179. How to pronounce Law and Low

10 Dec 2021 · 0 min

Episode

10 Dec 2021 · 0 min

0:00

A short "How to Pronounce Friday" podcast episode from the Influency podcast (host Hadar Shemesh) explaining the English spelling/pronunciation pattern where A+W (as in "law") represents an "ah" vowel (as in "father") rather than the vowel in "low." The host notes dialectal rounding variants, gives example words (draw, dawn, crawl, lawn, awful/awesome), and closes with a subscribe/rate call-to-action and an Instagram handle (Hadar Accentsway).

Welcome to the Influency podcast. I'm Hadar and this is how to Pronounce Friday, where we take a confusing word or word pair. We learn how to pronounce it and how to use it with confidence. Let's get started.
Today we are going to discuss the spelling pattern. Awesome. As in law. Now, we've already established that spelling and pronunciation do not always correspond in English. And this is a really good example because although you have a W there, right? Law, we do not round our lips to make a W sound. It is not low. Alright, that's a different word. We say law. Law. So remember, whenever the W appears after an A, it represents together the ah as in father vowel sound. Law. Now, in some dialects you'll hear it as a more rounded sound, Law. That's also okay. The most important thing is that you have to remember it is not a changing vowel. It's not low, it's law. Awful and not awful. Awesome. Awesome and not awesome. Right? Let's look at a few more words. Draw. Dawn. Crawl. Lawn. Ah. Alright, that's it for today.
Okay, that was your how to Pronounce Friday episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you like the podcast, then consider subscribing to the podcast. And if you feel really crazy, you can even rate and review the podcast. And you can find me at Hadar Accentsway on Instagram where you can DM me and ask for all the crazy, fancy, confusing words that you'd like to know how to pronounce. Have a beautiful day and I'll see you next time.