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Mastering The American Accent: Free DEMO
Chapter One
Mastering The American Accet
In this chapter you will learn how to accurately pronounce all of the main American English
vowel sounds. The English alphabet has five vowels, a, e, i, o and u, but it has about 15 main
vowel sounds. For some learners this is one of the most difficult aspects of American English to
master. Speakers of languages with fewer vowel sounds are likely to speak English using only
the same number of sounds that exist in their native language. Sometimes they do not even
hear the distinction between certain sounds in English. Consequently, non-native speakers
might pronounce “hill” and “heal” the same way. Similarly, the words sell and sale, or cup, cop,
and cap may also sound the same when spoken by a non-native speaker.
Because there is not always a direct relationship between how a word is spelled and how it
is pronounced, you should become familiar with the phonetic symbols that represent the
sounds that you are learning. This way, you will be able to use your dictionary when you
come across a word that contains a vowel sound that you don’t know how to pronounce.
Make sure you also become familiar with the phonetic symbols of your dictionary as theymay be a bit different from the symbols that this book uses.Main Vowel Sounds of
American English
1. /i/ read, heat, meet, seat, seen, feetPlease eat the meat and the cheese before
you leave.
2. /ɪ/ in, bit, this, give, sister, will, cityMy sister Linda will live in the big city.
3. /eɪ/ late, gate, bait, fail, main, braid, waitJane’s face looks great for her age of
eighty-eight.
4. /ɛ/ let, get, end, any, fell, bread, men, saidI went to Texas for my friend’s wedding.
5. /æ/ last, apple, add, can, answer, classThe handsome man lost his baggage after
his travels.
6. /ɑ/ stop, lock, farm, want, army, possible,
got
John is positive that his car was parked in
that lot.
7. /ɘ/ come, up, jump, but, does, love, money,
about
Your younger brother doesn’t trust us, does
he?8. /ɔ/ all, fall, author, also, applaud, thought,
foughtPaula was doing laundry all day long.
9. /oʊ/ go, slow, so, those, post, moment, droveOh, no! Don’t open the window, it’s cold.
10. /ʊ/ look, took, put, foot, full, wolf, cookieHe would read the good book if he could.
11. /u/ cool, soup, moon, boot, tooth, move,
trueSue knew about the food in the room.
12. /ɘr/ her, work, sure, first, early, were, earn,
occurWhat were the first words that girl learned?
13. /aɪ/ time, nine, dry, high, style, five, ChinaI advise you to ride a bicycle in China.
14. /aʊ/ south, house, cow, found, down, townHe went out of the house for about an hour.
15. /ɔɪ/ oil, choice, moist, enjoy, avoid, voice
Let’s avoid the annoying noise.
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