Pure vowel 4: /o/
Now, we move on to the vowel /o/.
How it sounds
This is the same sound that we have in the “o” of “orange”:
Mouth position
The lips are rounded (like the shape of the letter “o”), and the tongue is brought further back into the mouth, about mid-way up.
What to avoid
English speakers (especially British English) pronounce this sound as a “diphthong” – two pure vowel sounds together. British English speakers will pronounce the letter “o” as the “ough” in “though” (the phonemic symbol for this is /əu/):
Listen to this slowed down recording of that vowel sound, and see if you can identify the two vowel sounds which form this “diphthong”:
This is quite different from the pure vowel sound in Spanish, and is one of the biggest markers of an English accent speaking Spanish! The English /əu/ sound does not exist in Spanish, so we need to ensure that we are always using the pure vowel sound. Listen to these examples to illustrate this point:
Correct
Incorrect
Correct
Incorrect
Unstressed “o” in English (meaning that the emphasis of the word falls on another syllable – more on this later in the course) is often pronounced with the “schwah” sound:
Again, this sound does not exist in Spanish, so we need to avoid it at all costs! Compare the English pronunciation to the Spanish pronunciation in these words.
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The “o” sound can be realised in different ways in English, but Spanish uses the pure vowel “o” in all syllables where it occurs.
Listen and Repeat
Exercise
Phoneme /o/ exercises
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