English: How to Pronounce AI [aɪ] diphthong: American Accent

The 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong. The first

sound of this diphthong does not occur on its own as a vowel in American English. A,

a, ai. It's similar to the 'aa' as in 'bat' in that the back of the tongue raises towards

the soft palate, but it doesn't raise as high as it does in the 'aa' as in 'bat' vowel,

a, a, ai. Also, you may find that the corners of the lips pull out a little bit, and the

top lip raises a bit, exposing some of those front teeth, a, a. The tip of the tongue remains

forward in this sound, lightly touching behind the bottom front teeth. The second sound of

the diphthong is the 'ih' as in 'sit'. In this sound, the tip of the tongue is also

forward, touching just behind the bottom front teeth. So that does not move in this diphthong.

However, the front/mid part of the tongue does raise towards the roof of the mouth,

ai, ai. So as it reaches up towards the roof of the mouth, the jaw will close somewhat,

ai, ai, buy. Here we see the two sounds of this diphthong. You can see in the first sound,

aa, that the jaw is more dropped. On the second sound, 'ih', the tongue is more forward. Here

are the two sounds in profile. Again, note that in the first sound, the jaw is dropped

more. Here, parts of the mouth are drawn in. you can see that the tongue position in the

first sound is drawn slightly back, which makes it flatter. In the second sound, the

tongue is much more raised in the front. In both sounds, the tip of the tongue does lightly

touch behind the bottom front teeth. The 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong. Sample words: shy,

write, good-bye. Sample sentence: My sister is bright with a nice sense of style. Now

you will see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle,

so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound. My, lips press together

for the M, jaw drops, here's the 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong, you could see the tongue

come up towards the end. Sister is bright, lips come together for the B. And here it

is again, the 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong. Tongue down and then pushes up towards the

front. The tip goes up to make the T. Lips come together for the W. With a nice - tongue

up for the N and drops for the 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong. Sense of, lip comes up to

make the V sound, style. Another 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong. Jaw drops for the first part,

tongue moves up for the second part, and the dark L. Now from the angle. My, 'ai' as in

'buy' diphthong. Jaw drops for the first part and then the middle-front part of the tongue

moves up for the second part. Sister is bright, another 'ai' as in 'buy'. Jaw drops, forward

part of the tongue moves up, and now here the tip goes up to make the T. With a, tongue

tip up to make N and drops, ai, nice, sense of, lip up to make the V sound. Style, another

'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong. Jaw drops, tongue is down, and then the mid-front part of the

tongue raises to make the second part of the diphthong. That's it, and thanks so much for

using Rachel's English.