Understanding the AA vowel: American English Pronunciation

by **Admin** Sun Mar 13 2011, 23:46

The 'aa' as in 'bat' vowel sound. To make the sound, the mid, mid-back part of the tongue has to raise, and then the front and back part of the tongue stretch in opposite directions. This will be more clear in the photo. But this means that the tip of the tongue, aa, is pressing lightly here behind the bottom front teeth. The back of the tongue stretches up towards the soft palate somewhat. Because of this stretching motion you can see a lot of the tongue as it is raised more towards the back and comes down towards the front. The tongue also flattens wide this way. Aa. As you can see, the jaw drops quite a bit for this sound, and the corners of the lips pull out and back a little bit, which raises the top lip somewhat. Aa, aa, bat.

Here is the 'aa' as in 'bat' vowel sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left. Here the inside parts of the mouth are drawn in. Notice that, as with all vowels, the soft palate is raised. But more importantly, note the difference in tongue position. In the 'aa' as in 'bat' vowel, the tongue is raised and pulled up in the back, towards the throat and soft palate. However the front of the tongue is still touching behind the bottom front teeth. Sample words: habit, apple, blast, that. Sample sentence: The master gardener now, sadly, has a bad back. Now we'll see this sentence close up, straight on and from an angle, both in slow motion so you can really see how this sound works within a sentence, within a word.

The, tongue comes through the teeth for the TH. Lips together for the M, and here is the 'aa' as in 'bat', ma-, you can see the top lip a little raised. Rr, the R sound, the master gardener, the 'ah' as in 'father' mixed in with the R. Gardener. Tongue up to make the N. Now, with the 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong. Sadly, teeth together to make the S. And here is another 'aa' as in 'bat' sound. Sa-, the jaw drops, you can see the top teeth, the lips is a little pulled up for it. Tongue up for the D, and down, 'ee' as in 'she', sadly. Has, another 'aa' as in 'bat', you can see the tongue is spread very wide in the back. A bad, lips together for the B, another 'aa' as in 'bat'. You can see again the top lip is pulled a little bit. Back. Again, the 'aa' as in 'bat' sound.

Here from an angle: The, tongue tip through the teeth for the TH. Master, lips together for the M. Here is the 'aa' as in 'bat', see the tongue is raised more in the back. Master, the R consonant shape. Gardener, 'ah' as in 'father' mixed with the R consonant sound. Tongue tip up for the D and the N. Now, tongue comes down from the N into the 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong. Sadly, teeth together for the S. And here is another 'aa' as in 'bat' sound. The tongue tip down by the bottom teeth, raised in the back. Tongue tip up for the L. Sadly, pulled wide for the 'ee' as in 'she'. Has, another 'aa' as in 'bat' sound. A, the schwa, bad, lips together for the B, the 'aa' as in 'bat', you can see the tongue is really stretched from forward to back. Back, again, the stretched tongue raised in the back. Then it raises more in the back and touches there to make the kk consonant sound.