American English Vowels | IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) vowel chart FREE DOWNLOAD

Hey there. It's Hadar. And this is the accent Sway. Today I have a different lesson for you, and that is because I have my magic marker in one hand and my vowel chart on the wall. And we are going to talk about all the vowels of American English. I'm going to walk you through this vowel chart. You might have seen it in the past. So we're going to talk about all the strange and funny symbols here and what they represent, but also I'm going to teach you how to pronounce them and what are the challenges that you might be facing as you're trying to pronounce these sounds as a non native speaker. So let's begin. This is a diagram of your mouth, basically. So you need to think of it as if it's the profile of a person, as if I'm standing like this. And all the vowels on the left part of the chart are front vowels. That means that the tongue is rolling forward to produce those vowels. Okay. These are front vowels in comparison to back vowels where the tongue pulls back. Okay. So basically, the horizontal axis shows you the position of the tongue, the placement of the tongue in comparison to the front of the mouth, the front or the back. Now, the vertical axis is basically the position of your jaw. So as you go higher on the chart, then the mouth is more closed, the jaw is more closed, for example, and as you go down, the jaw drops. Now, technically, it's not really the position of the tongue, but it's actually the space between the tongue and the upper palate. Okay. And as you open your mouth, there is more space between the tongue, the body of the tongue, or the highest part of the tongue and. And the upper palate. Okay? So position of the tongue in relation to the front of the mouth or position of the tongue in relation to the roof of the mouth. Clear. Good. Now, there are a few other elements that we're going to talk about as we go along. Let's begin with front vowels, and I'm going to take my magic marker for that. So as we go to the left part of the chart and the highest point of the chart, we see the E sound. E. This sound is the E as in C, we and she. Okay? It's a high vowel. High because the tongue is high. It's a tense vowel because all the articulation organs are really tense. The lips pull to the sides a bit. E, we, she. Okay. And that is in comparison to the relaxed sound that also exists in American English. Now, as you can see, it's a little lower Here, Lower. A little lower on the chart. And that means that the tongue is a little lower. So one of the ways to do that is to just drop your jaw a little bit. It's a relaxed sound. It's the laxed sound. And we find it in words like fish, ship, and rich. Okay? A relaxed I sound, as you can see. So I have in. In green, we have here the five neutral vowel sounds that exist in some languages. So in comparison to those five neutral vowel sounds, we see that there are two different e sounds, and none of them sound like a neutral E sound. Okay? So one is more tense. E, she, we. And one is relaxed, actually going closer to an e sound. Fish, rich, and ship. Ship. It's relaxed. So the jaw is dropped. The jaw is dropped also because I want to bring the tongue a little lower, the body of the tongue, right? So it doesn't touch the upper. It's not close to the upper palate because, as you can see, it's a little lower on the chart, kid. Now, it's not e. This is a neutral E sound, as in it doesn't exist in English, but it's a neutral. So a lot of people may say something like set, set, but it's not set. It's sit, kid. Rich. Right? Now if we go a little lower, we get to the American. And as in red, head, and said. Notice that it's not said. It's not the diphthong a. In blue, we have the diphthongs. Diphthongs are vowels that change in the middle of pronunciation. Or actually you can think of it as two vowels that go together within the same syllable. So here, this is an sound just a bit more open than a neutral sound that might exist in your language if you are a Spanish speaker. For example, red, head, said. Okay? Now that's the e sound. If I drop my jaw a bit more, lower my tongue a bit more. Remember, I need to keep the tip of the tongue forward because it's on the front on the left side of the chart. Right. Then we get to the as in cat. A bat. Cat, happy. Right. Cat. And bad. And left. So we have the tense e as in seat. The relaxed e as in situation, the e as in set, and the a as in sat. Now do it with me. Seat, Sit, set, sat, bead, tense, E, bid, relaxed, I, bed. That's the E sound and bad. Right? So these are pure vowels, the four pure vowels in American English and e, I. Now let's look at diphthongs in the front. Okay, so we have The A as in day, as you can see, it's a little higher. That means that the tongue is a little higher for the a. That's a changing vowel. Now it's really important because that's how you distinguish between. Let's use a different color here. That's how you distinguish between cell and sail, right? Because that's the S sound. Sail. And here you have a changing vowel, sail. So you start with an e and then actually the tongue is going towards the E sound, right? So you have to reach that part. Imagine as if you're adding a Y sound, like in yes, day sale fail safe date. Okay, so that's a long A sound. And it is long because it's a diphthong. So you're kind of like squeezing two vowels together. That's the A and that's. And here if we go a little lower, we see that the A sound, that's the as in cat exists in a diphthong as well. Now we see that we start with a and then we move into the sound all the way back here. So basically you're going like this. The front part of the tongue is pulling back or the tongue is. The tongue pulls back and you start with a and you move into. Because that's the as in now, now, right? So we have now brown. Now it's really deceiving because it's spelled with o in w. But basically it's that a as in cat