Vowel Sound / ɔ / as in "on" - American English Pronunciation
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- Learn how to pronounce the vowel sound / ɔ/ used in words like "bought," "dog," or "call."
Improve your American accent with exercises recorded by a professional speech therapist.
Practice pronunciation of the / ɔ / vowel sound in everyday words.
Find out about the essential spelling rules for the / ɔ/ vowel.
Enjoy a surprise bonus at the end of the video! :)
By the way, we have a website: soundsamerican.net/
Quick Links:
• Vowel sound /ɔ/, as in "on:" 00:00
• How to make the /ɔ/ sound: 00:54
• Pronunciation exercise: 02:13
• Most common spelling for the sound /ɔ/: 04:27
Related videos:
#AmericanPronunciation #VowelSounds #BackVowels
►Vowel sound /oʊ/, as in "go": • Vowel Sound / oʊ / as ...
►Vowel sound /ɑ/, as in "got": • Vowel Sound / ɑ / as i...
►Contrasting sounds /oʊ/ vs /ɔ/, as in "low" and "law":
• Low or Law? Row or Raw...
[THIS VIDEO HAS ENGLISH, SPANISH, JAPANESE, CHINESE, VIETNAMESE, KOREAN, AND PORTUGUESE SUBTITLES]
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TRANSCRIPT
Hello there! This is the "Sounds American" channel.
In this video, we're going to talk about the American vowel sound /ɔ/, as in the word "on." You can also hear this sound in words like "off," "cause," "all," or "saw."
We'll be using a special phonetic symbol - /ɔ/ - for this sound.
The /ɔ/ can be hard to reproduce for many people and it often gets mispronounced. Keep watching to learn how to avoid shortening this vowel and to practice it in words.
Let's find out how to make this sound.
OK, to pronounce the /ɔ/ sound, you should focus on the position of your jaw, lips, and tongue.
Open your mouth as wide as possible, and round your lips.
Flatten your tongue and pull it back. Place your tongue very low in your mouth.
The tip of your tongue should be touching the back of your bottom front teeth.
Remember, the /ɔ/ is a very open sound, so your jaw should be as open as possible.
Let's try saying it: /ɔ/, /ɔ/, /ɔ/.
[Pronunciation exercise]
Now, let's practice this sound in some words.
You'll see a word on the screen and hear its pronunciation. Like this.
You'll have a few seconds to pronounce the word, if you want to.
Let's begin.
• all
• ball
• blog
• boss
• bought
• broad
• brought
• call
• called
• caught
• cause
• claw
• cloth
• cost
• cough
• coughed
• crawl
• cross
• dawn
• dog
• Don's
• draw
• fall
• fault
• fog
• fought
• frog
• frost
• gall
• golf
You're done! Congratulations!
By the way, did you know that the /ɔ/ sound is represented by the letter 'o' in only 30% of cases?
More on the spelling:
most often, the /ɔ/ sound is written as the letter 'o,' as in the word "on."
In the rest of the words with this sound, it's written as the combination of letters 'au,' as in the word "cause," as a single letter 'a,' as in the word "water," and also as the following combination of letters:
'al,' as in the word "call,"
'aw,' as in the word "saw,"
'ou,' as in the word "thought," and
'oa,' as in the word "broad."
Thanks for watching! Hope you find it useful.
Stay tuned on our Sounds American channel!
🎉Great news!🎉 Our brand new Sounds American website is up and running!🚀🎊 There's lots of content on pronunciation.🤓You can start with the article about the /ɔ/ sound:
soundsamerican.net/article/vowel_sound_o_as_in_on
The main difference is that /ɑ/ is a low back vowel (which can be slightly fronted) while /ɔ/ is slightly higher and rounded. Some Americans who distinguish the two lower /ɔ/ to /ɒ/ which may sound more neutral since many Americans may think that /ɔ/ sounds too English or "New York" but they then sometimes slightly front /ɑ/ towards /ä/ to maintain more vowel spacing.
it would be cool if you made a video comparing this sound with the /ɑ/. I think / ɑ / sounds much like / ɔ/ than / ʌ /
Thank you for your suggestion José!
yes, it would be really helpful. Because I find these two sounds very confusing. I've seen a dictionary using the same phonetic symbol for the sounds.
Oja Raudhah ok!👍
Thank you very much :D
Yes please! some dictionaries don't distinguish them and it's really confusing!
Thanks in advance! I love your work.
