American English How to Pronounce the W consonant
The W consonant sound. To make this sound,
ww, ww, the lips form a tight circle like
the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ vowel. Also like that
vowel, the back of the tongue reaches up high
in the back. The front part of the tongue
remains forward, lightly touching behind the
bottom front teeth, or just a little further
back than that, ww, ww. What makes this different
from the ‘oo’ as in ‘boo’ vowel is a little
closing off here in the throat, ww, ww, ww.
That gives it that W consonant quality. Well,
ww, ww, welcome. Here is the W consonant sound
on the right compared with the mouth at rest
on the left. The lips are very rounded, which
means the center part of the lips come
away from the face. Here, parts of the mouth
are drawn in. The soft palate is raised in
this sound, and the tongue stretches up towards
it in the back, but it does not touch the
soft palate. The tip of the tongue is low,
touching where the bottom front teeth meet
the soft tissue. The W sound. Sample words:
whisper, wish, wine. Words that start with
a W-H can be pronounced with a light H sound
before the W: whisper, whisper. I find this
a little dated and formal, and I never use
it. I always simply use the W sound. Whisper.
Sample sentence: When would you want to see
the flower show? The W is a glide consonant,
considered a semi-vowel. In the word flower,
written with a W, in IPA there is no W. However,
you will glide through a W sound between the
‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong and the schwa,
flower. The word ‘show’, also written with
a W. But that is the ‘oh’ as in ‘no’ diphthong.
You’ll see that the lips do not form the tight
circle that the W has. Now you will see this
sentence up close and in slow motion, both
straight on and from an angle, so you can
really study how the mouth moves when making
this sound. This sound is easy to see. The
lips make the tight circle. When, ‘eh’ as
in ‘bed’, tongue tip up for the N. Again the
tight circle, would you
want, again the tight circle for the W. Tongue
tip up for the N and T. To see, lips pull
wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’. Tongue tip
through the teeth for the, and the bottom
lip up to make the F, flower, spelled with
a W but it is the ‘ow’ as in ‘now’ diphthong,
show, unofficially making the W, between the
diphthong and the schwa. Show, with the ‘oh’
as in ‘no’ diphthong. And from the angle.
Lips form the tight circle for the W. When,
the ‘eh’ as in ‘bed’, tongue tip up for the
N. Would, again, the lips almost closed. You
want, very tight circle. To see, corners pull
wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’. The, tongue
tip through the teeth and the bottom lip up
for the F. Flow-. Again, no W in the IPA,
but gliding through the W between the ‘ow’
as in ‘now’ and the schwa. Show, spelled with
a W, but here it is the ‘oh’ as in ‘no’ diphthong.
You can see the lips didn’t make quite the
tight circle that they do with the W. That’s
it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.