The W consonant requires a lot of lip rounding. It’s important to know the correct mouth position so you can get it right: study this vowel with illustrations and up close, slow motion speech.
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Video Transcript:
In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to learn how to make the W sound.
To make this sound, ww–, the lips form a tight circle. Ww–
The back part of the tongue stretches up towards the soft palate.
While the front part of the tongue lightly touches the back of the bottom front teeth. To give this sound the right quality,
you have to close the vocal cords to get this sound: ww– ww–
Ww– which we add to the sound ww–
You release the vocal cords as you release the lips, coming out of the W sound. Ww–
Let’s look at the sound up close and in slow motion.
With the tight circle for the lips, you can’t see the tongue at all.
But it lifts in the back. The word ‘why’.
A tight circle for the lips.
The word ‘west’.
Again, a tight circle for the lips.
The word ‘unwind’. Here, the W is in the middle of the word. We still take the time to bring the lips into a tight circle.
This sound is most common at the beginning of words. It doesn’t occur at the end of any words, though the letter W does.
The W consonant.
Why
West
Unwind
Example words. Repeat with me.
Water. Ww– Water.
Welcome. Ww– Welcome.
Rework. Ww– Rework.
Away. Ww– Away.
Between. Ww– Between.
Will. Ww– Will.
Hear the difference immediately.
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