Bus or Boss? Luck or Lock? American English Pronunciation

[@SoundsAmerican]

🎉Great news!🎉 Our brand new Sounds American website is up and running!🚀🎊 There's lots of content on pronunciation.🤓 Check it out: soundsamerican.net/

[@valentinagiovanardi6080]

Sad story: none of my English teachers taught correct pronunciation. I am from Italy. We have really few sounds in our language and there is not risk of confusing different words for similar sound. I need your lessons so much, thank you!!!!!

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Valentina Giovanardi Glad to hear our videos are helpful! Let us know if you have any questions. 😊👋

[@mirkaalvarado2298]

I strongly recommend you learn this , it's amazing to be able to recognize the vowels' sounds

[@omarhand1391]

It's same for spanish. We have no that kind of sounds. It's tough to adapt to those sounds. Simply our ears don't hear them. Goddam it

[@ter2710]

there are no rules here. sorry to rain on your parade.

[@benjaminmangena9437]

English vowels are also a problem to native English speakers. Native English speakers make a lot of grammar and pronunciation mistakes alot.. Most English natives got accent because they rarely use the vowel schwa. Some say police with with o as in talk fully pronounced but in actual fact o is a schwa, the other word is victory. Even the late singer Tupac Shakur makes this mispronunciation in his song ,*life goes on* he said, *I have my life in first lane, got police chasing me* listen how he pronounced police. .Some other examples are..,. All Americans professional and unprofessional makes pronunciation and grammatical errors. Eg. 1 Americans use comparative adjective to replace "very " eg when i was younger. Trying to say, when i was very young. I have listened almost all speeches of Americans even Barack Obama makes this mistake. 2. American pronounce words with consonant claster " ct" at end and pronounce c not t.eg district is pronounced as distric. Also aunt they pronounce with a as in cat is supposed to pronounced with a as in father vowel. Even George Bush makes this mistake. 3. Americans misgender pronoun for baby, church and country. Correct English baby pronoun is "it" not he or she.This goes back when people get angry when they baby girls were misgender with he* instead of she" then people decided to play safe and use it * Then it became standard English.Country is she not it because is a motherland. Church is she not it because is a bridegroom of Jesus Christ. Here i am talking about standard English.

Where has this channel been all this time and why is it so undervalued (in terms of views)?? The content is deeply thought and and nicely animated. Man, I think you should do something regarding publicity or marketing's, English learners need to know you, and you'll get ton of views!

[@SoundsAmerican]

We'll do it gladly. Do you have any specific ideas?

@@SoundsAmerican First of all, thanks for replying! Second, you should make an app and/or a website where people could practice this material, get recorded... Just like in the videos, but I've been searching for "Sounds American" in the app store and I couldn't find anything. In the videos, it looks like there's a site or something, but when you look for it, nothing. So, I don't know if you have it or not, but if you do, you should make it more accessible, and if not, create it, because it's obvious that you know how to help, and people (like me and many others will pay for a premium service there). Second, tryna get a deal with KZbin or something, they can put your videos at the recommendation wall more often if you agree to some stuff. That will surely have a noticeable impact. Finally, you could talk to other similar channels and do a couple of videos together, so that you both can benefit from a sinergia there. Those are just a few that came to my mind, but I could tell you more if you're interested! ;)

[@examready9598]

Among all the channels that give me training on American Accent, I have realised that the Sounds American Channel is the best

[@SoundsAmerican]

Thank you! Glad to hear that!👋

[@manhhai1306]

Even though I'm a long-time English speaker, I still learned something new! You're the man!

[@Francis_UD]

That's why I like British posh accent more. Since it clearly distinguishes o and a sounds

[@lucash2036]

what this chanel has made for english learners are immeasurably good.

