How to pronounce the EAR sound /ɪə/
/ɪə/ is a diphthong — a vowel that glides, moving high front to central (glide). Start on the short I of 'sit', tongue high and front. Let the tongue fall back to the middle of the mouth into a schwa.
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How to make it
- 1Start on the short I of 'sit', tongue high and front.
- 2Let the tongue fall back to the middle of the mouth into a schwa.
- 3Keep the whole thing smooth — it is one glide, not two vowels.
- 4In American English this usually ends in a full r: 'hear' is said with the r pronounced.
- Lips
- Slightly spread, then neutral.
- Tongue
- Starts high and front, glides back to the centre.
- Jaw
- Nearly closed, opening slightly through the glide.
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
We hear the engineer is near here this year.
It is clear that the beard looks weird.
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 produce a vowel plus a tapped r, so 'near' comes out as two clear pieces rather than a glide.
- Mandarin
Mandarin has no final r after a vowel except in the er ending, so 'beer' tends to lose its ending.
- Japanese
Japanese has no centring diphthong, so 'ear' can come out with a tap inserted.
- Korean
Korean has no centring diphthong, so the glide is produced as two separate vowels.
- Vietnamese
Vietnamese has an ia diphthong very close to this one, so it transfers well.
- Spanish
Spanish has no centring diphthong, so 'here' becomes a tense i plus a tapped r.
- French
French has no centring diphthong, and its back-of-throat r replaces the schwa glide.
- German
German turns a final r into a schwa-like vowel, which makes this diphthong one of the easier ones.
- Italian
Italian has no centring diphthong and a trilled r, so the ending is very audible.
- Russian
Russian has no centring diphthong and a trilled r, so the ending separates.
- Arabic
Arabic has no centring diphthong, so a long i plus a tapped r substitutes.
- Turkish
Turkish has no diphthongs, so 'here' becomes a vowel plus a tap.
Straight answers
Is /ɪə/ 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 EAR sound?
Common ones include ear, earring. In the middle of a word you get beard, weird, serious, and at the end here, near, beer. Every one of those links to its own pronunciation page here.
How is /ɪə/ spelled in English?
It is written "ear", "eer", "ere", "ier", "eir". 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 /ɪə/ hard?
Hindi and Urdu produce a vowel plus a tapped r, so 'near' comes out as two clear pieces rather than a glide.
Record the EAR sound and see if it landed
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