American English Pronunciation Podcast (Pronuncian.com), #78: comparing short a, short o, and aw sound

#78: comparing short a, short o, and aw sound

#78: comparing short a , short o , and aw sound Understanding a sequence of very similar sounds

Listen now!

Note: The most current podcast will begin playing, scroll down to the episode you wish to listen to.

Transcript Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast.

My name is Mandy, and this is our 78th episode. I'm staying on the topic of vowel comparison today.

In the last episode we studied vowels from high to relaxed in the middle of the mouth. Those vowels were the long e , short i , short e , and short u , ( long e , short i , short e , and short u ). Examples of words with those four sounds are beat, bit, bet, but . Today I'm going to give you a series of vowels that are produced with the tongue low in the mouth, the short a , short o , and aw sound , which are pronounced ( short a , short o , and aw sound ). Examples of words with these three sounds are cat, cot, caught . Listen to the words again.

cat, cot, caught

The vowel sounds in those words were short a , short o , and the aw sound ( short a , short o , and aw sound ) cat, cot, caught

Let's explore how these sounds are the same, and how they are different.

I already said they are all produced with the tongue low in the mouth. The similarities end there however. They are different in the shape of the tongue, the amount the jaw is open or closed, and the position of the lips. The short a sound ( short a ) is pronounced with a slightly lowered jaw. The body of the tongue is pressed forward and the front of tongue is low and pressed lightly into the bottom front teeth. The lips are relaxed. The sound is ( short a ) cat. Repeat that sound and word after me:

short a , ( short a ) cat ( short a ) cat So, for the short a sound, the body of the tongue is pressed forward and the front of tongue is low. ( short a ) cat

short o , ( short o ) cot ( short o ) cot Remember, for the short o sound, the jaw opens and the body of the tongue moves back and drops low into the bottom teeth. ( short o ) cot

The transition into the aw sound from the short o sound is kind of complex. The jaw closes about halfway from the short o position, and the back of the tongue rounds slightly upward. The lips are made into an oval shape, and may push outward. The sound is ( aw sound ) caught. Repeat that sound and word after me:

( aw sound ) caught ( aw sound ) caught To review, to create the aw sound , the back of the tongue rounds slightly upward. The lips are made into an oval shape, and may push outward. ( aw sound ) caught

To compare all three sounds, the short a ( short a ) is the most forward, with the front of the tongue low, the short o ( short o ) has the jaw quite open and the tongue back and in the lowest position in the middle of the mouth. The aw sound ( aw sound ) requires closing the jaw again, which forces the back of the tongue upward, but only slightly. During the aw sound , the lips are made into a tense oval shape, which also alters the sound from the short o . Let's practice some minimal sets of all three of these sounds.

I'll say all three words, then leave time for you to repeat after me. cat, cot, caught add, odd, awed sad, sod, sawed stack, stock, stalk tack, tock, talk Don't be surprised if it takes a lot of listening practice to recognize these as separate and distinct sounds.

The short a , short o , and aw sound cause a lot of trouble for many, many non-native speakers from a wide variety of language backgrounds. There is a new free lesson up on Pronuncian that gives audio examples of these sounds as well as a written description and illustration.

If you are a Pronuncian subscriber, there is also a listening quiz attached to the lesson. You can test yourself and see how well you can hear the difference between these sounds. I'll link to that lesson from this show's transcripts. You can find the transcripts for this show as well as all of our past episodes by visiting www.pronuncian.com/podcast. If you're not a Pronuncian subscriber yet, you may want to consider subscribing.

It costs as little as $15 per month if you sign up for a 6-month subscription. You get access to all the Pronuncian listening exercises, quizzes, video lessons, and the TrueVoice record and compare feature. Besides the extra content, you provide Pronuncian with the financial support that allows us to continue creating these podcasts as well as all of the Pronuncian.com content. Go to www.pronuncian.com/join to subscribe now. To all of you who have already subscribed to Pronuncian, we thank you for your generous contributions.

That's all for today.

Thanks for listening everyone. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication.

SLA is where the world comes to learn. Bye-bye.

#78: comparing short a, short o, and aw sound #78: Vergleich von kurzem a, kurzem o und aw-Laut #78: comparación de la a corta, la o corta y el sonido aw #N°78 : comparer le a court, le o court et le son aw #78: confronto tra la a breve, la o breve e il suono aw #第78回：短いa、短いo、awの音の比較 #78번: 짧은 a, 짧은 o, aw 소리 비교하기 #78: comparar o som do a curto, do o curto e do aw #78: сравнение короткого a, короткого o и звука aw #78: kısa a, kısa o ve aw seslerinin karşılaştırılması #78: порівнюємо короткі а, о та оу зі звуками a, o та aw #78：比较短 a、短 o 和 aw 声音

#78: comparing short a , short o , and aw sound primerjanje||||||| Understanding a sequence of very similar sounds razumevanje||zaporedje zvokov|||podobnih| Das Verstehen einer Abfolge von sehr ähnlichen Klängen

Listen now! Jetzt anhören!

Note: The most current podcast will begin playing, scroll down to the episode you wish to listen to. Hinweis: Der aktuellste Podcast wird abgespielt. Scrollen Sie nach unten zur Episode, die Sie hören möchten. Note: The most current podcast will begin playing, scroll down to the episode you wish to listen to.

Transcript Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy’s American English Pronunciation Podcast. Hallo zusammen und herzlich willkommen zurück beim American English Pronunciation Podcast der Seattle Learning Academy.

My name is Mandy, and this is our 78th episode. Mein Name ist Mandy und dies ist unsere 78. Episode. I’m staying on the topic of vowel comparison today. |||||||comparação| Ich werde heute zum Thema des Vokalvergleichs bleiben.

In the last episode we studied vowels from high to relaxed in the middle of the mouth. In der letzten Episode haben wir Vokale von hoch bis entspannt in der Mitte des Mundes studiert. Those vowels were the long e , short i , short e , and short u , ( long e , short i , short e , and short u ). Diese Vokale waren das lange e, kurze i, kurze e und kurze u, (lange e, kurze i, kurze e und kurze u). Examples of words with those four sounds are beat, bit, bet, but . Beispiele für Wörter mit diesen vier Klängen sind beat, bit, bet, but. Today I’m going to give you a series of vowels that are produced with the tongue low in the mouth, the short a , short o , and aw sound , which are pronounced ( short a , short o , and aw sound ). Heute werde ich Ihnen eine Reihe von Vokalen geben, die mit der Zunge tief im Mund produziert werden, den kurzen a-, kurzen o- und aw-Laut, die wie (kurzes a, kurzes o und aw-Laut) ausgesprochen werden. Examples of words with these three sounds are cat, cot, caught . Beispiele für Wörter mit diesen drei Lauten sind Katze, Bett, gefangen. Listen to the words again. Hören Sie sich die Wörter noch einmal an.

cat, cot, caught

The vowel sounds in those words were short a , short o , and the aw sound ( short a , short o , and aw sound ) cat, cot, caught

Let’s explore how these sounds are the same, and how they are different. Lass uns erkunden, wie diese Geräusche gleich und wie sie unterschiedlich sind.

I already said they are all produced with the tongue low in the mouth. Ich habe bereits gesagt, dass sie alle mit der Zunge tief im Mund erzeugt werden. The similarities end there however. Die Ähnlichkeiten enden jedoch dort. They are different in the shape of the tongue, the amount the jaw is open or closed, and the position of the lips. Sie unterscheiden sich in der Form der Zunge, der Öffnung oder Schließung des Kiefers und der Position der Lippen. The short a sound ( short a ) is pronounced with a slightly lowered jaw. Der kurze Laut a (kurzes a) wird mit einem leicht gesenkten Kiefer ausgesprochen. The body of the tongue is pressed forward and the front of tongue is low and pressed lightly into the bottom front teeth. Der Körper der Zunge wird nach vorne gedrückt und die Vorderseite der Zunge ist tief und leicht gegen die unteren vorderen Zähne gedrückt. The lips are relaxed. Die Lippen sind entspannt. The sound is ( short a ) cat. Der Ton ist (kurzes a) Katze. Repeat that sound and word after me: Wiederholen Sie diesen Ton und dieses Wort nach mir:

short a , ( short a ) cat ( short a ) cat So, for the short a sound, the body of the tongue is pressed forward and the front of tongue is low. ( short a ) cat

To transition into the short o sound ( short o ), the jaw opens and the body of the tongue moves back and drops low into the bottom teeth. The lips are more rounded than for the short a sound, but still relaxed. Die Lippen sind runder als beim kurzen "a"-Klang, aber dennoch entspannt. The sound is ( short o ) cot. Der Klang ist (kurzes o) 'cot'. Repeat that sound and word after me: Wiederholen Sie diesen Klang und das Wort nach mir:

short o , ( short o ) cot ( short o ) cot |||||||cama Remember, for the short o sound, the jaw opens and the body of the tongue moves back and drops low into the bottom teeth. |||||||mandíbula||||||||||||||||os dentes inferiores Merke: für den kurzen o-Laut öffnet sich der Kiefer und der Körper der Zunge bewegt sich zurück und fällt tief zu den unteren Zähnen. ( short o ) cot (kurzes o) Kissen

The transition into the aw sound from the short o sound is kind of complex. ||||||||||||um pouco|| Der Übergang vom kurzen o-Laut zum aw-Laut ist ziemlich komplex. The jaw closes about halfway from the short o position, and the back of the tongue rounds slightly upward. |||||||||||||||||ligeiramente|para cima Der Kiefer schließt sich ungefähr zur Hälfte von der kurzen O-Position, und die Rückseite der Zunge rundet sich leicht nach oben. The lips are made into an oval shape, and may push outward. Die Lippen formen sich zu einer ovalen Form und können nach außen gedrückt werden. The sound is ( aw sound ) caught. Der Klang ist (aw sound) eingefangen. Repeat that sound and word after me:

( aw sound ) caught ( aw sound ) caught To review, to create the aw sound , the back of the tongue rounds slightly upward. The lips are made into an oval shape, and may push outward. ||||||ovalada|||||para fora Die Lippen werden zu einer ovalen Form geformt und können nach außen gedrückt werden. ( aw sound ) caught ( aw sound ) gefangen

To compare all three sounds, the short a ( short a ) is the most forward, with the front of the tongue low, the short o ( short o ) has the jaw quite open and the tongue back and in the lowest position in the middle of the mouth. Um alle drei Laute zu vergleichen, ist der kurze a-Laut (kurzes a) am vordersten, mit der Zungenspitze tief, der kurze o-Laut (kurzes o) hat den Kiefer ziemlich geöffnet und die Zunge zurück und in der niedrigsten Position in der Mitte des Mundes. The aw sound ( aw sound ) requires closing the jaw again, which forces the back of the tongue upward, but only slightly. |||||||||||||||||para cima||| Der aw sound ( aw sound ) erfordert erneut das Schließen des Kiefers, was die Rückseite der Zunge nach oben zwingt, allerdings nur leicht. During the aw sound , the lips are made into a tense oval shape, which also alters the sound from the short o . |||||||||||||||modifica|||||| Während des aw sound werden die Lippen in eine angespannte ovale Form gebracht, was auch den Klang vom kurzen o verändert. Let’s practice some minimal sets of all three of these sounds. Lassen Sie uns einige minimale Sätze mit allen drei dieser Laute üben.

I’ll say all three words, then leave time for you to repeat after me. Ich werde alle drei Wörter sagen und dann Zeit für dich lassen, um sie nach mir zu wiederholen. cat, cot, caught add, odd, awed sad, sod, sawed stack, stock, stalk tack, tock, talk |berço||||admirado||grama de relva|serrou|||caules talos||| Katze, Bett, gefangen hinzufügen, seltsam, beeindruckt traurig, Sod, sägte Stapel, Lager, Stängel Anlage, Tick, sprechen Don’t be surprised if it takes a lot of listening practice to recognize these as separate and distinct sounds. Seien Sie nicht überrascht, wenn es viel Übungszeit erfordert, um diese als separate und deutliche Laute zu erkennen.

The short a , short o , and aw sound cause a lot of trouble for many, many non-native speakers from a wide variety of language backgrounds. Der kurze a-, kurze o- und aw-Klang bereitet vielen, vielen Nicht-Muttersprachlern aus einer Vielzahl von Sprachhintergründen große Schwierigkeiten. There is a new free lesson up on Pronuncian that gives audio examples of these sounds as well as a written description and illustration. ||||||||Pronuncian||||||||||||||| Es gibt eine neue kostenlose Lektion auf Pronuncian, die Audio-Beispiele dieser Laute sowie eine schriftliche Beschreibung und Illustration enthält.

If you are a Pronuncian subscriber, there is also a listening quiz attached to the lesson. Wenn Sie ein Pronuncian-Abonnent sind, gibt es auch ein Hörquiz, das der Lektion beigefügt ist. You can test yourself and see how well you can hear the difference between these sounds. Du kannst dich selbst testen und sehen, wie gut du den Unterschied zwischen diesen Klängen hören kannst. I’ll link to that lesson from this show’s transcripts. Ich werde einen Link zu dieser Lektion von den Transkripten dieser Show einfügen. You can find the transcripts for this show as well as all of our past episodes by visiting www.pronuncian.com/podcast. Die Transkripte für diese Show sowie alle unsere vergangenen Episoden findest du auf www.pronuncian.com/podcast. If you’re not a Pronuncian subscriber yet, you may want to consider subscribing.

It costs as little as $15 per month if you sign up for a 6-month subscription. Es kostet so wenig wie $15 pro Monat, wenn Sie sich für ein 6-monatiges Abonnement anmelden. You get access to all the Pronuncian listening exercises, quizzes, video lessons, and the TrueVoice record and compare feature. Sie erhalten Zugriff auf alle Pronuncian-Hörübungen, Quizfragen, Videolektionen und das TrueVoice-Aufnahme- und Vergleichsfeature. Besides the extra content, you provide Pronuncian with the financial support that allows us to continue creating these podcasts as well as all of the Pronuncian.com content. Neben dem zusätzlichen Inhalt unterstützen Sie Pronuncian finanziell, was es uns ermöglicht, diese Podcasts sowie alle Inhalte auf Pronuncian.com weiter zu erstellen. Go to www.pronuncian.com/join to subscribe now. To all of you who have already subscribed to Pronuncian, we thank you for your generous contributions.

That’s all for today.

Thanks for listening everyone. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication.

SLA is where the world comes to learn. Bye-bye.