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American English Pronunciation Podcast (Pronuncian.com), #113: The h sound, like a chameleon

#113: The h sound, like a chameleon

#113: The h sound , like a chameleon

No sound can become more like surrounding sounds than the h sound

Hi again, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 113th episode.

A chameleon is a kind of lizard that changes color to match its surroundings. This helps it blend in and avoid being eaten by other animals. The American English h sound also blends in with its surroundings, and that is one of the reasons it is so hard to hear, analyze, and understand.

When I say it "blends in," I mean that takes on the characteristics of the sounds before and after it. It doesn't go away, and it does still make its own distinct sound, but it manages to do it while having the front of the vocal tract, take the shape of surrounding vowels. First, what is the h sound ? It is a fricative, meaning that the vocal tract is constricted in some way, causing turbulence of air, and sound. For the h sound , the constriction of air happens deep in the throat. Because it's so deep, it's very hard to feel. In fact, if you can feel it, you're probably overproducing it. Fricatives are continuous consonants, so I can hold the sound for a long time. Holding the h sound sounds like this (h sound).

When speaking, I don't ever have a need to hold the sound like that, but it is good practice for learning where in the vocal tract the sound is coming from. The h sound is unvoiced in American English, and it has no voiced counterpart. This is unusual, since all of the other English fricatives come in voiced/unvoiced pairs.

Now, to learn what I mean when I say that the h sound is a chameleon sound , let's compare the h sound (h sound) in the words he and hot . I'll say those words, and I want you to repeat them: he hot

Were you able to get a nice, soft, unvoiced h sound ?

Let's looks at these words again. I want you to notice if your tongue is already in the place of the long e sound in the word he before the h sound is even produced:

he

Is the front of your tongue high inside your mouth for that entire word? Mine is.

he

The front of my tongue does not move during the entire sound.

he

The vowel sound in the word hot is the short o sound. My mouth is much more open for the short o than it was for the long e . Also, instead of the front of my tongue being high, the back of my tongue is higher, and also pushed back. Listen to the word and repeat it again:

hot

Let's compare the two sounds again: he hot

The placement of the front of my tongue is quite different during the h sound portion of the words.

he hot

Now let's compare the shape of the mouth during the h sound of some other words. I'll leave time for you to repeat each word after me: happy him heavy who whole

Let's examine those last two a little more closely, because there are two things we can learn from the words who and whole . First, the spelling. The wh spelling , when followed by the oo sound or the long o sound, is pronounced as an h sound . Otherwise, it is pronounced as a w sound , as in the words when and why and whale .

Second, getting back to the h sound , notice how different the shape of you lips is for the h sound in the word who as compared to the h sound in the word whole . Your lips are rounded for both the oo sound , who , and the long o sound whole , but are much more closed during the oo sound . That lip shape begins right at the beginning of the word, during the h sound .

Listen to and repeat those words are me:

who whole

One more time:

who whole

Here's a practice sentence to help you build up to perfect h sound s, no matter which other sounds surround them. Are you ready? I'll leave time for you to repeat the sentence. Perhaps he hoped hurrying would help.

Let's say it again: Perhaps he hoped hurrying would help.

And one more time:

Perhaps he hoped hurrying would help.

Also, there is a new, free h sound spelling and pronunciation lesson up on Pronuncian! I'll link to it from this episode's transcripts, which you can find at www.pronuncian.com/podcast. That's all for today everyone. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Thanks for listening.

Bye-bye.


#113: The h sound, like a chameleon #113: El sonido h, como un camaleón #113: O som do h, como um camaleão ＃113：h的声音，像变色龙

#113: The h sound , like a chameleon

No sound can become more like surrounding sounds than the h sound

Hi again, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast. My name is Mandy, and this is our 113th episode.

A chameleon is a kind of lizard that changes color to match its surroundings. This helps it blend in and avoid being eaten by other animals. The American English h sound also blends in with its surroundings, and that is one of the reasons it is so hard to hear, analyze, and understand.

When I say it "blends in," I mean that takes on the characteristics of the sounds before and after it. It doesn't go away, and it does still make its own distinct sound, but it manages to do it while having the front of the vocal tract, take the shape of surrounding vowels. First, what is the h sound ? It is a fricative, meaning that the vocal tract is constricted in some way, causing turbulence of air, and sound. For the h sound , the constriction of air happens deep in the throat. Because it's so deep, it's very hard to feel. In fact, if you can feel it, you're probably overproducing it. Fricatives are continuous consonants, so I can hold the sound for a long time. Holding the h sound sounds like this (h sound).

When speaking, I don't ever have a need to hold the sound like that, but it is good practice for learning where in the vocal tract the sound is coming from. The h sound is unvoiced in American English, and it has no voiced counterpart. This is unusual, since all of the other English fricatives come in voiced/unvoiced pairs.

Now, to learn what I mean when I say that the h sound is a chameleon sound , let's compare the h sound (h sound) in the words he and hot . I'll say those words, and I want you to repeat them: he hot

Were you able to get a nice, soft, unvoiced h sound ?

Let's looks at these words again. I want you to notice if your tongue is already in the place of the long e sound in the word he before the h sound is even produced:

he

Is the front of your tongue high inside your mouth for that entire word? Mine is.

he

The front of my tongue does not move during the entire sound.

he

The vowel sound in the word hot is the short o sound. My mouth is much more open for the short o than it was for the long e . Also, instead of the front of my tongue being high, the back of my tongue is higher, and also pushed back. Listen to the word and repeat it again:

hot

Let's compare the two sounds again: he hot

The placement of the front of my tongue is quite different during the h sound portion of the words.

he hot

Now let's compare the shape of the mouth during the h sound of some other words. I'll leave time for you to repeat each word after me: happy him heavy who whole

Let's examine those last two a little more closely, because there are two things we can learn from the words who and whole . First, the spelling. The wh spelling , when followed by the oo sound or the long o sound, is pronounced as an h sound . Otherwise, it is pronounced as a w sound , as in the words when and why and whale .

Second, getting back to the h sound , notice how different the shape of you lips is for the h sound in the word who as compared to the h sound in the word whole . Your lips are rounded for both the oo sound , who , and the long o sound whole , but are much more closed during the oo sound . That lip shape begins right at the beginning of the word, during the h sound .

Listen to and repeat those words are me:

who whole

One more time:

who whole

Here's a practice sentence to help you build up to perfect h sound s, no matter which other sounds surround them. Are you ready? I'll leave time for you to repeat the sentence. Perhaps he hoped hurrying would help.

Let's say it again: Perhaps he hoped hurrying would help.

And one more time:

Perhaps he hoped hurrying would help.

Also, there is a new, free h sound spelling and pronunciation lesson up on Pronuncian! I'll link to it from this episode's transcripts, which you can find at www.pronuncian.com/podcast. That's all for today everyone. This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. SLA is where the world comes to learn.

Thanks for listening.

Bye-bye.