The Big 6

in
American English Pronunciation

Lecture Notes for the ESL Students of

Ms. Jenny Araojo

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Contents
Pronunciation Overview............................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Bat? Bought? But?....................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
The Schwa Sounds................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Tense Vowels........................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Lax Vowels................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
The American T ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
The American T – Top of the Staircase [T is T].......................................................................................................................... 6
The American T – Middle of the Staircase [T is D] ................................................................................................................... 6
The American T – [T is Silent] .......................................................................................................................................................... 7
The American T – Bottom of the Staircase [T is Held]............................................................................................................ 7
The American R ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
The American L............................................................................................................................................................................................ 8
American L - Beginning of the Word.............................................................................................................................................. 8
American L – End of the Word ......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Tee Aitch......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
The [th] Versus [d] Sound .................................................................................................................................................................. 8
The [th] Sound......................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
I and E Sounds.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
More Sound Exercises............................................................................................................................................................................... 9
The [f] versus [p] Sound...................................................................................................................................................................... 9
The [v] versus [b] Sound..................................................................................................................................................................... 9
The [j] versus [zh] Sound..................................................................................................................................................................10
The [s] versus [z]..................................................................................................................................................................................10
When [s] becomes [z].........................................................................................................................................................................10
The [s] versus [sh]...............................................................................................................................................................................10

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Pronunciation Overview
The big 6, in terms of pronunciation are:
o Bat? Bought? But?
o The American T
o The American R
o The American L
o Tee Aitch
o I and E

However, still there are a few more other sounds that are commonly mispronounced in the English language
that you may have to learn as you go on with your studies. Some of them are:
o /f/ and /p/ Sounds
o /v/ and /b/ Sounds
o /j/ and /zh/ Sounds
o /s/, /z/ and /sh/ Sounds

Bat? Bought? But?

The Schwa Sounds
The three most important sounds are [æ], [ä], and [uh], also called the schwa.

[æ] - is a combination of [ä] + [e]. To pronounce it, drop your jaw down as if you were going to say [ä];
then from that position, try to say eh. The final sound is not two separate vowels, but rather the end
result of the combination. It is very close to the sound that a goat makes: ma-a-a-ah!

The [æ] Sound

Reading the [æ] Sound – The Tan Man
A fashionably tan man sat casually at the bat stand, lashing a handful of practice bats. The manager, a
crabby old bag of bones, passed by and laughed, “You’re about average Jack and can’t you lash faster than that?”.
Jack had had enough, so he clambered to his feet lashed bats faster than any man had ever lashed bats. As a matter
of fact, he lashed bats so fast that he seemed to dance. The manager was aghast. “Jack, you’re a master bat lasher
he gasped. Satisfied at last, Jack sat back and never lashed another bat.

Reading the [æ] Sound – Sam’s Last Chance

Last Saturday, on the last day in January, Sam planned a national travel package to Los Angeles which is
south of Nevada. After gambling past midnight, they analyzed their financial circumstances, which were
problematic, and accounted for around half their cash. They’d manage to gamble past bankruptcy! Sam had one
last chance at a rational transaction, but he laughed brashly and practiced passing the hat for fast cash.

The [ä] Sound

[ä] – is easier to pronounce. Try to relax your tongue and drop your jaw as far down as it will go. As a
matter of fact, put your hand under your chin and say [mä], [pä], [tä], [sä]. Your hand should be pushed
down by your jaw as it opens. Remember, it's the sound that you make when the doctor wants to see your
throat. “Say aaaahh!”

Reading the [ä] Sound – A lot of Long, Hot Walks in the Garden
John was not sorry when the boss called off the walks in the garden. Obviously, to him it was awfully hot,
and the walks were far too long. He had not thought that walking would have caught on the way it did, and he
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fought the policy from the onset. At first, he thought he could talk it over at the law office and have it quashed, but
a small obstacle halted that thought. The top lawyers always bought coffee at the shop across the lawn and they
didn’t want to stop on John’s account. John’s problem was not office politics, but office policy; he resolved the
problem by bombing the garden.

The [Uh] Sound

[Uh] - last is the schwa, the most common sound in American English. Whenever you find a vowel
that can be crossed out and its absence wouldn't change the pronunciation of the word, you have
probably found a schwa: photography [f'tägr'fee] (the two apostrophes show the location of the neutral
vowel sounds). The schwa is a neutral sound, (no distinctive characteristics), but it is the most common
sound in the English language. To make the uh sound, put your hand on your diaphragm and push until a grunt
escapes. Don't move your jaw, tongue or lips, just allow the sound to flow past your vocal cords. It should sound
like uh, not ah.

Examples: partner, cart, star

Once you master the two sounds [æ] and uh, you will have an easier time pronouncing 'can' and 'can't'. In
a sentence, the simple positive 'can' sound like [k'n]. The simple negative 'can't' sounds like [kæn(t)].

