American English - EE [i] Vowel - How to make the EE Vowel

In this American English pronunciation

video, we’re going to learn how to

pronounce the EE as in SHE vowel.

This vowel is common to many

languages.

To make it, the jaw drops just a little bit.

The tongue tip stays behind the bottom

front teeth. The middle/front part of

the tongue arches up towards the roof

of the mouth, diminishing the space

between the tongue and the roof of the

mouth.

The corners of the lips pull a little wide,

ee. They’re not quite relaxed.

Let’s see this sound up close and in

slow motion.

A little jaw drop, tongue tip down and

forward while the top front of the

tongue arches towards the roof of the

mouth. The corners of the lips pull out.

In the word ‘please’, the EE vowel is

stressed. Same position.

When stressed, the vowel has the up-

down shape of a stressed syllable: EE.

When unstressed, it’s lower and flatter

in pitch, quieter, and faster, ee. This is a

very common ending unstressed vowel

in American English because of all of

the words that end in Y, like the word

‘busy’. Let’s see this word up close and

in slow motion.

Jaw drops, top front of tongue arches

up, and the corners of the lips pull out.

Let’s compare the stressed EE in

‘please’, on top, with the unstressed EE

in ‘busy’, on the bottom. You can see

the mouth position for the unstressed

EE is a little more relaxed. The jaw

doesn’t drop as much.

A more relaxed mouth position for the

unstressed version of a vowel or

diphthong is very common because

they are shorter. So, there is less time

to make the full mouth position.

Stressed EE: need, EE

Unstressed: busy, ee

EE, ee. EE, ee.

Example words. Repeat with me:

Keep, early, police, coffee, meet, each.