I love your videos....greetings from Peru.
Great video. Those graphs are cool. Thanks a lot.
+Art Apple 😄🖖👋
Very helpful!
Thank you!
You guys are doing a very good job. Keep going. ;)
+Carlos Costa , 👋
love your videos
It can be even more fantastic if you make some videos about British accent with the same teaching skills, especially the description of mouth shape and tongue position. Do you have British friends especially those from England? Hopefully we can watch the videos one day. This channel is very helpful and I've recommended it to my colleagues. Thanks very much for sharing.
Glad to hear that our channel is helpful, keep recommending it to your colleagues. 😊
About a channel for British accent, it's a great idea, maybe someday we'll do it. Stay tuned! 👋
I love this channel. I like the picture of the boy. It makes me easy to understand
Happy to hear that!
Thank yɔu! 😄
great. thank a lot
Thank you.
Thank you for your video
+양창진 , you're very welcome! Glad you liked it!
Thanks!!
Thank you. am learning fast!
+Pilar Garcia 😃👍
*I'm. -_-
Gracias, gracias a ustedes ya pude pronunciar la ɔ.
+Iván Zarael Arenas You're welcome! 😀👋
Great video! I'm surprised how many different ways are in English to pronounce the same vowels. Before watching I mispronounced this sound, or replaced it with sounds like schwa or ʊ just because I didn't know they were different, but I often felt like I sounded "different" haha. It will be hard to get used to pronounce all this sounds when reading or speaking without mixing them, but I'll try my best. Thank you guys! Btw, this video doesn't appear in your main page, you should add it. I found it casually when I was watching another one.
+Marquito L This is one of the hardest sounds to learn in American English. It doesn't help that people who are affected by the "cot-caught merger" replace it with the /ɑ/ vowel. Let us know if you have any questions about its pronunciation, ok?
About the main page: we added this video to the Pronunciation of Vowel Sounds playlist. However, the main page shows only the first 10 thumbnails...and then you need to scroll or just open the playlist. Not good. We'll see what we can do about it and how to organize our videos better. Thank you for telling us!
BTW, we always welcome suggestions, so if you have any recommendations on how we can make our CZcams more convenient, do tell :).
Thank u for ur effort
Amazing channel, i get more and more surprised.
😊👋
Hello there , thank you very much for this channel , I think the would be cool if you do some videos about linking, and how to sound like native in linked continues speech
thanks again
I've completed this playlist within one day. 😄
Good job!
I find this super useful 🙏
+Christopher Li , awesome! Glad to hear it!
I watch all your videos... I'm glad on one of them you say? take a break have a rest and come back soon! needed that!
+Christopher Li , yes, breaks are important when you're working hard :).
Hello teacher thank you for your video
Any time!
Funciona para mí como Sinatra con New York, New York!!! Gracias!!!
thanks
Hello! Could you please teach me how I should distiguish the sounds of [ɔ] and [a]. For me it's just the same, or I probably hear a slight difference. However, as an American English learner, do you think I should separate those two sounds into two groups?
+Mitsuko Fukami, the difference between the /ɔ/ and the /ɑ/ sounds is that the /ɑ/ is a central sound, which means thatyour tongue should be in the center of your mouth and the /ɔ/ is a back sound, which means that your tongue should be pulled far back when you pronounce it.
You can check the differences in making of these two sounds with the help of our interactive video: goo.gl/JxPk8r. It's best to do it on your computer as you can click on the /ɑ/ and then on the /ɔ/ sound and compare the tongue movements and position. We agree, that the difference may not be significant. Moreover, we must say that not all Americans distinguish between the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/ sounds. It really depends on where you grew up. For many people the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/ have merged into one sound /ɑ/. This process has its own name and is called the "caught-cot merger". Here’s more information about it, if you’re interested: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger
So, we think that the difference between the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/ is not the number one priority for American English learners. If you feel that you have other areas you need to work on for your pronunciation, we suggest focusing on them. You said you CAN hear the difference, so you’re fine 😊.
@@SoundsAmerican is this the only difference? Thanks. It is really confusing. We need and episode about the diffrence between the two sounds. Thank you very much. I am a teacher and I leart a lot from this channel.
jade good can you explain please what you mean?
I’m English student and I’m interested in a defense between these tow vowels.
Please
Where can I find a good explanation??
@@SoundsAmerican Hi :-)
So, boss is /b ɔ s/ or /b ɑ s/?
