American English - EH [ɛ] Vowel - How to make the EH Vowel

In this American English pronunciation

video, we’re going to learn how to

pronounce the EH as in BED vowel.

To make this sound, the jaw drops, eh,

and the tongue remains forward with

the tip touching lightly behind the

bottom front teeth. Eh.

The mid/front part of the tongue lifts a

little bit towards the roof of the mouth

while the back of the tongue feels like it

stretches wide.

Eh. In a stressed syllable, the voice has

a little curve up, then curve down. Eh,

eh. It’s stressed in the word ‘said’.

Let’s watch up close and in slow motion.

The jaw drops. The tongue tip touches

the back of the bottom front teeth, and

the middle part arches up towards the

roof of the mouth.

Said, eh, said. In an unstressed syllable,

the vowel is lower and flatter in pitch,

as well as quieter and quicker, eh, eh.

The vowel is unstressed in the word

‘employ’, eh. Let’s take a look up close

and in slow motion.

Relaxed jaw drop. The middle part of

the tongue arches up towards the roof

of the mouth. Here we compare the

stressed EH from ‘said’, on top, with the

unstressed version from ‘employ’ on

the bottom. Notice the jaw drops more

for the stressed version of this vowel.

Because the unstressed version of the

vowel is shorter, there isn’t enough

time to make the full jaw drop.

EH stressed: said, EH

EH unstressed: employ, eh

EH, eh. EH, eh.

Example words. Repeat with me:

Red, never, embrace, enter, embody, desk.