As with the previous blog, I need to start with something about the heading. Unfortunately my website header only has one font, which does not use the correct 'a' symbol needed for typing the phonetic sound we're discussing today, which is: /aʊ/ when correctly typed. It's important to always get the form of phonetic symbols right, otherwise they will represent a different sound, or something that doesn't exist at all. Unfortunately I had no choice for the heading here, so my apologies for any confusion.
So, once again correctly typed, our final diphthong is / aʊ /. This sound is found in words such as vowel, wow, how, now, brown, out and doubt.
Whilst / aʊ / is often represented by the letters ‘ow’ and ‘ou’, those letters don’t always make the sound / aʊ /.
For example, show, grow, low and own, are pronounced with an /əʊ/ sound, while thought and dangerous are pronounced with an / ͻ: / and / ə / sound respectively.
So, now when you’re in doubt you can just check the phonetic symbols in a dictionary.
Before I go, a final word about diphthongs. There is no doubt that they can be difficult to say at first, particularly if they’re not used in your first language. So be patient with yourself and go at your own pace! One way to practise diphthongs is to ask someone who speaks English as their first language to say a few words with different diphthongs in them and see if you can hear which ones they’re using. As an example, you could ask them to say the following words, but in a different order each time:
Ear
A
Pure
Oy!
Oh!
Air
I
Ow!
In the next blog, we move into the final stage of our phonetics exploration…consonants.
For more information about listening to, watching and practising phonetic symbols and their corresponding sounds, please click here.
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