No one of Japanese people can distinguish these sounds... I think
Very nice video! I'm teaching American English pronunciation (first time!) in China. Although I'm very happy to teach it, some phonetic symbols confuse me. Now I know exactly what the /ɔ/ is and in which vowel combinations it occurs. Thanks!
+WatchYourMother , Glad you liked it! Let us know if you have any suggestions about what your students need.
/ʒ/ is quite difficult for them, as well as /v/ and the difference between final /l/ and final /r/. For vowels, /ɪ/ and /ʌ/ are very tricky.
They have an odd habit of adding r sounds to words, like Chinar, pandar, or even deliciours. Sometimes they'll clip off vowel sounds at the end of words, like Americ, Afric, technolog (ending with a soft g, or a peculiar voiceless /i/). But with some words, they'll add a slight /i/ sound like in average or orange.
+WatchYourMother, Thank you very much, it really helps in our work on the next videos.
Mind if we ask you a question? You mentioned you're teaching in China. We thought there's no CZcams in China, so howcome you're able to watch our videos? Just know, we're happy you do watch them 😊.
We're interested in having teachers in Sounds American community and hope you'll stay in touch. If you have any ideas
of phonetic exercises that could be helpful for your students, let us know.
That's right, there's no CZcams in China, but I use a VPN to get around it. Most foreign teachers in China use a VPN of some sort.
As for exercises aimed at Chinese students, I would recommend final /l/ vs. /r/ (but *really* teach the placement of the tip and middle of the tongue), /v/ vs. /w/ (comparing to /f/ may help), /ʒ/ vs. /j/ (comparing to /ʃ/ and /dʒ/ would help). There are certainly others, but these seem to trip up students the most.
Teaching syllable stress would be great, though I know that may be unusual to teach for your channel. Thanks for all your hard work!
Hey, I'm in Zhuzhou, Hunan, right now teaching English!
You’re amazing
thanks a lot
Happy to help
In this video you use the word BOSS to exemplify the /ɔ/ sound, but in the video "Bus o Boss? Luck o Lock?" Boss was used to pronounce the /ɑ/.
Many words in this video are mistakenly used because of the cot caught merger. The pronunciations are very different between the word small and fog, as demonstrated in the last sentence. You can pronounce them the same, but the presenter didn't, which makes it very confusing for English learners.
+Derrick Wang , Wow, you have a very good ear! Well, we must admit that we're from a region affected by the "cot-caught" merger. The merger is an ongoing process so that the pronunciation may vary from word to word. As a result, most people find it difficult to tell if there’s the /ɔ/ or the /ɑ/ sound in some words. And that’s perfectly fine! What we're trying to teach in this video is how to make the /ɔ/ sound with General American accent. Despite the fact that it could be affected by the merger.BTW, it'd be interesting to know what words from this video have confused you.
Yes, please! There is a difference between law/autistic and object/stop. This video does not distinguish between them. It gets even more confusing with corner/short/orange like in law and door/or/four with an R-colored OR. Different sounds. And please don't kick yourself too hard. Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner Dictionary did not distinguish them either. You are doing great! Love your videos!
@@SoundsAmerican
OK, here is what I heard: your dog, Don's, and fall were beautiful "law" words. The following were bleeding into or were distinctly object/autistic/stop words: all, boss, bought, brought, caught, cause, claw (should definitely be pronounced like law, right? and it sounded like clAAw as in stop), cough, fog, fought, golf. @@SoundsAmerican
I want money and a lot of famous
@@CiceroINFJJust forget about this /ɔ/ sound. It only makes everything confusing.
A consonant sound after a vowel sound may influence the vowel pronunciation
This is very great. Could I use this for my students? Thank you so much for your reply.
Yes, of course, but please don't re-upload our video.
Hi! Your work is so good! but in the IPA use them differently, for example, all UK /ɔːl/ US /ɑːl/, claw UK /klɔː/ US /klɑː/, bought UK /bɔːt/ US /bɑːt/,
It´s a little confusing for not a native speaker, we really need to know what is the difference between them ( ɑː/ɔː ) and use them correctly!
In this respect the dictionaries have a extremest approach. Probably almost nowhere in US people use /ɑː/ instead of /ɔː/ or even instead of /ɔ/. Even people with the merger tend to use something more near to /ɔ/ then /ɑː/
my routine now is
watch your videos
then sing an American song!
It seems my singing has improved instantly!
