In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to learn how to pronounce the OY as in TOY diphthong.
Diphthongs are a combination of two sounds, so they have a starting position and an ending position.
This dipthtong begins with the AW as in LAW [ɔ] vowel.
As a part of the diphthong, the lips round more than they do for the pure vowel by itself,
like in the word ‘law’.
Oy.
The tongue is slightly lifted and shifted a bit back, so the tip of the tongue is not touching anything.
The ending position is the 'ih' as in 'sit' vowel.
The lips relax and the tongue comes forward.
The tip lightly touches the back of the bottom front teeth,
and the top, front part of the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth.
This brings the jaw back up.
Let’s look at this sound up close and in slow motion.
At the beginning of the diphthong, the lips are rounded.
The space inside the mouth is dark because the tongue has shifted back.
For the second position, the corners of the lips have relaxed out
and the front, top part of tongue reaches up towards the roof of the mouth.
There is still some jaw drop.
Here’s the word ‘toy’. Again, lips round for the first sound,
and relax for the second sound as the tongue arches towards the roof of the mouth in the front.
In a stressed syllable, the OY diphthong curves up then down.
Toy. OY.
In an unstressed syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, as well as quieter and quicker
Oy- oy-
The diphthong is unstressed in the word ‘tabloid’.
Oy-
Let’s take a look at this word.
The diphthong looks the same: lips rounded for the beginning position,
then relaxing out for the ending position, before the tongue tip flips up for the D.
But because the pitch is flatter and the syllable is quicker, it sounds unstressed.
The OY diphthong, stressed:
Toy. OY.
Unstressed:
Tabloid. Oy-
OY, oy, OY, oy.
Example words. Repeat with me:
Oil. OY- Oil.
Coin. OY- Coin.
Joyful. OY- Joyful.
Steroid. oy- Steroid.
Loyal. oy- Loyal.
Boy. oy- Boy.
This video is one of 36 in a new series, The Sounds Of American English.
Videos in this series will be release here on YouTube, twice a month,
first and third Thursdays in 2016 and 2017.
But the whole set can be all yours right now.
The real value of these videos is watching them as a set, as a whole,
to give your mind the time to take it all in and get the bigger picture.
Most of the materials you'll find elsewhere just teach the sound on their own, in isolation.
It's a mistake to learn them this way.
We learn the sounds to speak words and sentences, not just sounds.
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Visit rachelsenglish.com/sounds
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