sound in American English, A. And then you move to the oo sound. Now brown sound. Right Sound. Now it's not mistake to say sound. What have I done here? I just pulled my tongue back and I started with a more neutral sound sound. But if you are going for the American accent, then the first sound is definitely closer to the A as in cat sound. Now the last diphthong we have here is I as in my. Okay, my life. And also just the word I. So here you start with an open mouth because it's at, you know, the bottom of the chart. That means that the jaw is at its most open position. The tongue is in the front. Ah. And then you transition to an E right away. I. I. Life. It's not life. It's not I. Right, It's I. You have to hear the transition again here. You can think as if you're adding a Y sound in the middle. I. My might. Okay, not might. So the transition is really important to clarify that this is the vowel that you're using. Okay, so again, let's look at all the vowel sounds in the front part of the mouth. And we have the E as in sea, the as in sit, the a as in day, the E as in red, the a as in cat, au as in now, and I as in my. I hope you're repeating after me. Now let's move on to the center. Okay, this is the schwa sound. The schwa is the most neutral vowel sound in American English. And look where it's positioned. It's right there in the middle of the chart. So because the tongue is basically at rest pose, so it's resting there on the bottom part of the mouth, the jaw is not too tense, it's not too open, Pretty much as if you're just like what you're doing right now if you're not speaking. So you're just sitting there listening to me, and your tongue is resting on the bottom part of the mouth, and that's your schwa. It's also a really short sound. That's the schwa sound. Now, if we go down a bit, then we get the sound. And this is. It's also called a stressed schwa, and that's a cup sound. Now, while the schwa is always unstressed, so it's always the unstressed syllable in a word, the cup is always stressed. For example, cup, country, love. Okay? So that's. I call it the neutral sound in American English, even though it's not exactly an ah, but it's the closest one. As you can see. This is a neutral. If you have that in your language, then you. This may sound pretty similar to you. And don't mind the spelling patterns. Money, company. Right, don't mind the spelling patterns because the fact that there is an o doesn't mean that there is an o sound. And actually it's a cup sound. Money, love, country, and of course, cup. The third central vowel that we're going to talk about today is the r, as in stir. Now, actually, you can do something like this to indicate that this vowel is always associated with the R sound. Okay? Basically, it's like you're taking the schwa sound and you're bringing the back of the tongue up a bit to create that R tension to make the R. Basically, the sides of the tongue touch the insides of the upper teeth. So this is the most neutral sound combined with the r. And we find it in words like firm and learn her and everyone's favorite girl. And we can also add world here. Right? So even though there is an o here and an I and an e and e, a and I, it's all the same sound. Er, girl, world. Learn her and not hair. Right? Because I'm not adding an S sound there. Because there isn't an S sound there. Her, her. And that's the stir sound. Very neutral. The tongue is in the center. It's just the sides of the tongue pull back a bit to create that R sound. Now let's move on. Let's stick with the red this time. Let's move on to the back vowels. So here, just like with the tense and relaxed, we have two U sounds. And in many languages there is only one sound. Now, that's a generalization because, you know, some speakers use actually just this oo sound. Some use the relaxed sound. Some have don't even have an U sound in their language. Or at least the lips are not rounded. So just take whatever I'm saying with a grain of salt when I'm talking about the five neutral vowel sounds in American English. It's related to languages that have five vowels or at least the five neutral vowel sounds. Now, this is the tense oo sound. Oo, as in you. You. Now think about it. What is it that you're hearing here that is different from how many non native speakers may pronounce it? You. You. It's longer. I can hear you. I know. You just said that. You. Right, You. So it's longer as if I'm adding a W here, right? You two. And room. Tense oo. So it's a tense sound. The back of the tongue is all the way up there. The body of the tongue is really close to the soft palate in the back, right? And the lips round. Actually, if we look at vowels on the right side here versus the left side, that means that these are also rounded. The lips are more rounded. Oo. Oo. I gotta push my lips forward. Food. You. Room. Right. Now, in comparison to the relaxed. Now, if you look at it, it's as if I'm taking if I'm moving from the U to the schwa, which is a neutral sound. So to the relaxed is somewhere in the middle. So you need to think about the relaxed and as in book foot. And look as a middle sound between the tense oo and the relaxed and the schwa. Right? Does that make sense? Okay, let's look at it again. So tense oo. And this is the relaxed. So it's not book foot. Look, it's book foot. Lips are not really rounded. And look, took, push, pull. All of them have the same vowel sound. And that's the relaxed sound. Okay, now if we move down the chart. Okay, so let's go through these diphthongs. Here we have the O as in go. Now, this is a neutral o sound, and that actually does not exist in American English. So there is no English. There are similar sounds. There is the sound that is a bit more open, But a neutral o does not exist. So a lot of times when people try to make that o diphthong, as in go and show and only, they end up saying something like only and go and show. Right? So they don't round the lips at the end to an oo sound. And