+ Christopher Li , seems like a good side effect! :) It's going to get even better as we'll publish more videos soon :).
haha nice
+Christopher Li ;)
Great
+양창진 , thank you very much!
Hi! Please compare the ɔ and ɑ sounds.
Helpful
Glad to hear that!
And waiting for your trainin with fabulous program...
Appreciative but I took particular note of words, such as boss and cross - seems these ones and some others have multiple vowel options such as the vowels in word pairs: class + pot and door + bore.
thnx
una preguna , esa ventana que usan cuando practicamos la pronunciación , ¿Es una aplicación?
This is not a difficult sounds. Thanks for sharing!
Hello ! Could you teach me how to pronounce the /ɔ͠/as in salon. Thank you!
I think that u made a mistake because in another video you represented the word boss with the /ɑ/ sound but in this one you used the /ɔ/. which is the correct one?
+Vanessa Peña, Great catch, Vanessa! We transcribe all words manually before adding them to our app and unfortunately, sometimes mistakes occur. The word boss is pronounced with the /ɑ/ sound in Standard (General) American English, so in the next update of this video it will be removed. We’ll update the description and mention that there’s a mistake. Thank you!
@@SoundsAmerican not only the word boss is mispronounced. I've found other mistakes like these ones:
on off
boss
blog
cloth
cost
cough
cross
dog
fog
frog
@@SoundsAmerican Hi :-)
Is Alvaro Ruiz Villegas right? They are all pronounced with /ɑ/ not with /ɔ/?
@@alvaroruizvillegas The are not "mispronounced", it's just that those words have two correct ways of pronounciation. Both /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ are correct.
Why / ɑ / / ɔ / are listening same？
Cot-caught merger applies to most American English dialects, where [ɔ], [ä] and [α] are merged to be pronounced as [α]
I always thought that 'Don' had the LOT vowel (or as they call it in this channel: /ɑ/, as in "got"), and this theoretically does not depend on the region, because as far as I know all Americans have the same vowel in lot/got. Though probably in New Orleans they say "goot" just to confuse everyone else.
Hello, thank you for the videos , may i know which dictionary we should use i use longman but the phonetic is different for example for " on" it is /ɑ:/ but as per your phonetic it is /ɔ/
We recommend using Cambridge Dictionary, American version, of course: dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/
@@SoundsAmerican i used Cambride dictionary, i see On is /ɑːn/, not /ɔ/, can u explain for me that difference
What books do you use as source, you inspire me to read and go deeper
+David Garcia, well, we've been doing it for more than 20 years, so ... Let's just say, lots of books. If you want to read something on pronunciation, we can recommend this book: www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Phonetics-Practical-Communication-Disorders/dp/0132582104
It's not too expensive and can be found at most libraries. And it's easy to read.
useful
👍👋
I once read in an American document, they say there's a difference between /ɔ/ and /o/, specifically in North /ɔr/ and Force /or/. Can you tell me the differences between them? Thanks in advance! I love your work.
+Vũ Ngô The vowel sound in the words "North" is the same as the vowel sound in the word "force." It's the R-colored vowel /ɔr/.
czcams.com/video/ZbDrxmP4_S4/video.html
This R-colored vowel is made when you first pronounce the /ɔ/ sound (the one described in this video) and then connect it to the /r/.
Is this what you're asking about or did you mean different vowel sounds?
I am confused between this vowel sound and /a/ as in block - bob , I feel they are the same and also in dictionaries they are the same.
can you please tell me if there is any difference I should be aware of.
Thank you so much :)
+Eman Fathy , it's a good question, and a lot of people asked it.
You're asking about the difference between the two vowel sounds /ɑ/ as in "got" and /ɔ/, as in "on."
The /ɑ/ is a low central vowel, and the /ɔ/ is a low back vowel. You can compare them here in this video:
► Vowel Sound /ɑ/, as in "got" - czcams.com/video/7EdRAfOMfnU/video.html
► Vowel Sound /ɔ/, as in "on" - czcams.com/video/7EdRAfOMfnU/video.html
Both these sounds exist in American English, but not all Americans can hear the difference between them.
It depends on where in the US you grew up and learned to speak English. Those who can't hear the difference between the /ɔ/ and the / ɑ/, make them sound the same. It happens because for these people the two sounds have "merged" into one sound, the /ɑ/.
