Mastering the American Accent at American Cultural Immersion with Jessica

How to Pronounce the ae sound?

What is the ae sound? 

In American English, we have vowels that we pronounce to make us sound the way we do. Most people that do not speak English as their first language learned British English. British English does not have the /ae/ sound as part of their vowel system. Most non-native speakers tend to pronounce the sound I am about to teach you as an ah /a/. 

How to pronounce the æ sound

To pronounce this sound you need to do a few things:

- This is much easier then it looks so don't worry just follow the directions.

Place your tongue at the bottom of the front of your mouth (here is a picture). The tip of your tongue should dig slightly into the bottom front teeth (tip of tongue needs to touch inner bottom front teeth). Open your jaw wide and make sure your tongue is down in the front. Unrounded refers to your lips because they are stretched out as if you are smiling and not rounded.

Some important topics covered in the video are:

1. This is the lowest of all the front vowels (which you have to learn and their position)
2. This is the longest of your short vowel sounds
3. This requires that your jaw be open, not closed and lips rounded 
4. this sound is a diphthong (ae) meaning that there are two vowels associated with it not one so you have to make it longer and make sure your tongue is moving twice as you can see in the video. 
5. This is what we cover in my classes!

How the æ sound is spelled

The æ sound is normally spelled with the letter ‘a’ as in the words:

• at /æt/
• as /æz/
• can /kæn/
• man /mæn/

Like with all vowels in English, the spelling can be very inconsistent and you will always find alternative and unusual spellings of the vowels sounds. It is one of the most difficult things in English but you just have to learn it.