[@arielp1848]

You are so right. It’s kind of difficult for us, (non English speakers). Thanks

[@josedanielgratrerolrivero3401]

by the way my score was full, you really helped me a lot! these two sound are really hard to differentiate, but now I feel I can recognize the difference between them both :D, thanks! and please keep making these kind of videos, they are useful and funny

[@SoundsAmerican]

Great score! Thank you! :)

[@FF9F00]

I can't describe with words how happy I am right now that I found this video! Thank you guys, you are the best! 🇺🇸

[@SoundsAmerican]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ter2710]

There is no rule here. Sorry to rain on your parade

[@maricarmenvalladares8795]

I really feel so happy because now I know how to pronounce those words. The first time I did the quiz I failed, but the second, after the explanations I did it!!! Thank you a lot. I would hug and kiss you.

[@SoundsAmerican]

That's great! 🤗

[@moisesdiaz9827]

I have learned a lot about phonics with your lessons.

[@victorhernandez4613]

Honestly, your website is very very VERY useful. I always have difficult to distinguish the English vowels. Now, when I use your website, I can hear a sound after the other and it allows me to "catch" the sound clearly. Wow, it is PERFECT...... It is like have a teacher in my home 24/7. Greattttttt!!!!!

[@SoundsAmerican]

Thank you very much! Just in case - if you have any questions, you can ask them on our website too, we try to answer all of them.

[@Stylusofwonders]

if you pay close attention, words pronounced with the / ʌ / have the letter ''u'' in them. Word with / ɑ / have ''o'' in them.

[@mirkaalvarado2298]

You can predict that when you see the u, But sometimes could be tricky as the word burn. I think it's a exception.

[@square_wheel]

Generally yes, but /^/ can also be spelled with o, as in love, come, son or monk. That's because in old scripts the u looked too much like v, n and m, so they changed it. The "LOT" vowel can also be spelled "wa" as in "wasp, want". That's due to a phonetic change centuries ago, which excluded the word "swam" (which nowadays does NOT rhyme with "swan") and words with one of the three velar sounds like wax, sang and wack. There's also a relatively small set consisting of -alm words (palm, calm, balm), the word "father" and foreign words like "paparazzi" or "karate", which have the /a:/ vowel both in British and American English.

[@giorgigusakov719]

Guys. You do really good job. Thanks!

[@SoundsAmerican]

Thanks for watching!

[@rosaodeaga9583]

Omg! I really love this channel now I can recognize the difference

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Rosa Odeaga That's awesome!

[@aldomatus6007]

I really love your channel, THANKS A LOT for your great job!

[@ysbh228]

Very grateful for your great efforts.

[@SoundsAmerican]

Thank you! Glad this video was useful!

[@moirta3]

2:17 short u と short o の発音する時の唇の形、顎の位置、舌の形 3:06 short u と short o を交互に発音 4:03 単語を使って交互に練習

[@craftah]

Nice

[@nemetskiylager]

ありがとうございます

[@marcojimenez5243]

This channel is really effective, there's knowledge behind.

[@SLIRAofficio]

Thanks for the lessons with this very tricky pair. Please keep them coming.

[@espiritulibre3569]

it's urgent to do a video of contrasting sounds between A as in Law and O as in "Boss" for spanish speakers, please!!! They both sounds like O

[@ecopequeno]

¡Hola! The vowel sound for “law” is like our Spanish “o”... but the vowel sound of “boss” is more like our “a”, Our brain gets tricked with the word “boss” because our eyes see written an “o” but our ears hear an “a”. So tell your brain to ignore the spelling for a moment. Having said that, lets remember this is American pronunciation. British, if I remember correctly, would make the same vowel sound for “law” and “boss”.

[@ter2710]

Actually, the pronunciation in the video do not match with their theory. The O in boss and in fond are really O, and the O in words like lock and dock are really A.

[@primalracc1381]

in my accent both words have same vowel, and this vowel is different from the vowels in “socks”

[@angelloferreira9270]

My score was Full. Thanks for this video. I like it! It was very useful for me.

[@SoundsAmerican]

Excellent! Glad you liked it!

[@SoundsAmerican]

Hello there! Thank you for your suggestion!

[@shibenikvaysyor8309]

6:23 I'd be very grateful for the reference that lists the percentages of the sounds in the standard American English. For example, how many English words have /ʊ/ sound? How many have /u/ sound? Etc.