Those who can hear the difference, are able to make them as different sounds. The merging of these sounds is frequently referred to as the "caught-cot merger."You can find more information about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger
Here's a map showing what's going on with the / ɔ/ and the / ɑ/ in the US: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger#/media/File:Cot-caught_merger.pngHope it helps!
caught and coat on this video were /ɑ/ in my ear.
American: Take it awf. Canadian: Take it ahf. American: Put it ahn. Canadian: Put in awn.
Hello! How can i distinguish betwen / ɔ / and
/ ɑ / ? Thanks...
I think if you open your mouth as wide as posibble the "a" sound might get in the middle. Mouth should be more rounded and it will sound more like awww..
Do you have any reference to this information?
Thank for you
Where the double vowel sounds
+صادق جعفر , do you mean diphthongs, like /aɪ/ or /aʊ/? We plan to make videos for them later, stay tuned!
Hi, there ! I'd like to ask you about a doubt that I have; I first studied English pronunciation as Bristish English, also known as BBC English or RP English (received pronunciation). Then, I changed to American English cause I thought it is easier and more useful. Could we say that in AmEnglish there is no short vowel sound/ ɔ / ; In UKEnglish you've got / ɔ / (short one) as in "cross" and / ɔ : / (long one) (as in "caught"). Thanks a lot for your time.
No, we cannot. And btw the video is highly inaccurate in explanation
👍👍👍
Thanks for your video! Could you please let me know if there is an app on the mobile phone? I've tried to search but didn't find it. Many thanks again
We're using our own app, but we haven't released it to the public yet. We're planning to do it very soon and we'll announce the release on this channel. Stay tuned!
@@SoundsAmerican Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing it. I think it will be very useful for learners.
Could you please explain the "Low back merger" (where /ɔ/ and maybe /ɒ/ become /ɑ/) and the "Weak vowel merger" (where unstressed /ɪ/ and maybe /ʊ/ become /ə/)?
I'm learning to pronounce words in American English (in general), so I focus on the most standard/common pronunciations, but it's very difficult to know what they are, various dictionaries differ from each other and I think the main conflicts are based on these two mergers, the rest is usually consistent.
So far my understanding is that in General American English (or Standard American English) people pronounce /ɑ/ instead of /ɔ/ (and they use /ɔ/ only in /ɔɪ/ and /ɔɹ/), and that /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ in unstressed syllables should be pronounced as /ə/, but I really don't know.
In the 2:47s in the word "called" it's been pronounced as "calm"...
Nice video， what’s the app’s name presented in your video?
This is our own app which we haven't released to the public yet. However, we plan to do it soon and will announce the release on this channel. Stay tuned!
Sounds American Perfect
@@SoundsAmerican has it been released yet? do you also offer online courses?
Some words have different sounds than others
Could you tell me (if there is a way) how to tell if a word is supposed to be pronounced with /ɔ/ or /ɑ/ for the letter o when a word ends with -og? I've seen that words like dog, frog, log, and hog are pronounced with /ɔ/ but words like cog, mog, nog, and tog are pronounced with /ɑ/ and I can't tell if there is a pattern to determine which vowel to use.
It's an excellent question. For the words you mentioned, there's no pattern. :). In General American English, the letter 'o' can be pronounced as /ɑ/ or /ɔ/ in closed stressed syllables. For example, the word "not" can be pronounced as /nɑt/ or / nɔt/. Both variants are correct and commonly used.
The reason is that for some people in the US, there's no difference between /ɑ/ and the /ɔ /, they can't hear or pronounce them as different sounds. Instead, they just make the /ɑ/ vowel. There's a term for this phenomenon, the "caught-cot merger." You can find more information about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger
Hope it helps!
@@SoundsAmerican aww so there IS no pattern.
Thank you for the detailed response.
1:42
Hi there! Could you please help me distinguish these three IPA symbols: /o/ /ɒ/ /ɔ/. Are these all different sounds or just one which is spelled differently?
These are all different sounds.
@@SoundsAmerican Thanks for your answer. Does each of them related to American Standart pronunciation?
It's an excellent question. The thing is, scholars, linguists, and dictionaries often use different notations for the same sounds.
There's some ambiguity related to the /ɒ/ sound. We believe it's more relevant to the British accent. In American English, there's the central /ɑ/ sound (for some people, it's a back vowel), and the back /ɔ/ sound. The /o/ is the same as /oʊ/.
