Hi everyone, and welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's 64th American English Pronunciation Podcast, and our sixth video podcast. My name is Mandy.
The show today is about the short o spelling and pronunciation. This podcast is part of video lesson 4, which covers the long o, short o, and the aw sound. I'm breaking the lesson up into three parts so the podcasts don't get so long!
The o spelling causes so many pronuncian problems and creates so much confusion because that letter can be used to spell all three of those sounds: the long o, short o, and aw sound. I'll explain it in each podcast separately.
Video lesson 4, in its entirety, has been published to Pronuncian, along with a quiz to see how well you really understand the o spelling and to test if can hear the difference between these sounds. A long o/short o quiz has also been added. Video lessons and quizzes are only available to subscribers, so as soon as this show is finished, go to www.pronuncian.com/join and support this podcast by subscribing.
Here's another excerpt from video lesson 4.
The key word for the short o is top. Can you hear the short o sound (short o) in top?
To create the short o sound, your tongue is low toward the back of your mouth. The tip of your tongue should be in the low inside your mouth, and the jaw opens. In fact, the jaw opens more for this vowel sound than any other. Your lips should be round, but relaxed during this sound. Your lips will move a little, because the jaw opened, but they do not need to be tense. Listen to the sound again.
(short o, short o)
The short o sound also has only one rule to remember, the consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC rule. This rule is true for all short vowel sounds, so it is important to know. The CVC rule says that when a single vowel is between two consonants, it is said as a short vowel sound. This rule is also true if the word begins with a single vowel, followed by a consonant. Don't forget, if the second consonant is followed by an e, the vowel-consonant-e rule takes over!
In the case with the letter o, you also need to remember that there are two other possible pronunciations besides the short o; it can also sound like a long o, or the aw sound.
To create the short o sound, your tongue is low toward the back of your mouth. The tip of your tongue should be in the low inside your mouth, and the jaw opens. In fact, the jaw opens more for this vowel sound than any other. Your lips should be round, but relaxed during this sound. Your lips will move a little, because the jaw opened, but they do not need to be tense. Listen to the sound again.
(short o, short o)
Listen for the short o sound (short o) in each of these words. All of these words follow the CVC rule.
on, o-n
box, b-o-x
rock, r-o-c-k
drop, d-r-o-p
stomp, s-t-o-m-p
Repeat these long o/short o minimal pairs after me.
own on
robe rob
coat cot
goat got
note not
soak sock
hope hop
cope cop
folks fox
poke pock
There you go. Remember to visit Pronuncain.com to see the transcripts to this show, as well as access our forums where you can post your questions about this or any other aspect of English. The forums have been busy lately, and I've been answering questions as quickly as I can. If you're an English teacher, please add your comments and solutions as well. I would love to learn from you!
To have access to the full video lesson, and the quizzes that go with it, go to www.pronuncian.com/join. If you're not sure you're saying these sounds correctly, you can also purchase a Skype assessment from pronuncian. Check out the products page for more information.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
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