[@_sa_mu]

The /Ʌ/, /ɑ/, /æ/ and /ə/ are hard to find differences. I hear these sounds as the same LOL But I enjoy practicing these pronunciations with your videos. I think my mouth will get the skill within 3 months :)

[@SoundsAmerican]

Sure! Practice is everything. 👋

[@tugjorb7736]

/Ʌ/ and /ə/ are the exact same, except /ə/ is shorter duration and used in unstressed syllables.

[@TheBayerRepublic]

@@tugjorb7736 They aren't, Schwa can sound closer to an o or e.

[@officialshows5443]

Why did you steal how I type /Λ/

[@officialshows5443]

Waɪ dɪd ju sti'jәl hαw aɪ taɪp /Λ/

[@candoit1027]

Thank you so much for sharing this brilliant video. The practice was just mind-blowing. 😊😊

[@SoundsAmerican]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@diegoflorescruz8280]

Fantastic video thanksss man

[@SoundsAmerican]

👍👋

[@josedanielgratrerolrivero3401]

many thanks! I´d been looking for this video for a long time, it was quite useful

[@chzx1996]

Your videos have great interactions with learners!

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Lucius Dreaman 😊👋

[@jeffreygomez8091]

your method is so great, because I have to hear what word you say. Thank you

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Jeffrey Gómez , yes, that's the main idea :). Thank you for your kind words and stay tuned for more videos! :)

[@karolgalkowski6037]

Wow! You guys are amazing. Before video I had only one correct answer, after video I answer all of them correctly!

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Karol Galkowski Awesome! So good to hear about the quizzes' results!👍👋

[@ing.luisgarcia6266]

Saludos. Excelentes vídeo. Gracias por la traducción en español

[@SoundsAmerican]

De nada :).

[@camilo.decaro]

They sound slightly equal for me, it's really confusing

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Camillus Andrew , that's the case for many non-native English speakers. This is why we made this particular video. The good new is that the more you practice, the better you'll hear the difference between the two.

[@joearthurpilu1679]

Its not confusing.

[@mle9841]

A: spanish A (like a sheep) a: oA

[@user-ui7wu3kr9q]

Ah and uh are similar. Uh and schwa are similar too. So ah and uh and schwa are all similar. Ha!

[@craftah]

@@user-ui7wu3kr9q no...

[@user-ui7wu3kr9q]

For the ah sound, you can also open your mouth slightly. The difference between uh and ah doesn't lie in how open your mouth is. You can prove it with your own mouth.

[@torinzhou2626]

Well, I think there are major differences in terms of resonance , which can be easily recognized. It's very likely that the semi-correct sound can be reproduced simply because the vocal cord is doing extra work, resulting in unavoidable tension which in my opinion is not natural.

[@j.j.hagelsieb]

I love that you make these comparisons between two sounds. It would be very helpful to have one between ʌ and ə. I look forward to the app. Thansk a lot!!!

[@JonWonders]

I think they’re the same, only one’s stressed and the other isn’t.

[@user-ui7wu3kr9q]

When you talk softly in person or over the phone, do you have to open your mouth wide enough to say these words with ah in them?

[@premkumar131]

Great Great Lessons! Thanks a lot.

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Prem Kumar , glad you liked it! Thank you!

[@kazuyoshisakamoto4096]

Thank you for uploading a valuable video. This sound graph help me understand well the difference "hut " between "hot" ultimately.

[@mohammadamirulislam1968]

It’s just awesome. Love from Bangladesh

[@TrilokNegi10]

Really helpful exercises in deep understanding of sounds in American English. Eagerly awaiting new videos from "SA" in 2021 !!!

[@SoundsAmerican]

Sure, stay tuned!

[@victorhernandez4613]

Yes, I think it is very very VERY useful a video where you compare the following tricky vowels: cap, cop, cup and at. Again, I said vowels, no words. The goal is to compare the vowels sounds like in this video. ..... Finally, GREAT VIDEO, you are done: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[@SoundsAmerican]

We already have a video where you can compare pronunciation of any vowel with any other vowel of American English: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXbHg3SchLKZpLc We also have a website where you can do the same with more convenience: soundsamerican.net/ Just by clicking on a vowel symbol on the IPA chart on the home page, you can listen to its pronunciation and compare it with any other vowel.