Check out the vowel sounds chart in this video, it can be helpful: czcams.com/video/7EdRAfOMfnU/video.html
@@SoundsAmerican thanks a lot for your reply)
You can also pronounce on with the vowel sound "a" as in father right?
+Fabian Cahue , correct. Some explanation, since we get a lot of questions on this topic.
The thing is that not all Americans can hear the difference between the /ɑ/ (as in "father") and the /ɔ/ (as in "lost," for example).
It depends on where in the US you grew up and learned to speak English. These two sounds both exist in American English.
However, those who can't hear the difference between the /ɔ/ and the / ɑ/, make them sound the same. It happens because for these people the two sounds have "merged" into one sound, the /ɑ/.
Those who can hear the difference, are able to make them as different sounds. The merging of these sounds is frequently referred to as the "caught-cot merger." You can find more information about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger
Here's a map showing what's going on with the / ɔ/ and the / ɑ/ in the US: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger#/media/File:Cot-caught_merger.pngHope it helps!
Words ending with aw sound like /ɑ/ but not the vowel /ɔ/. Please help us know if this is correct, as this may be confusing.
Thank you sounds American. To me the only issue is that you use animation and not real people on these video lessons. It would be perfect so we can see how they move their mouth, lips and tongue. Using IPA is great that helps a lot. Thanks again.
+Ma S You're welcome! Glad you liked our videos! We know that a lot of people are used to learning pronunciation with teachers and may expect videos with real people showing how to pronounce the American sounds. However, it would be impossible to show in detail what's going on _inside_ peoples' mouths and throats, right? Therefore we have Tom's images which makes it very convenient to demonstrate all minute details of how the production of the sounds works.
i am a chinese but i try my best to open my lips but it still seem to be very small ? what should i do?
+ANDY FAN the best way to evaluate is to use a mirror. Try to practice in front of a mirror and then you will know if you need to lower your jaw even more or not. If you feel that you need to open your mouth wider when making these sounds, try to do simple exercises and just practice opening your mouth as wide as you can without rounding or spreading your lips.
The following exercise might help:
keep your mouth shut and place your hand below your chin, then move your hand down a little, so that it doesn't touch your chin.
Open your mouth and try to reach your hand with your jaw. Repeat several times. Next, move your hand lower and try to reach your hand by lowering your jaw again. Move your hand lower and lower, until you can hardly reach it with your jaw. That's the point you need to work towards. Try opening your mouth and closing it again, each time opening it a little wider. Don't do any sharp movements, move slowly and gently. When you jaw reaches your hand, you did it!
Try to practice it every day for 5-10 minutes until you feel that your jaw moves better and you can open your mouth wider :). Our speech organs respond to regular exercise very well! Hope it helps!
Sounds American thank you very much .i will keep doing
+ANDY FAN , you're very welcome! Let us know if you have any other questions!
this sound is so similar to /ɑ/ sound :((((( could you help me
+KaPi Mi We'll try :).
The /ɔ / and the /ɑ/ are both pronounced with your tongue placed very low in your mouth and the jaw lowered as much as possible. This is the fundamental similarity between them.
Now about the differences:
When you pronounce the /ɑ/ sound, your tongue should be placed in the middle (center) of your mouth, since this is a central vowel.
When you pronounce the /ɔ/ sound, your tongue should be pulled back to your throat, since this is a back vowel.
For the /ɔ/ sound, your lips should be rounded, however, for the /ɑ/ they should be neutral.
However, it's not surprising that these vowels sound the same to you.
The thing is, even not all Americans can hear the difference between these two vowels. It depends on where in the US you grew up and learned to speak English. Those who can't hear the difference between the /ɔ/ and the /ɑ/, make them sound the same. It happens because for these people the two sounds have "merged" into one sound, the /ɑ/.
Those who can hear the difference, are able to make them as different sounds. The merging of these sounds is frequently referred to as the "caught-cot merger." You can find more information about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger
Here's a map showing what's going on with the / ɔ/ and the / ɑ/ in the US: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger#/media/File:Cot-caught_merger.pngWe recommend practicing both sounds, here is the link the video on the /ɑ/ sound: czcams.com/video/R5CY1UniS68W/video.htmle know that this "caught-cot" merger explanation can be confusing, let us know if you have any questions!
Thank you for your lecture. I have one question about the tongue position. You said that I need to pull my tongue back and its tip should be touching the back of my bottom front teeth.'
