Vowel Articulation Tips

Vowel Articulation TipsThese are very close together and easily confused.Don’t worry too much if students mix these up for a while. (continued. . . .)Your tongue and jaw are slightly more open when you say Short E.In other words, Short I is higher than Short E.A test: when you say Short I, you can fit only a fingernail between your teeth.When you say Short E, you can fit a finger.Short A (as in ‘bat’)Mouth is even more open than Short E.Lips are pulled back.If you relax your lips, you get Short U.Short U (as in ‘cub’) = Lazy Sound“Make your mouth as relaxed as jello. What sound is that?”“What you say when you don’t know the answer.”OO (as in ‘book’)Lips are still rounded, but open jaw a little bit.Long I, Long U, Long A and Long OIn English, these sounds are dipthongs, meaning that your mouth slides throughtwo positions. Long I slides from a low open position to a smile. Long U (as in'cute') slides from the smiliest smile to the roundest round. (Long U can alsorepresent only the roundest round sound, as in 'chute.') Long A slides fromslightly open and front (like Short E) to the smiliest smile. Long O slides from alow round position to the roundest round.OW and OYThese two sounds are also dipthongs, or “sliders.” OW starts low (like Short A)and slides to the roundest round. OY starts low and round (like Long O) andslides to the smiliest smile.A Technical Summary:For those of you who are interested, here are all the American English vowels. The vertical axisdescribes the height of the tongue. The horizontal axis describes whether the sound is made in thefront or back of the mouth. The arrows show vowel sounds that are dipthongs; these vowels “slide”between two mouth positions.page 2 08/03/01