Why you can't do an American R | Mouth Posture
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- čas přidán 24. 06. 2024
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As someone with ADHD I am excited to make it through 4 minutes of this 1 hour guide.
Basic question: When you say "UH-colored", does it mean the quality of "uh" is somewhat included in most of the sounds?
It's the center of gravity. Remember the center of gravity is the constant pressure of the thinking/relaxed sound. It's like a 10-20% version, where the other sounds are 80-90% (when forming sounds other than UH)
@@NativeEnglishHacks
Yeah, the American voice quality has that depth and resonance, and that's why non-natives fall in love with the QUALITY and hopefully, they want to sound like it. You're lucky that you have it. ☺ Thanks again! 👋
52:09 if there's an R vowel after st cluster, like in cluster, the S won't be affected at all but the T will right?
As far as I've been able to tell, it really seems to be the R consonant that affects things because it's actually not ST + R, it's STR as a 3-sound consonant cluster. With the vowel ER, we have the consonant cluster ST + the vowel ER. This can pull the placement of the T back a little bit (roughly the back side of the bump instead of the middle of the bump) because we start moving to the ER, but it won't change it into a CH or pull it back as far as the R-controlled flapped-D. The S can also be slightly pulled back like the T, but there's definitely no sound change to the SH or anything like that
Hey josh, when I hear the singers sing sometimes their voice gets too light and high. Do they change the center gravity or what ?
Singing can do special things. One thing that can happen is changing voice placement higher in the throat or even farther (but without the added tightness that many languages have). Another thing is with pitch. Another is resonance. Singing is different than speaking. But most of the basic posture settings stay in place, especially in the mouth, such as the hinge and center of gravity. If those change, so does the accent.
27:35 this one can use ei diphthong+R too right?
Possible, yes, but I recommend just using EH+R for various reasons.
17:35 so some accents have an R colored/controlled quality in all sounds? or? I didn't really get this part
basically how does the schwa color it exactly, the center of gravity is the schwa point, but the Dark L and R and AE vertically break the hinge and therefore aren't schwa-controlled?
The hinge and the center of gravity are two different pieces - yes, in American English they seem connected, but remember when we do a sound like AH (cat), the underlying shape and tension of schwa stays in place and the middle sides stay slightly lifted, just like when we're touching the 4th tooth. The R affects (or can affect) both the center of gravity (by changing it) and the hinge (by moving it to the 5th tooth). Just because sounds like AH and AW break the hinge, doesn't mean the center of gravity changes because the center of gravity is not the teeth contact, but rather the underlying shape and tension of the tongue. In fact, don't even think of it as "breaking the hinge". These sounds stay lined up with the hinge, like they're tied by an invisible string to the 4th tooth. The schwa center of gravity is still there because it's not dependent on the jaw opening or touching a particular tooth. They're are different posture pieces.
Also, the dark L doesn't break the hinge vertically. More on that later. The R doesn't break it vertically either. If you move to the 5th tooth, that's breaking horizontally backwards
I believe Australian English uses more of an R center of gravity, which helps explain why they're "no" sounds kinda like "nor". British English - like quite a few other languages such as Spanish - seems to have more an E center of gravity (the start of the EI dihthong). I know British English shares many of the same posture pieces (the hinge tooth especially), and Australian probably does, too. As I said in the other comment, the hinge and the center of gravity are two different pieces. I think your confusion is from thinking of them as one thing. In American English, they go together in the basic settings and help us get that "middle body hanging from the teeth" effect, but that might be specific to American English and simply incidental since our center of gravity is the schwa
Thank you for another "R" lesson. 😄 I guess Americans sound the way they sound because it's basically almost all of the sounds are colored by "UH", compared British and Australian, right?