Is it possible to do it at the same time? I am sorry for referencing a different English teacher's video here but she said the tip of the tongue doesn't touch anything in czcams.com/video/opMab62SybY/video.html. So I got confused. Who is right? Both are right?
Hello teacher, what is the difference of the following phonetic sounds: ɔ and ɔ: ?. help me please.
Hello there! This video will help: czcams.com/video/GQa9w__GqLc/video.html
do the words "sword" and "door" have the sound examined in this video?
Nope, here's the sound you're looking for: czcams.com/video/ZbDrxmP4_S4/video.html
Can you explain the difference between / ɔ/ sound in the word "Called" and / oʊ / sound in the word "Cold"? I cannot pronounce "Called" in the right way, it looks like "Cold" when I pronounce "Called". Thanks in advance.
Sure, we even have a video exactly about this: czcams.com/video/ZEqiQgoHgGo/video.html
@@SoundsAmerican Thank you so much
Hi. I can't pronounce this sound. Can I make the /ɑ/ sound instead of the /ɔ/ for all words which have the /ɔ/?
Yes, you can. A lot of Americans do that, too. It's a thing called cot-caught merger.
@@geometrydashiuppiter6910 I have the opposite problem. Could I change the sound of /ɑ/ to /ɔ/?
@@bonnie7742 You could, but that would make your accent sound a lot more Canadian-ish.
Hi.
Whi the first vowel sound of the diphtong /ɔɪ/ is not the same than the vowel sound /ɔ/?
This doesn't make sense for me
+Illogic Math You're right, the vowel sound /ɔ/ is the first vowel in the /ɔɪ/ diphthong. We talk about it in detail in this video, check it out: czcams.com/video/ZfjPBN22mK8/video.html
can you share the website link?
We don't have a website just yet.
i'm confused about "boss" because it is /revert c/ sound in this video but it is /a/ sound in other video "/^/ vs /a/"
For some people in the US, there's no difference between /ɑ/ and the /ɔ /, they can't hear or pronounce them as different sounds. Instead, they just make the /ɑ/ vowel. There's a term for this phenomenon, the "caught-cot merger." You can find more information about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger
It’s difficult 😢 what’s the difference between this sound and / ɒ/ sound ?
Are these two sounds similar to ɔ a?
the correct phoneme for the 'o' in 'on' is the /ɑ/ sound. The /ɔ/ sound you're talking about is the same o in 'or'. If you replace 'r' in 'or' with 'n' and say 'on', it is incorrect.
In your other video you show "boss" with an other vowel: czcams.com/video/MqcCCFptaJk/video.htmlm11s Which one is correct then? Doesnt matter?
+Ádám Szendrei , wow! Finally, this was pointed out! Great catch! :). Within our team, some people can distinguish between the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/, and some can't. This is due to the "caught" - "cot" merger. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger), this is how we ended up with the word "boss" in the videos for both these sounds. In the end, we agreed that the boss is pronounced with the /ɑ/ sound, like in the video you referenced. :)
Do you have an app similar to the video?
We're using our own app, we haven't released it to the public yet, but we plan to do it soon. We'll announce the release on this channel, stay tuned!
ɔ!
in vietnamese we have this sound and i assert that /o/ and /a/ are diffrent
Not that as different as Polish O and A :D
how do you move your tongue to the back and at the same time touch the back of your lower teeth with the tip of your tongue. when you move your tongue back, it moves up a bit . how do you keep it flat?
The tip of your tongue doesn't have to touch the back of your lower teeth. It's fine if it doesn't.
Are law and low have the same pronunciation?
Check out this video: czcams.com/video/ZEqiQgoHgGo/video.html
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I feel like every single word here was pronounced with the /ɑ/ sound, other than words containing an l, like call, or fall, where it actually sounded like /ɔ/.
Now, I basically have the cot-caught merger, so is it ok if I pronounce all the words containg the /ɔ/ sound with an /ɑ/ sound, EXCEPT when it is followed by l? Or would it sound weird?
+Geometry Dash Iuppiter Awesome question. No, you won't sound weird, especially if you have the cot-caught merger. A lot of people can't hear and make the difference between the /ɔ/ and the /ɑ/ sounds. If you pronounce the /ɑ/ correctly, you'll be just fine.
@@SoundsAmerican But what about when it is followed by the letter "l", as in words like all, call, fall? To my ears, in that case it does sound more like /ɔ/, rather than /ɑ/. Is that right, or are my ears deceiving me?