you may even want to think about it as if you're adding a w at the end, right? O only. Don't. A long vowel, a changing vowel, and you're transitioning from the o to the oo only. Hotel, right? Not hotel. Definitely not hotel. Show. Okay, so that's the long O as in go. As you can see, we are going a little lower going down the char. That means that the jaw is a bit more open and the tongue is still in the back. You can hear that the sound resonates differently than the e sound or sound. That is all about the front of the mouth. Now let's move on. Here we have the as in daughter sound. Daughter, basically every or law. So if we are thinking of this sound in isolation, the typical spelling patterns that represent the sound are the aw, au, sometimes ou, a l, l, like tall and fall, and alk, like walk. Now, I want to tell you something about this aw sound. When used alone. Now, it doesn't exist in all dialects of American English. So, for example, it is more likely to be found, or at least you'll find these words pronounced with the aw sound on the west. On the east coast, right, you'll hear law and tall and daughter, aw, aw. But on the west coast, people actually merge this sound with the ah as an father, a back open vowel sound. Right. I'll talk about this one in a sec. But in the meantime, let's talk about the merge. So in some dialects, this aw sound will be pronounced as ah. So instead of daughter, you'll hear daughter. Instead of law, you'll hear law. Fall, Fall. Right. So you're. You're like. Basically, the difference between those two is that if it's lower on the chart, that means that the mouth is more open and the lips are less rounded. Right? Father, Law. Now, this is not a rounded sound. I cheated when I created this chart, and it's technically supposed to be here because on the right side, the vowels are more rounded. So for those of you who are going to pick on what I've done here, know that I did it because it looks better, but I always explain it. So the oz and father sound is supposed to be here because it's not rounded. The pair of the oz and father that is rounded is this sound that exists only in British English, not in American English. And that is the honest vowel. Honest, coffee. And all of these vowels, all of these words are pronounced with this sound in America, in British English, but with oz and father. This is why I'm going to erase this. Oz and father. So here we have coffee and honest, right? So all of those words that are spelled with o are actually pronounced with ah, father, coffee, honest. On the west coast, you'll also hear FA tala. On the east coast, you're more likely to hear fall, tall, law. So the lips are a bit more rounded and the jaw is more closed. And also the tongue is a little higher for this one. Now this, the oi sound. As you can see, there is another diphthong hiding underneath all my writings here. This is the oi as in toy that exists in all dialects, right? The oi as in toy. So let's take the black marker here and then write down toy, boy, and coin. And here we move from the sound, so you need to drop your jaw a little bit to the I as in sit, toy, boy, coin. Right? Okay, so I think that's it. So let's look at all the back vowels. Here we have the tense oo as in food, the relaxed and as in foot, O as in go, oy as in toy, O as in daughter, but you can also pronounce it as daughter. And the oz and father, coffee, honest, and office. Now, let's go through all the sounds one more time, and I'm going to leave some time for you to repeat the words that I'm saying. Okay, starting from the front part of the chart, let's begin. E as in seat, as in sit, E as in read, A as in cat, A as in day, au as in now, I as in my. And that is the schwa, as in around o', clock, holla, day. And then we have the cup, as in cup, love, fun, country, R as in stir and girl. Then we move on to the tense oo as in food, room, you, U, cook, look, book, O. My jaw drops O, aw, oy, boy, toy. And then the ah, my jaw is really open. The lips are not really rounded. Ah, office, coffee and honest. What do you think? I hope this simplifies a little bit. Maybe it confuses you right now, but if you watch it again, you'll see that it does make sense. And understanding what are the vowels in American English and understanding what vowels you don't have in your native tongue will help you focus on the things that will improve your pronunciation, that will improve your clarity. Because if you are mispronouncing or if you don't have this distinction between the tense e and relaxed, different words are going to sound the same. Sheep and ship are going to sound like sheep and sheep, or sail and sell, right? Or bed and bad if you don't have these two vowels in your native tongue. And you can, by the way, go to Wikipedia and look for the vowel chart of the sounds in your native tongue, right? And then see how it is different from the vowel chart of American English, right? What vowels don't exist in your native tongue. So. And then you don't want to confuse the e and the A or the U and, and the right tense, ooh, relaxed, so on and so forth. So this is just understanding the vowels in order to really own them and to use them. You need to do some more work. So you need to tackle the sounds that are challenging for you, to practice it, to teach your mouth to pronounce those sounds clearly and accurately every single time, and then to drill it in words, phrases and sentences in order for you to develop the muscle memory so you won't have to think about it every time you speak. Now, if you want to learn more with me, come check out My website, the accentsway.com or my YouTube channel, AccentsWay English with Hadar. And there you'll find hundreds of different videos about how to pronounce the sounds of American English, about American intonation, and also motivational videos that will inspire you and get you to do the work. Have a beautiful rest of the day and I will see you next time in the next video. Bye.