American English - UH [ʌ] Vowel - How to make the UH Vowel

In this American English pronunciation

video, we’re going to learn how to

pronounce the UH as in BUTTER vowel.

This is a very relaxed sound. You can

see, uh, the jaw drops but the rest of

the mouth remains very neutral, uh.

The tongue is relaxed: the back presses

down just a little bit, and the tip is forward.

Uh. Keep your face really relaxed.

Let’s look at this sound up close

and in slow motion.

A very relaxed jaw drop with relaxed lips.

The tongue presses down just a bit in

the back. Here’s the word ‘stuff’.

Again, everything looks nice and relaxed.

The tongue presses down just

a bit in the back.

In a stressed syllable, the vowel curves

up then down. Stuff, uh. In an unstressed

syllable, it’s lower and flatter in pitch, and

a little quieter and quicker, uh, uh. The vowel

is unstressed in the word ‘undo’, uh.

Let’s take a look at this word up close

and in slow motion.

Easy jaw drop. Lips and cheeks remain

very relaxed. Tongue presses down

slightly in the back.

Compare the stressed vowel above

with the unstressed vowel below.

Notice the jaw may drop a bit more

for a stressed syllable.

This is typical. Unstressed vowels and

diphthongs are shorter, so there isn’t

as much time to make the full mouth position.

The UH vowel, stressed: stuff, UH

The UH vowel, unstressed: undo, uh

UH, uh, UH, uh.

Example words. Repeat with me.