Words With The Ah Sound

How to Pronounce the AH /ɑ/ Vowel and the UH /ʌ/ Vowel

eleven/twenty/2019

The AH in begetter and the UH in butter tin can exist challenging for non-native English speakers to pronounce. This is because both of these sounds are made in the back of the mouth, and they share like natural language, lip, and jaw positions. But with a fiddling do, you should be able to see and hear the differences between these sounds.

The AH /ɑ/ Vowel

The AH vowel is considered a low, back vowel, meaning information technology is made with the jaw dropped low and the tongue pulled back into the mouth. You may fifty-fifty feel some tension in the tongue as you lot say this audio because the tongue is low and flat.

If yous look at the vowel quadrilateral, yous'll notice the AH vowel is located in the lower right paw corner. It is the lowest and farthest dorsum vowel that is made in American English.

Listening Exercise

Here are some words with the AH audio. cop, dog, log, bog.

The UH /ʌ/ Vowel

The UH sound is a primal vowel. The jaw drops down low, merely not as much as it did for the AH audio, and the natural language is more relaxed and neutral in the rima oris.

Look at the vowel quadrilateral again to see if yous tin spot the differences between the locations of the AH and the UH vowels.

Listening Exercise:

Here are some words with the UH sound. issues, lug, cup, dug.

So the differences between the AH in father and the UH in butter are with the jaw and tongue positioning. For the AH sound, the jaw is dropped depression, and the tongue is pulled back and apartment in the mouth. It as well has some tension. Only for the UH audio, the jaw is not every bit depression, and the tongue is more than neutral and relaxed.