[@victorhernandez4613]

@@SoundsAmerican Hello, my mother tongue is Spanish, I am an English learner and I know what I say. I explain: it is very important to be able to compare a sound after the other. I repeat, a sound AFTER the other. It allows us to "catch" the difference.

[@SoundsAmerican]

You can compare the sounds in our video which we made exactly for this purpose: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXbHg3SchLKZpLc Not only you can compare the pronunciation but also compare the tongue, lips, and jaw movements. You can do the same with more convenience on our website. We created this channel and the website specifically for non-native English speakers, taking into considerations the difficulties that English learners may have when trying to distinguish the sounds of English and the differences of English sounds and the sounds of their native languages.

[@FisicoBeatz01]

I love this chanel and I've already watched the first videos

[@SoundsAmerican]

+FISICOHD awesome! Let us know if you have any questions.👋

[@rlorfeo]

Great video! Please, keep them coming!!! :)

[@SoundsAmerican]

+rlorfeo, thank you! Yes, we're working on new videos and will publish them very soon! Stay tuned!

[@tedrosafenegus4461]

Thanx, well presented, short & to the point. As English is my second language and start teaching my self IPA your lesson is very useful and great.

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Tedros Afenegus, thank you! Glad to hear this video was helpful!

[@rodolfosapon8852]

Again this is awesome, I mean you are awesome guys

[@SoundsAmerican]

You're awesome too! 💚👋

[@JoseMartinez-yi2os]

This video is awesome , at last I got to know how to use English dictionary, thanks for teaching us

[@SoundsAmerican]

Glad to hear that!

[@paulidiomas]

I teach English in Brazil. My students have no problem with the vowel sound in words like 'boss', 'lock', 'not' (though they will invariably insert an extra syllable after the final consonant). However, the vowel sound in 'bus', 'luck', 'nut', etc is virtually impossible. Portuguese has many nasal vowels and these words always end up being pronounced like 'bãs', lãck', 'nãt'. Just for orientation, the 'ã' sound is very similar to that usually spelled 'un', 'um' or 'in' in French - un chemin.

[@SoundsAmerican]

+ Outsider Looking In Looks like it happens because of the dropping of the soft palate when they pronounce vowel sounds. The air escapes through the nose instead of coming out of the mouth. Usually, it takes time to fix this issue :). We found that minimal pairs like "buck" - "bun" or "lock" - "long" are helpful. It's easier to feel the difference when they contrast vowels with vowels followed by nasal sounds. Hope it helps!

[@shibenikvaysyor8309]

By me, a native Russian speaker, it's the other way around: short u is quite natural, but short o is a big challenge :)

[@michellemendoza9825]

I just subscribed. Your videos are excellent.

[@SoundsAmerican]

Awesome, thank you!

[@nicolasheredia7]

Exelent!!!!!!

[@SoundsAmerican]

Glad you like it!

[@arry1907]

Thank you

[@Luxury_vagabond]

Best in KZbin !

[@ossamaalbitar9559]

Thanks alot!

[@symasterkeepgoing1519]

thanks...actually they are tricky but you made them easy to understand..

[@SoundsAmerican]

👍👋

[@sofia_miniatures548]

I am really confused by these 2 vowel sounds. But I am really happy because I found your channel. I like your video. I learned a lot from your previous video. Thanks a lot sir.

[@huonggiang4876]

Thanks for all of your videos. They're very helpful for me.

[@SoundsAmerican]

Glad to hear that! Let us know if you have any questions!

[@VictorHugo-si2wd]

I love this channel. You're really good.

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Victor Hugo thank you! 😁🖖

[@IkatteiruPanda]

I used to think that I can speak in english... Then I found this channel! Thanks!

[@SoundsAmerican]

😊😂👋

[@victorco.6308]

Great lesson. Thank you

[@darioguadalupecortesdoming9112]

Thanks for sharing this piece of information. Do you have or would you mind making a video comparing the /ɑ/and /ɔ/ sounds? Let me know it, please.

