[ey] vowel sound in English
[ey] vowel sound
English Pronunciation Lesson
Series on Vowel Sounds Pronunciation in English
Introduction
As was also discussed in the lesson on contracting the verb “may”, to produce the [ey] vowel sound, it’s important to remember to pull your lips back, and then push the top/back part of the tongue up against the top of your mouth to insert the [y] sound at the end of the vowel.
[ey]
[ey]
It’s important to remember that the vowel sound is not the shorter [ɛ], but it’s pronounced [ey] with the [y] at the end.
This may feel unnatural for Spanish, Thai, Chinese and many other speakers of English, but not pronouncing the [y] can sometimes lead to confusion.
Example
In the sentence:
“I need a piece of paper.”
If I didn’t pull my lips back enough, it would sound like I said:
“I need a piece of pepper.”
Did you hear it? Because I said a shorter [ɛ] instead [ey], “paper” sounded like “pepper”.
Let’s practice (1) pulling back our lips for the [ey] vowel sound, ensuring that we (2) include the [y] consonant at the end of that sound.
Listen and Repeat
“made” [meyd]
“You made my day.” (← an expression in English)
“lake” [leyk]
“Let’s go swimming in the lake.”
“sailor” [SEiYL lɚr]
“The sailors are spending the day on their boats.”
“chasing” [TʃEY sɪŋ]
“The dog has been chasing the cat all morning!”
“raise” [reyz]
“I got a raise at work today!”
Remember, even if pulling back your lips and inserting the [y] sound feels completely unnatural to you, just practice retraining the muscles in your mouth. Do what’s unnatural, and over time, it will become easier.
Series on Vowel Sounds Pronunciation in English
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