|
|
Rank: Newbie
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/10/2009
Posts: 5
Points: 15
Location: China
|
Hi Mandy,
Thank you for your helpful episodes.I found in British English the sound o in top is similiar to o in boy,while in American English the o in top sounds like a in father.Am I right?
Thank you!!!!!
hungmin
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Super Advanced Member
Groups: Member
, Moderators
Joined: 10/9/2008
Posts: 224
Points: 478
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
|
Hi Hungmin,
You are correct that the American pronunciation of the first vowel sound in father is the same as the vowel sound in top. I am no expert in British English pronunciation, so I can't really comment on the sound in boy in British English, except to say that the oy sound is a 2-sound vowel (in both British and American English pronunciation). That makes it even more difficult to distinguish the first sound of the vowel sound for comparison. I think it is a different sound, but I am really not certain.
The short answer is that it is correct to use the vowel sound in top (short o) for the sound in father in American English pronunciation 
I hope that helps!
Mandy
|
|
Rank: Newbie
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/3/2009
Posts: 2
Points: -91
Location: Brazil
|
Hi everyone
That's how we pronounce the letter "A" in portuguese so "Top" sounds like "Tap", but I've noticed that in British English, it is pronounced like the "aw" as in "daughter", "dog", etc, but I've heard americans pronouncing it as the "aw" sound, so that "cot" and "caught" would sound the same.
Thanks
|
|
Rank: Super Advanced Member
Groups: Member
, Moderators
Joined: 10/9/2008
Posts: 224
Points: 478
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
|
Hi FernandoTrain, and welcome to the forums!
Certainly, the "Cot/Caught Merger" is well documented in the United States (so well documented that it is commonly known by that name). Here is an interesting Public Broadcating Service (PBS) article Do you Speak American which spends a significant amount of time talking about this issue (and other regional dialect issues).
When I first began teaching, I didn't spend much time on the aw sound /ɔ/ (the sound in the word dog), just because of the similarities of this sound to the short o sound /ɑ/. It seemed, in fact, that if my students didn't learn the aw sound, it wouldn't really matter because so many Americans also never say that sound. However, what more experience in teaching has taught me is that many of my students can distinguish those as different sounds in the native speakers that pronounce them as distinct sounds. If I had not taught them that specific sound, or even downplayed its importance, they came back to class saying they are hearing it, and if they don't know about it, it becomes easy to start jumbling vowel sounds all together like they had been before taking the class. So, I now treat the poor aw sound with just as much importance as all the other vowel sounds. I leave it to my students to decide how much effort they want to put into that sound, and most of them seem to embrace it fully!
I'll leave it to British users of this site to say how the British pronounce these sounds. I haven't spent enough time in England to say what I hear more often than not. The research can give me pretty good answers as to what is most common, but I try to not rely solely on that.
Thanks for the comment, Fernando!
Mandy
|
|
Rank: Super Advanced Member
Groups: Member
, Moderators
Joined: 10/9/2008
Posts: 224
Points: 478
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
|
I wanted to add a note here to say that I've added a video podcast for the aw sound which mentions the Cot/Caught Merger. You can watch it here.
Cheers!
Mandy
|
|
Rank: Newbie
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/3/2009
Posts: 2
Points: -91
Location: Brazil
|
What a wonderful video lesson, thanks. By the way, to me the 'short o' sounds like the A in the word 'car' or any word that has 'AR' ion its spelling like 'hard, are, part' and the letter R itself.
Cheers!
|
|
Rank: Super Advanced Member
Groups: Member
, Moderators
Joined: 10/9/2008
Posts: 224
Points: 478
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
|
Ah, Fernando, you're comment couldn't be more right on! You're hearing the ar sound, an r-controlled vowel, which sounds very similar to a short o followed by an r sound. Good ears!
If you're not familiar with r-controlled vowels, go to this lesson and read all about them
Cheers,
Mandy
|
|
|
Guest |