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Darío Guadalupe Cortés Domínguez , you're welcome! Yes, we plan to make such a video, stay tuned! :)

[@AmigosdeFranco]

According to some phoneticians, they are the same open "o".

[@gabrielesallemi787]

2:00 guessed every choices , great test

[@QC5303]

I want to say this is the most useful resource i ve ever used to practice my pronunciation. Thanks as always. And btw, is any App available now? I tried to search my Apple App, i found nothing. Please let me know Thank yoy so much and you guys are AWESOME!

[@SoundsAmerican]

+qingna chen Glad to hear you like our channel! We use our own app which is not publicly released yet. We're working to make it happen soon and will announce the release on this channel. Please, stay tuned!

[@benzianabdou3740]

Thanks

[@kevinmartossoto4556]

Wow !! This is awesome !! Now I know what is the difference between these vowel sounds. Thanks :)

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Kevin Martos Soto , great! Glad it was helpful! 😀👋

[@os972]

Thanks a lot for your work, your channel is amazing! I find the sounds in the given video really tricky. It's so hard to hear the difference when we have to choose between the sounds. It would be so great, if you made more videos to practice them!

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Ольга Сиделёва, glad you like this video! Thank you for your suggestion, we'll be making new videos next year. 👋

[@mertiledunyadilleri8928]

we actually read "ul" as [ol] ,as in the French word "drôle." But its symbol is [uh] as in the word "mum"and it pronouncing [uhm].The word "multi" is pronounced as [awl]. But it is actually written with the symbol that gives the uh sound.

[@mertiledunyadilleri8928]

Thanks teacher😀

[@ugurdundar1100]

Abdolutely useful.

[@SoundsAmerican]

+ ugur dundar Glad to hear this!

[@family4181]

1:07 4:03 4:34 5:01 5:26 5:53 1:22 4:12 4:39 5:05 5:31 1:30 4:17 4:43 5:09 5:35 1:37 4:21 4:47 5:13 5:40 1:45 4:25 4:52 5:17 5:44 1:52 4:30 4:56 5:22 5:48

[@rezakhademi2891]

Very pithy,neat and effective, many thanks.

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Reza Khademi , glad you liked it! You're welcome!

[@EdgarLopez-dq6zv]

can you make pronunciation videos but about reduction in english? like instead of saying i'm gonna, say: imana or ima. Did you get it?

[@SoundsAmerican]

Got it! We're working on a video about American English rhythm and intonation. It will not cover informal contractions like "gonna" or "gotcha," but it'll surely cover much more important topics such as stress and rhythm in English sentences.

[@gombobattogtokh6423]

thank you

[@SoundsAmerican]

You're welcome!

[@lindonchang]

This video helps me a lot thank you

[@OzOnO123]

this video was the shit all these days i was wondering about the difference and now I know it!

[@SoundsAmerican]

Glad you liked it! :)

[@ivac725]

I love your channel and had helped me a lot with my accent reduction! One question: why this video says boss is pronounced as “a” in the word got when in your other video indicates it’s pronounced as “a” in the word on?? I know people here pronounce it as “a” in the word on. Am I missing something here? Thank you.

[@monsybate]

I love the channel :) what you guys doing is awesome and perfectly done :) thanks :)

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Simeon Platonov , thank you! Glad to hear that! Stay tuned :)

[@bandodejesus9623]

MUY educativo gracias

[@1DENich1]

A lUcky bOss in a hOt tUb:))

[@takimas3391]

Very nice

[@SoundsAmerican]

Glad you liked it!

[@ricamatajorizelcidquizana9997]

Thank you so much for this video it is really useful..

[@SoundsAmerican]

NP! Glad you found it useful!👋

[@quemseria]

I have trouble to pronounce bad, bed, bid, didn't know I could not do fund, fond,,,lol, omg,,,, I came to live in America when I was 35 and I spoke English since I was 15, learned in my country,,,, not good English then,,,,,,,,,,I'm trying to improve. Thanks, excellent class!

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Chopper You're welcome! Glad you liked it!🙂

[@brandonlima5665]

Guys you’re the best!

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Brandon Lima 🖖😉

[@VictorHugo-si2wd]

What about, "Rachel"?

