English Sounds - OH [oʊ] Diphthong - How to make the OH as in NO Diphthong

In this American English pronunciation

video, we’re going to learn how to

pronounce the OH as in NO diphthong.

Diphthongs are a combination of two

sounds. They have a starting position

and an ending position.

The jaw drops for the beginning

position, tongue shifts back a little bit.

The lips may start relaxed, or may start

rounding right from the beginning.

After dropping the jaw, immediately

start moving into the ending position:

the lips round, and the back part of the

tongue stretches up. Focus on the

movement of the jaw and the lip rounding.

Let’s see this sound up close and in slow motion.

Jaw drop for the first position, and

rounded lips for the second.

The word ‘slow’. Notice how the lips

are not relaxed in the first position of

this diphthong, with the jaw drop.

They’re flared, which does not affect

the sound, as they prepare to round for

the ending position. Rounded lips.

In a stressed syllable, the OH diphthong

curves up then down. Slow, oh. In an

unstressed syllable, it’s lower and

flatter in pitch, as well as quieter and

quicker, oh. The diphthong is

unstressed in the word ‘okay’, oh. Let’s

take a look at the word ‘okay’.

The jaw drops, but not quite as much as

it did on the stressed syllable of ‘slow’.

The lips begin to round for the

transition into the ending position. The

lips round, but not quite as much as for

the stressed OH in ‘slow’.

Here we compare the first position of

the stressed OH on top with the

unstressed version on the bottom. Less

jaw drop for the unstressed version.

And here, the second position. You can

see that for the stressed OH, on top, the

lips round more than they do in the

unstressed version.

Generally, the unstressed version of a

vowel or diphthong is more relaxed and

often doesn’t take the full mouth

position, in this case, less jaw drop and

less lip rounding. This is because we

don’t take as much time for unstressed

syllables, they’re shorter, so we simplify

the mouth movements.

The OH diphthong, stressed: slow, OH

Unstressed: okay, oh

OH, oh, OH, oh.

Example words. Repeat with me: