a
full spread e but close joy for say ride
and right which vowel sound is longer
the eye and ride should be longer
because the D is a voiced consonant
listen again ride right v say my and
mite which vowel sound is longer the why
in my is longer because it's an open
sound T is a voiceless consonant my
might
at this point we've now practiced all of
the English vowel sounds there are other
combinations I could present for example
while we've talked about diphthongs
can you guess what trip thumbs are it's
taking our traditional diphthongs and
adding another sound particularly this
one urn what if I do this I iron Eyre is
a trick bone as in the word fire fire
ire
how about al al were our hours how many
hours in a day our hour and our last
trip thunk Oh your or as an employer who
is your employer or your boy so we can
talk about diphthongs we could also talk
about Tripp thongs exercise to listen
and repeat let's practice ire as in fire
liar now try the trip thong or as an
employer and foyer
and finally the trip thong our as in the
word our now say power
let's review our diphthongs one more
time
repeat after me aye-aye
al al
oi oi
now let's review the key words I tie ow
Cal boy
toy while making this lesson I found it
helpful to look at these sources I think
you would find them helpful to
additional practice for this lesson is
available at English cafe comm follow
the direct link listed in the video
description practice includes a full
review of the vowel sounds well that's
all for now I hope you found this lesson
useful thanks for watching and happy
studies