[@josepheridu3322]

I don't get why English classes often don't teach these differences. At least we should aware they exist before college!

[@joseluispaladinessanchez6187]

For me, they both are the same sound, the only difference is their time lapse, / ʌ / is very Short and / ɑ / is longer

[@SoundsAmerican]

The /ʌ / can be long too, as well as the / ɑ / can be short. It all depends on the consonant sound that comes after. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYLEaqqVlKykgsU

[@dawidaleksanderwitkowski7455]

They are not the same I can assure you of that I can hear the difference and actually the more I pay attention to it the more clear and obvious the difference becomes and as the Sounds American pinpointed it’s not about the length it’s about the quality of the sound. I think you can start to hear the difference too, you just need to stop letting your mind trick you that the difference you are hearing is insignificant I believe.

[@NiNi-Sumina]

Should the boss be / ɑ / or / ɔ / sound? Can you make a video to tell the difference between / ɑ / or / ɔ / ? Thanks a lot.

[@SoundsAmerican]

Either, both variants are correct.

[@mohammadasaad5037]

Hello great job you are amazing , I have one concern about word boss , the word boss you mentioned it in two videos with two different pronunciation You pronounce it first time like o as in ( on ) and second time as o as in ( stop ) can explain it to me please thanks in advanced

[@SoundsAmerican]

We like your attention to detail! Within our team, some people can distinguish between the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/, and some can't. This is due to the "caught" - "cot" merger. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger ), this is how we ended up with the word "boss" in the videos for both of these sounds. In the end, we agreed that the boss is pronounced with the /ɑ/ sound. In the next updates, we'll fix that.

[@ramzy-6566]

there are two schwas (ə as in about) , (ʌ as in son) please make video for them and pronounce each one with and without example thank you.

[@SoundsAmerican]

► Vowel Sound / ə / (Schwa) as in "ago" : kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2LQdYaLiNyBotU ► Vowel sound /ʌ/, as in "us": goo.gl/2LT6S2

[@nimadehegardsukmawati9736]

Cant wait for the apps! Anyway, I saw the word "boss" as the example of 'a' sound as well as 'o', so which one it belongs to exactly?

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Ni Made Hegard Sukmawati It depends on where in the US you grew up and learned to speak English. The matter is that not all Americans can hear the difference between the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/. For some people these wwo sounds have "merged" into one sound, the /ɑ/, and they can't hear the difference between them. Those who can hear the difference, are able to make them as different sounds. The merging of these sounds is frequently referred to as the "caught-cot merger."You can find more information about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger Here's a map showing what's going on with the / ɔ/ and the / ɑ/ in the US: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger#/media/File:Cot-caught_merger.png Hope it helps!

[@nimadehegardsukmawati9736]

Sounds American thanks! It is really helpful. I couldnt distinguish both sounds, that's why I went back and fort between the two videos. Now I get it.

[@victorhernandez4613]

Hello..... Please, can you make a video where you compare three tricky vowels: cap, cup and cop? I think it is very useful for the English learners.

[@SoundsAmerican]

We'll think about it, thanks!

[@Sukharik]

0:52 У нас в русском эти звуки есть, у нас есть анолог это 2 слова, плачу и плачу, русским везёт же😂

[@kyookhanh9293]

hello, can you make video about 2 vowels /a/ and /ae/, to me they’re the same, i can’t distinguish this two :((( thank you very much

[@SoundsAmerican]

Thank you for your suggestion!

[@jean378]

Hi excellent. What English software was used used in this video?

[@lunetadu3270]

How do you know which sound is it? Is there a rule?