Intention Spelling Pronunciation

Positive I can do it. [I k'n do it.
Negative I can't do it. I kæn(t) do it.
Extra Positive I can do it. I kææn do it.
Extra Negative I can't do it. I kænt do it.

Tense Vowels

Tense Vowels – long pronunciation, use a lot facial muscle to produce it, vowels has a line over them: [ā],
[ē], [ī], [ō], [ū].
Symbol Sound Spelling Example
a ai take [tak]
e ee eat [et]
i äi ice [is]
o ou hope [hop]
u ooh smooth [smuth]

Other tense vowels

[ä] – the sound you make when the doctor wants to see your throat, aaaaaah!
[æ] – combination of tense vowels [ä] and lax vowel [ε], similar to goat’s sound maaaaaa!
[ǽo] – combination of [æ] and [o], common sound ow or ou like down or round

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The [æo] Sound
Reading the [æo] Sound – How Now Brown Cow?

Now that Howard McCloud has found out that downtown Downey has allowed thousands of brown cows to
roam around the fountains and mountains, it sounds about right.

Lax Vowels

Lax Vowels – short pronunciation, is reduced and need not move your face at all. You only need to
move the back of your tongue and throat

Symbol Sound Spelling Example

a Eh get [get]
i Ih it [it]
o Ou hope [hop]
∂ ooh some [s∂m]

Other tense vowels

[ε] – Greek letter epsilon, pronounced eh
[i] – pronounced ih
[ϋ] – pronounced ϋ, which is a combination of ih and uh
[∂] – schwa, pronounced uh – the softest, most reduced, most relaxed sound we could produce

Tense and Lax Vowel Exercises

1. Beat bit The beat is a bit strong.
2. Keys kiss Give me a kiss for the keys.
3. Cheek chick The chick’s cheek is soft.
4. Deed did He did the deed.
5. Feet fit These shoes fit my feet.
6. Feel fill Do you feel that we should fill?
7. Heat hit Last summer, the heat hit hard.
8. Leap lip He bumped his lip when he leaped.
9. Meal mill She had a meal at the mill.
10. Neat knit He can knit neatly.
11. Peel pill Don’t peel that pill.
12. Seek sick We seek the sixth sick sheik’s sheep.
13. Sleep slip The girl sleeps in a slip.
14. Steal still He still steals.
15. Streep strip Meryl Streep is in a comic strip.

Vowel Sound Differentiation

[æ] [ä] [ə]
1. Ann on un~
2. ban bond bun
3. cat caught/cot cut
4. can con come
5. Dan Don/dawn done
6. fan fawn fun
7. gap gone gun
8. hat hot hut
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 9. Jan John jump
10. man monster Monday
11. matter motto mutter
12. Nan non~ none/nun
13. gnat not/knot nut
14. pan pawn pun

The American T
The American T
There are 4 basic rules for the American T:
1 Top of the Staircase [T is T]
2 Middle of the Staircase [T is D]
3 [T is Silent] or Dropping the “T”
4 Bottom of the Staircase [T is Held]

The American T – Top of the Staircase [T is T]

The Rule
If the T is at the beginning of a word (or the top of the staircase), it is a strong, clear T sound.
 In the beginning of a word: table, take, tomorrow, teach, ten, turn Thomas tried two times.
 With a stressed T and ST, TS, TR, CT, LT and sometimes NT combinations: They control the contents.
 In the past tense, D sounds like T, after an unvoiced consonant sound — f, k, p, s, ch, sh, th (but not T).

Examples
picked [pikt], hoped [houpt], raced [rast], watched [wächt], washed [wäsht]
It took Tim ten times to try the telephone.

The American T – Middle of the Staircase [T is D]

The Rule
If the T is in the middle of the word, intonation changes the sound to a soft D.
 Letter sounds like [ledder].
 Like water, daughter, bought a, caught a, lot of, got a, later, meeting, better

Examples

What a good idea. [w'd' güdäi deey']

Put it in a bottle. [pü di di n' bäd'l]

Get a better water heater. [gedda bedder wäder heeder]

Put all the data in the computer. [püdall the dayd' in the k'mpyuder]

Patty ought to write a better letter. [pædy äd' ride a bedder ledder]

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The American T – [T is Silent]
The Rule
 T and N are so close in the mouth that the [t] can disappear.
 If the T is at the end of a word, you almost don't hear it at all.

Examples
The [t] disappears
 interview [innerview]
 international [innernational]
 advantage [ædvæn'j]
 percentage [percen'j]

When you don’t even hear the T

 put, what, lot, set, hot, sit, shot, brought.
 That's quite right, isn't it?

The American T – Bottom of the Staircase [T is Held]

The Rule
With -tain, -tten and some TN combinations, the T is held. The "held T" is, strictly speaking, not really a T at all.
Remember, [t] and [n] are very close in the mouth. If you have [n] immediately after [t], you don't pop the [t]—the
tongue is in the [t] position, but your release the air for the [n] not the [t]. Make sure you don't put a schwa before
the [n]. An important point to remember is that you need a sharp upward sliding intonation up to the "held T," then
a quick drop for the N.

