How to pronounce the AW vowel /ɔː/
/ɔː/ is a long vowel made with the tongue back, mid, rounded. Round your lips firmly and push them forward. Pull the tongue back and hold it at mid-low height.
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How to make it
- 1Round your lips firmly and push them forward.
- 2Pull the tongue back and hold it at mid-low height.
- 3Turn the voice on and hold the sound — it is long.
- 4Keep it steady: if the lips tighten during the vowel you get the 'go' diphthong instead.
- Lips
- Clearly rounded and pushed forward.
- Tongue
- Back, at mid-low height.
- Jaw
- Open, but less than for AH.
Feel it
Put a hand flat on your throat and say the sound. It should buzz under your fingers from the very start — if the buzz only arrives with the vowel, you are making the voiceless version.Where the sound appears
Keeping it through a whole line
I thought I saw the tall author walking north.
Paul bought four more small forks.
Minimal pairs to drill
Each of these is two words separated by exactly one sound. If a listener hears the wrong one, the problem is the contrast, not the effort.
If your first language is…
Nothing here is about ability. Every one of these is a sound system doing exactly what it was built to do, applied to a language that asks for something else.
- HindiUrdu
Hindi and Urdu have a vowel close to this in 'aur', which helps; English length and lip rounding still need holding.
- Mandarin
Mandarin's nearest sound appears only in glides, so 'law' and 'saw' tend to gain a glide.
- Japanese
Japanese has a long o, so length is familiar, but the quality is higher, so 'thought' drifts toward 'tote'.
- Korean
Korean has a mid back rounded vowel close to this one, so it transfers reasonably well.
- Vietnamese
Vietnamese has a low back rounded vowel and a long o, so the sound is available; choosing between them is the work.
- Spanish
Spanish o is higher and shorter, so 'caught' can sound like 'coat'; the English vowel needs a lower jaw and more length.
- French
French open o is close to this vowel, so it transfers well; French does not lengthen it the way English does.
- German
German long o is higher than this vowel, so 'bought' can tighten toward 'boat'.
- Italian
Italian open o is close to this vowel, so it transfers reasonably well; the length is what to add.
- Russian
Russian o is close when stressed, so the vowel is available, though it reduces heavily when unstressed.
- Arabic
Arabic has no mid back long vowel in most varieties, so a long u or a is substituted.
- Turkish
Turkish o is higher than the English vowel, so 'walk' can sound like 'woke'.
Straight answers
Is /ɔː/ voiced or voiceless?
It is voiced. Put a hand on your throat and say it: you should feel a buzz the whole time. All English vowels are voiced, so the question only really separates the consonants.
What words start with the AW vowel?
Common ones include all, author, order. In the middle of a word you get thought, walk, short, and at the end law, saw, more. Every one of those links to its own pronunciation page here.
How is /ɔː/ spelled in English?
It is written "aw", "au", "ough", "augh", "or", "a", "al", "ar". English spelling and English sound came apart centuries ago, so the same sound turns up under several spellings and the same spelling carries several sounds — which is why the sound, not the letter, is the thing to learn.
Why do Hindi & Urdu speakers find /ɔː/ hard?
Hindi and Urdu have a vowel close to this in 'aur', which helps; English length and lip rounding still need holding.
Record the AW vowel and see if it landed
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