r-controlled Vowel: ar sound /ɑr/

Listen to the ar sound

The ar sound is an r-controlled vowel. Technically this sound is two distinct sounds (vowel sound + r sound). It is presented here under the name ar sound to distinguish the fact that the vowel portion of the sound is different from the various pronunciations commonly used for the a spelling.

How to pronounce the ar sound

The ar sound begins with the tongue in the position of a short o sound. The tip and center of the tongue are set low, inside the bottom teeth. The top of the tongue is nearly even with the top of the bottom teeth.

To transition to the r portion of the sound, the body of the tongue moves upward. The mid-section of the tongue rises so the sides of the tongue touch the middle teeth. The air travels over the body of the tongue to create the r portion of the sound. (NOTE: The secondary method of producing the r sound may be used to produce second portion of the ar sound instead of this technique.)

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Common ar sound spellings

spelling	example		other pronunciations for spelling
ar	arm start car		none

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The ar sound in suffixes

none

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Non-phonetic ar sound words
The ar sound is underlined in the following words:
are

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Pronuncian Lessons

  

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