@@geometrydashiuppiter6910 You've just opened a Pandora box with this question. The thing is that people who are affected by the cot-caught merger can't say for sure if they pronounce the /ɔ/ sound in words like "call" or "salt," as they can't hear the difference between /ɔ/ and the /ɑ/. But it does sound like they make the /ɔ/ sound in those words.
So, the question is, how can it happen if they are affected by the merger? We guess that they might shift the mouth further back to the throat where the /ɔ/ sound is made because of the Dark L sound following the vowel. We are not 100% sure that this is what happens because this needs some in-depth research.
Hope this explanation makes sense :).
BTW, you've got a great ear, it's not often that people are able to hear such subtle differences. And the questions are fantastic.
@@SoundsAmerican Wow, thank you and yes, your explanation does make sense!
Ex: Versus [ver·sus || 'vɜrsəs /'vɜː can you explain this (ɜː) allophone ( sound) or make a video?
Yes, thank you for your suggestion!
Practical part begins at 2:04
+ Thuong Tran We have links to all parts of our videos, including Practice, in the videos Descriptions. These are the sections under each videos.
@@SoundsAmerican Thank you very much! 1000 likes
0:14
How are you teacher .....i need learn english ...i need lesson about to double vowels sond ..thank you sir
+صادق جعفر ,
Hello there! We haven't made videos for diphthongs yet, but we certainly have them in our plan. Please, stay tuned!
Sounds American thank you sir
+صادق جعفر , 👍👋
Do Americans tend to pronounce /ɔ/ as
/ɑ/, as in /brɑːt/ instead of /brɔːt/ in Brit pronunciation? I'm a little confused because in Cambridge Dictionary "call" is pronounced as /kɑːl/, not /kɔːl/. should I settle for pronouncing all the vowels as /ɔ/?
In American English, there are two sounds: the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/.
Both of them are pronounced with your mouth fully open, and your tongue placed very low. For the / ɑ/ sound, your tongue has to be in the middle of your mouth, but for the / ɔ /, it has to be pulled far back. You can compare how these sounds are pronounced using the vowel chart in this video: Vowel Sounds Chart: czcams.com/video/7EdRAfOMfnU/video.html (it works better if you use direct links to each sound in the description).
Now, the more complicated part:
For some people in the US, there's no difference between /ɑ/ and the /ɔ /, they can't hear or pronounce them as different sounds. Instead, they just make the /ɑ/ vowel. There's a term for this phenomenon, the "caught-cot merger." You can find more information about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger
On this map, you can see which coast pronounces the /ɔ / and which can't recognize it as a sound. 😜
The Cambridge Online dictionary is good, but make sure to choose "US" in the settings if you want to look up the American pronunciation. Dictionary.com and Longman Pronunciation dictionary are reliable too.
Hope it helps!
@@SoundsAmerican truely appreciate your reply! Thx!
It's worth pointing out that this vowel is used in words where British English would use the LOT vowel. British English distinguishes the FATHER vowel from the LOT vowel from the LAW vowel. But in American English, the LOT vowel doesn't exist as such, some of the words where British English has that vowel use this LAW vowel, and the rest use the FATHER vowel. So, whereas in British English father and bother do not rhyme perfectly, in American English they do, and whereas in British English awful and offal do not rhyme perfectly, in American English they do.
i will never care about showing to those i am talking with them either native speakers or not that which vowel sounds especially those two vowels / ɔ / or / ɑ / i use when in the words . each one of them will be satisfy and convenient
on and off in the dictionary appear as LOT sound not as THOUGHT one
/ɑːf/ US /ɑːn/
+MARWA MURRAR Good point. The thing is that not all Americans can hear the difference between the /ɑ/ and the /ɔ/ sounds.
It depends on where in the US you grew up and learned to speak English.
For some people these wwo sounds have "merged" into one sound, the /ɑ/, and they can't hear the difference between them. Those who can hear the difference, are able to make them as different sounds. The merging of these sounds is frequently referred to as the "caught-cot merger."You can find more information about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger
Here's a map showing what's going on with the / ɔ/ and the / ɑ/ in the US: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger#/media/File:Cot-caught_merger.png
Therefore, some dictionaries transcribe these words with the /ɑ/ sounds, other dictionaries provide two variants.
Hope it helps!
@@SoundsAmerican yes it is helpful thank you!
+MARWA MURRAR 👍