Examples
 Written, certain, forgotten, sentence:
 He's forgotten the carton of satin mittens.
 She's certain that he has written it.
 Martin has gotten a kitten.

The American R

The Rule
The American R is like a vowel because it does not touch anywhere in the mouth. The American
R is produced deep in the throat.

Exercises
Let's contrast two similar sounds: [ä] and [r]. Hold your hand out in front of you, with your palm up, like you
are holding a tray on it. Slightly drop your hand down, and say ah, like you want the doctor to see your throat. Now,
curl your fingers up slightly, and say [r]. Your tongue should feel in about the same position as your hand.

Examples
American, rural, plural, porter
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The American L
The American L has two different pronunciations in English (of course, otherwise it would be too easy!).

American L - Beginning of the Word

The Rule

In the beginning or middle of a word, the tongue tip touches just behind the teeth — on those hard
ridges. In this position, the L shouldn't give you much trouble.

American L – End of the Word

The Rule
The difficulty begins when the L is at the end of a word. Because the letter L has a shorter, sharper
pronunciation in other languages, this will carry over into English, where the whole word will just sound too short.
At the end of a word, the L is especially noticeable if it is either missing (Chinese) or too short (Spanish). You need
to put a little schwa sound before the final L.

Examples
ball - [bäl] - [bä-uh-luh]

Tee Aitch
The most common word in the English language is THE, so after the schwa, [th] would be the
sound you would hear most often, which is why it is so important to master it.

Most commonly used words are: this, that, these, those, they, them, their, there, then

The [th] Versus [d] Sound

Examples
[th] [d] [th] [d]
they Day laid lathe
there dare dough though
those doze load loathe
though doe

Sentence Drills
1. Mother bathed in the day.
2. Dino’s clothing was loathesome.
3. Neither of her two dates stared at her.
4. The clouds clothed the heavens dark.
5. They were tired, damp and daring.
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The [th] Sound
Reading the [th] Sound-The Throng of Thermometers
The throng of thermometers from the Thuringian Thermometer Folks arrived on Thursday. There were a
thousand thirty-three thick thermometers, though, instead of a thousand thirty-six thin thermometers, which was
three thermometers fewer than the thousand thirty six we were expecting, not to mention that they were thick
ones rather than thin ones. We thoroughly thought that we had ordered a thousand thirty-six, not a thousand
thirty-three, thermometers, and asked the Thuringian Thermometer Folks to reship the Thermometers; thin not
thick. They apologized for sending only a thousand thirty-three thermometers rather than a thousand thirty-six
and promised to replace the thick thermometers with thin thermometers.

Reading the [th] Sound-Math Theory

The theory that Theodore Thurston thought that three thirds was worth thirty thousand dollars, meant that
one thirtieth was worth one thousand dollars.

I and E Sounds

The Rule
In such case, intonation and pronunciation overlaps. When you say the long [e], it is a tense vowel
sound. You slightly draw your lips back and raise the back of your tongue. When you say the short
[i], it is a lax vowel sound. Don't move your lips AT ALL and open your throat.

Examples
I and E single double
tense Beat Bead
Lax Bit Bid

More Sound Exercises

The [f] versus [p] Sound
[f] [p]
Feel --- peel
Fit --- pit
Face --- pace
Few --- pew

The [v] versus [b] Sound

[v] [b]
vase --- base
vote --- boat
very --- berry
covered --- cupboard

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The [j] versus [zh] Sound
Examples
Judge Cottage Beige corsage Adage
collage mirage village vision college

1. The gentleman is a college judge.

2. Gigi bought a corsage for her beige gown.
3. I was imagining things – it was only a mirage.
4. Gina said the cottage has a garage.
5. George doesn’t like that adage.

The [s] versus [z]

[s] [z]
price --- prize
peace --- peas
place --- plays
ice --- eyes
hiss --- his
rice --- rise
pace --- pays
lacey --- laxy

When [s] becomes [z]

close --- to close [pronounce s as /z/]
use --- to use [pronounce s as /z/]
Exercises
Reading S Sound – A Surly Sergeant Socked an Insolent Sailor
Sam, a surly sergeant from Cisco, Texas, saw a sailor sit silently on a small seat reserved for youngsters. He
stayed for several minutes, while tots swarmed around. Sam asked the sailor to cease and desist but he sneered in
his face. Sam was so incensed that he considered it sufficient incentive to sock the sailor. The sailor stood there for
a second, astonished, and then strolled away. Sam was perplexed, but satisfied, and the tots scampered like ants
over to the see saw.

The [s] versus [sh]

/s/ /sh/ /s/ /sh/
sea she mass mash
gas gash seer sheer
lass lash sell shell

1. She mashed some sheer shellfish.

2. Sheila is a seer and a seamstress.
3. Gas gushed out of the tank.
4. See how she sells seashells by the seashore.
5. The silk sarong was washed ashore.

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