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In this American English pronunciation video, We're going to talk about aa, aa, aa, and
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placement in American English.
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I've found myself talking about placement a lot recently in my online course, and with
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my private students. This is because placement can effect the quality of a vowel, the sound
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of a vowel. Take, for example, AH and UH. The difference in the tongue position, in
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the lip position, jaw position, is very subtle. The sound is effected as much by the placement
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as by the change in the mouth position. AH -- I feel that vibrating more here in the
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mouth. Ah. But UH, uh, I feel that more here. Ah, uh. The core sound of American English
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is, uh, very grounded here in the chest. But for other languages, there's some manipulation
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in the throat, in the neck, that causes the placement, uh, to rise further up into the
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face. So if you're trying to speak American English but all of your placement is here,
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you're going to lack some of the quality of the vowel, uh, uh, that we need.
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If you've never thought about placement before, this can be a pretty confusing concept. It's
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not something you can see, like adjusting a lip position. But, it can make a big difference
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in your sound. As a first step, I invite you to just play around with placement like I
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did in the introduction of the video. AA. Point, ah, and try to feel the vibration there.
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Uh. Pay attention to what subtle differences are changing. Maybe there's some tension in
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the neck and then a relaxation as you move from one placement to another.
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Keep in mind we're not changing the pitch of the sound, we're changing the placement.
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Aa, aa. Same pitch, same vowel, different placement. Once you've been able to start
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feeling your voice in different places in your mouth, start trying to think about getting
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it down here. This requires a full relaxation of the throat. No muscles here should be engaged.
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Uh, uh. So when the throat relaxes and opens up, it allows the voice to settle down here.
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Uh, uh. If you've always spoken with a high placement, it might feel like your throat
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is already relaxed because that is what is natural and normal to you. So, try to push
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your placement really far forward. And see what changes happen to make that sound move
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forward. Aa. If I make that sound, I feel, aa, a tightening here, in my throat. So I
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know if I want to bring it back, I have to relax that. Aa, aa.
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If you have a hard time hearing the difference between between Ah and Uh, ah, uh, thinking
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about placement may help.
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As you work on your speech, think about the fact that the core sound of American English
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is uh, placed here, uh, uh. You may find that the quality of your vowels improve, and that
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you start to sound more American.
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That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.
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I'm excited to announce that I'm running another online course, so do check out my website
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for details. You'll find on there all sorts of information about the course, who should
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take the course, and requirements. I really hope you'll check it out and consider signing
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up. I've had a blast with my first online course, and I'm looking forward to getting
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to know you.
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Don't stop there. Have fun with my real-life English videos. Or get more comfortable with
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the IPA in this play list. Learn about the online courses I offer, or check out my latest
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video.
