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750 Business Words
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750 Business Words
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Pronunciation of Vowels

The vowels include the letters  A, E, I, O and U. Here they are listed according to the position within the mouth.
Click on the letters to view a video with each pronunciation group.
Click on the lessons to return to the class.

Letters
 Position
Lessons
Short A   Short O/Open A  
Long I
 For all of these sounds, move the jaw. The mouth is very open.
For Short A, the lips are pulled back and the throat is a little tight.
Short O and Open A are the same sound. The jaw is open and the lips are relaxed.
Long I begins with an open jaw and ends with a Long E sound.
A Sounds

O Sounds

I Sounds
Long A   Long E
 For these sounds, the lips are wide.
For Long A, the mouth is more open, like a rectangle.
For Long E, the mouth is less open and the lips are tightly in the wide position.
A Sounds

E Sounds
Long U   Y + Long U  
Relaxed U
 For the Long U sounds, the lips are pressed forward.
The sound can be the simple Long U as in reduce.
Or there can be a Y sound before the U as in music.
For the relaxed U sound, the inside of the mouth is slightly rounded.
The lips are not pressed forward for the relaxed U.
U Sounds
Long O 
The lips are forward in a loose O shape.
O Sounds
Short E   Short I  
Short U (Schwa)
 These three sounds are similar and they are made inside the mouth.
For Short E, the jaw is a little bit more open.
For Short I, think about a low pitch.
For the Schwa sound, use a completely relaxed position and let air out.
This is the simplest sound you can make.
E Sounds

I Sounds

Schwa
ER   IR   UR   AR  AR   ER   IRE   OR  URE
 ER, IR and UR usually have a Schwa + R sound.
Because the schwa is simple, this will sound like R only.
AR can have an Open A or  a Long A sound. As an ending, the A is a schwa.
ER at the beginning or middle may have a Long E sound.
It may also have a short E sound as in error (very similar to Long AR).
Pronounce IRE and URE with Long I and Long U sounds.
OR has a Long O sound. As an ending the O is a schwa.
Schwa with R

AR and OR
AL   EL   LE
 As endings, AL, EL and LE have a schwa + L sound, ul.
AL, EL and LE at the beginning of words will have regular A and E sounds.
Schwa with L
OI/OY  
Move from Long O to Long E.
OI, OU, OW
OU/OW Move from Short A to Long O. See lesson 11 for other OU and OW sounds.
OI, OU, OW








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