EMAIL vs. EMAIOH How to make the Dark L American English
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to go over the difference in
the Dark L and the ending OH sound.
Many non-native speakers from various language
backgrounds, for example, those in Brazil,
Vietnam, and China, have a hard time with
the Dark L sound. It’s very common to substitute
something like the OH sound, or to think of
the word ending in a W, so that ‘email’
sounds like ‘emai-oh’. Email, emai-oh.
These two words may sound the same to you,
but they don’t sound the same to Americans.
In this video we’re going to go over how
to avoid substituting the OH sound for the
Dark L.
Yesterday, I invited my friend HaQuyen here
to briefly talk about why this is a problem.
HaQuyen, than you so much for joining me
today. I really appreciate it.
Not a problem, Rachel.
My friend HaQuyen in fluent in both English
and Vietnamese. And since Vietnamese is one
language group that makes this OH substitution
for the Dark L, I thought I’d bring you
in and ask you, what can say about this substitution?
So, in Vietnamese, the Dark L sound doesn’t
actually exist. So what ends up happening,
is that the Vietnamese will substitute a sound
that they know or are familiar with into the
word. So if I say ‘hell’, with a Dark
L there at the end, um, Vietnamese will probably
substitute the word—the sound—eh-oh.
Ok. So then it would be, instead of ‘hell’,
he-oh.
Ok. And the reason why they do that is
because it exists.
Yes. So that sound, eh-oh, ends a lot of
Vietnamese words, and it sounds somewhat familiar.
So that’s what people will do.
Ok. So basically, it’s substituting a
sound you don’t know how to make with a
familiar sound.
Exactly.
So when a sound is unfamiliar, we tend to
substitute it. How to solve that? Make the
Dark L a familiar sound.
Oh, emai-oh, is made at the front of the mouth
with the lips, emai-oh. This is the biggest
difference with the Dark L, which is made
at the back of the mouth. I asked HaQuyen
how she describes the Dark L sound.
HaQuyen, how would you describe the Dark
L? I know this is hard because, when you don’t
think about how you speak, it’s hard to
put words to it. But, just, off the top of
your head, what would you say about how to
make the Dark L?
When I think of the Dark L, or how it sounds
or feels in my mouth, I feel that it comes
back into the back of my throat. The ELL,
the uhl sound is right back there at the end.
Umm-hmm. Exactly. That’s how I describe
it too. The back part of the tongue moves
back, uhl. It’s a weird sound.
It is.
Uhl.
Uhl.
[laughter]
OH is a diphthong, which means it has two
sounds. It has jaw drop, and, importantly,
lip rounding. Even though the tongue lifts
in the back, the lip rounding brings the resonance
of the voice forward, to the front of the
face. Emai-oh. For the Dark L, the tongue
pulls back, and might even press down a bit
in the back. This is the opposite of OH, where
it lifts in the back. The lips can remain
neutral. The resonance is in the back of the
mouth, uuhl, uuhl.
The Dark L may finish with the tongue coming
up, but often we just leave it down and make
the dark sound, uuhl, by pulling the back
of the tongue back, for the dark L. So, OH
sound here, oh, emai-oh. And the Dark sound
here: uhl, email. The dark sound is a bit
odd on its own, uhl. It doesn’t really sound
like the rest of the sounds in American English.
It’s unique. Once students get comfortable
with the Dark L and start using it, it really
changes their accent. Practice words really
slowly, uhl, email, uhl. And watch yourself
in a mirror. That part is important: you shouldn’t
see NY lip rounding.
Let’s go over a few minimal pairs, with
correct and incorrect pronunciation.
Email, emai-oh
Tell, teh-oh
Feel, fee-oh
Special, speci-oh
Help, he-oh-p.
Now we’re going to study some of these pairs
up close and in slow motion to get used to
how the sound should look, so when you practice
on your own, you can be sure you’re doing
it right.
Here, we’ll compare the correct and incorrect
pronunciation of ‘email’. See how, for
the correct pronunciation, the lips remain
more neutral. For the incorrect position,
the lips round and flare a bit.
Correct and incorrect pronunciation of ‘tell’.
Again, for the correct pronunciation, the
lips remain more neutral. For the incorrect
position, the lips round and flare a bit.
One more comparison. The correct and incorrect
pronunciation of ‘special’. Again, for
the correct pronunciation, the lips remain
more neutral. For the incorrect position,
the lips round and flare.
I hope you can see the difference, even if
you can’t hear the difference yet. Try to
get comfortable with the Dark sound, uul,
by moving the back of the tongue slightly
back. Then integrate that into some words,
speaking slowly.
Drill a few words with me. Look in a mirror.
Make sure your lips aren’t rounding.
Email
Sell
Real
Well
Kill
Special
Speaking of special, special thanks to HaQuyen
for sharing her thoughts with us. Challenge:
put three words in the comments below that
end in a dark L. Use all the Dark L words
in the comments to practice and drill the
Dark L on your own.
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That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English.