That's a big part of it, yes, perhaps THE reason aside from certain sounds and articulations. British seems to be E-colored (the start of EI), which pulls their schwa forward a bit; Australian seems to be a bit R-colored. But I'm not an expert on those accents and can only give my observations and ideas
@@NativeEnglishHacks Wow, I didn't know British was E-colored. I heard from an American dialect coach that the British tongue is higher than the American's, and they speak between lips. And that made sense.
I didn't think the Australian accent would be an R-colored. AU doesn't pronounce the R the way Americans do at the end of a word as in a word "car". They pronounce it like "kah/kaw". But hey, what would I know? 🤣 I watched a clip on CZcams, an AU actor playing an American character on Netflix talking about how he changed his accent to the American, demonstrating one sentence back and forth, back and forth. That was interesting.
Thank you for sharing your observation. You're doing fantastic work!!! 👍🌸😄
@chiggschill 😀
Yeah, for Australian, it might just be the back/middle of tongue setting, but I hear what seems like a very lightly formed R under everything, which also explains why their O sounds more like OR (no ~> nor), and this seems to be getting stronger in some speakers based on what I've heard from Dr. Geoff Lindsay. idk, I could be wrong
6:35 tuh-how-(w)uh-muhna
Yes?
@@NativeEnglishHacks Actually, I'd rewrite it as compared-d-how-(w)uh-muhna. I was trying to say you reduced so much.
@iiAbdullah635 Just normal American speech lol
@@NativeEnglishHacks If that's normal, what's insanity?
@iiAbdullah635 I know. It's hard to believe, especially given what most teachers tell you. But I assure you, the average native speaks like this. We don't do it all the time, but it's very normal and common and is part of the range of how American English pronunciation works.
10:18 What happened? Did you forget to wipe your camera's lens or something? There's a significant drop in quality.
Maybe, you shoulda tried to match the coloring a little.
That's really weird. Must be a rendering issue from the editor
Hi, Josh. It's been a while. I have a question unrelated to the video; I hope you can help me. When I hear phrases like 'bring it' and 'taking office,' when the 'ng' sound connects with a vowel, it seems to sound more palatal to me. For example, /ˈteɪ.kɪŋ ˈɑː.fɪs/ sounds like /ˈteɪ.kɪɲ ˈɑː.fɪs/ to me, and /brɪŋ ɪt/ sounds like /brɪɲ ɪt/. I hear a 'ɲ' sound connecting to the following vowel instead of a 'ŋ' sound. Does the 'ŋ' sound indeed transform into the 'ɲ' sound, or is what I'm experiencing a phonetic illusion?
Oh, I almost forgot, if you're not familiar with the /ɲ/ sound, there's an audio sample of it on Wikipedia so you can better understand what I'm talking about.
Yeah, the Wikipedia entry for the regular NG doesn't even sound right. I stopped referring to that after I listened to the schwa audio. I'll assume the audio recording for the sound you're referring to is in line with what you're hearing, in which case, no. I can't imagine a native doing that. In the case of "taking office", you can alternatively use a regular N (because it's -ing added to a word) and perhaps that's part of what's confusing your ears.
@@NativeEnglishHacks Thank you for the enlightening response, Josh. I have another question. Can the /n/ sound be influenced by the /j/ sound? I am asking this because some manuals on American phonetics say that words like /ˈʌnjən/ can sound /ˈʌɲjən/ too, with the /n/ sound being influenced by the /j/ sound, which is a more palatal sound. For example, in the sentence: 'I’m watchin' you' = /ˈwɑtʃɪn ˈjuː/, sometimes it sounds like: /ˈwɑtʃɪɲ ˈjuː/. Same thing with the phrase "and you"? which sounds like /æɲ ˈjuː/. The /n/ sound seems to become more palatal, as if it were being influenced by the /j/ sound. This time, I can notice and point out the difference when the pure /n/ connects with the /j/ sound and when the phonological phenomenon I’m talking about occurs. Do you as a native realize this by listening carefully? Anyway, can the /n/ + /j/ really transform into an /ɲ/ sound?