[@SoundsAmerican]

+Lunetadu , Good question :). Given that it's English :), there's no one rule, but rather several. The sound /ʌ/ is pronounced in the following cases: • when a word is spelled with the letter "u" in a closed stressed syllable, for example, "luck," "cup" - this is the most frequently used letter for this sound • when a word is spelled with the letter "o" before 'th,' 'm,' 'n,' 'v,' for example, "mother," "love," "come;" • when the letter "u" is used in prefix 'un,' for example "unknown;" The sound /ɑ/ is most often pronounced when you see the letter 'o' in a closed stressed syllable, for example, 'not,' 'top.' Much less often, this sound is written as the letter 'a' after 'w' and before final consonants, except 'r.' For example, 'want,' 'swan,' watch.' Very rare in American English, the /ɑ/ is represented by the letter 'a' in combination of letters '-alm,' like the words 'balm' or 'calm'. This usage of the /ɑ/ sound is more relevant for British English Please, note, that there're many exceptions to the above rules, we're giving you the most frequent usage cases. We recommend consulting dictionaries if you're ever in doubt. And you can always ask us, too :) Hope it helps!

[@lunetadu3270]

Sounds American thank you so much. Your explanation was so helpful and easier to understand which sound I have to choose.

[@SoundsAmerican]

+ Lunetadu, sure, you're very welcome! We're glad to help!

[@excitedaboutlearning1639]

@@lunetadu3270 cambridge dictionary & English Wiktionary are excellent sources to find the correct pronunciation in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).

[@pssilva3973]

For /ɑ/ say /a/ with your lips rounded, your mouth wide open and the back part of your tongue lowered, away from your soft palate. For /ʌ/ you close your mouth a bit. /ʌ/ is a little bit open schwa /ə/ or a consonant r /ər/ without an /r/. I'm not an English teacher but I researched such things.

[@pannyzhang3245]

I like this channel, it tells so many useful pronounce tips. Hope there's a app for iOS

[@SoundsAmerican]

+panny zhang Glad you liked our channel. In our videos, we use our own app. It's not released publicly yet, but we're working to make it happen soon. We'll announce the release on this channel. Stay tuned!

[@glennpavel4800]

excelente

[@SoundsAmerican]

Glad you liked our video!

[@greenlitlleman]

As a Russian, they all sound the same way, as an "A". They are just different variations of the same sound, lmao. And they were the same sound in Old English, why would anyone ever think that it is a great idea to add more similar sounds to an already decent language? And the worst thing... most Americans don't see the difference themselves.

[@WalgreensIsBetterThanCVSAgain]

ʌ and ɑ sound similar O_O

[@sghaiermohamed2905]

that's a weird choice of vowels. /ʌ/ and /ɑ/ sound completely different for me. on the other hand /ʌ/ and /ə/ are really similar to my ear.

[@SoundsAmerican]

+sghaier mohamed , Why would you say it's weird? A lot of people have difficulty differentiating between the /ʌ/ and the /ɑ/ and as, a result, they mispronounce words that have these sounds. These sounds don't exist in many languages, so they are unfamiliar to many non-native speakers.

[@alexanderivanov899]

Hey guys, there is another sound in the word BOSS in other your video about the O sound

[@SoundsAmerican]

Great attention to detail! Correct :). It's because half of our team is affected by the cot-caught merger and they don't differentiate between the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/ sounds :).

[@alexanderivanov899]

@@SoundsAmerican Those sounds are pretty similar, especially in American English. They both are back and low. I only recently find out about sounds system where all vowels are placed table 3*3 and divided into front, middle and back and also hight middle and low in dependence which part of tongue we use to make sound + using lips. That's make my understanding very clearly. Really I don't understand why textbooks don't use that system for explaining

[@SoundsAmerican]

For those who distinguish between the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/ sounds, the /ɑ/ is a central vowel sound, not back, but yes, they are both low. You're absolutely right, the systematic approach works better and it's much easier to learn to pronounce the sounds correctly when you know where and how they are positioned in your mouth. The textbooks don't always explain the vowel sounds from this point of view, but the good news is that we do :). Check out this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXbHg3SchLKZpLc

[@miguelribon3096]

This is the most difficult sound to recognize for me. For me sound same.

[@datvuong7420]

do the video about difference between /ʌ/ and /ə/ please

[@SoundsAmerican]

Unfortunately, there are no such minimal pairs...

[@datvuong7420]

@@SoundsAmericanalthough they are not minimal pairs but they are sound very similar. Could you just put them together and point out the difference

[@edgardlopezsanchez2111]

Para el Merriam-Webster ʌ es el sonido de la schwa O_O