Did you know that the English /AE/ sound is a very commonly confused vowel for non-native speakers? Most other languages do not use the /AE/ sound, so many non-native English speakers will pronounce /AE/ as /EH/. /AE/ is one of the most uniquely pronounced vowels in English. This can have a big influence on word meaning! This mistake can lead to confusion as the listener may be hearing a different word than what is intended.
Let’s learn the /AE/ sound in the Standard American dialect!
The Placement: To make the /AE/ sound, you need to drop your jaw a bit more than the /EH/ sound. Your tongue stays right behind your bottom teeth in a relaxed position resting at the bottom of your mouth. /AE/ is slightly longer in duration than /EH/. Hear the 2 beat change in pitch within this vowel. The jaw drop is important because if you don’t drop the jaw enough, you will get an /EH/ sound
Making an /EH/ instead of /AE/ could change the meaning of the word you wanted to say!
Let’s practice some contrasting words with the /AE/ versus /EH/ sound. I use symbols to represent the sounds when we practice to differentiate which sounds are used in the words as opposed to which letters are used to spell the words. Did you know that there are 44 different sounds used in English but only 26 letters to represent them? The sounds in English, especially the vowels, can be spelled in many different ways. My sound symbols will consistently represent that specific sound in the words so you know how to pronounce the word.
bAEg (bag) bEHg (beg)
bAEd (bad) bEHd (bed)
hAEd (had) hEHd (head)
sAEd (sad) sEHd (said)
dAEd (dad) dEHd (dead)
mAEn (man) mEHn (men)
In that last example, see how important the pronunciation of /AE/ vs /EH/ is! It can change the meaning between singular “man” and plural “men.”
Now, try to keep producing the /AE/ sound accurately while saying these sentences:
My dAEd was very sAEd (My dad was very sad)
Put it in thAEt bAEg (Put it in that bag)
I hAEd a bAEd day (I had a bad day)
The two mEHn visited the lonely mAEn (The two men visited the lonely man)
There you go, the American /AE/ sound! I knew you could do it! With more practice you can master producing the /AE/ sound and you will be amazed that listeners are not confusing these words with /EH/ words anymore!
If you liked this lesson and you want more learning and practice, go to accents.pwspeech.com to schedule your accent assessment. I’ll be able to tell you exactly what YOU can do to personally improve your spoken English. In private lessons I can offer personal feedback, answer your specific questions, develop a sequenced plan to build on what you’ve learned, and work on specific goals that most benefit you.